Haddonfield Invite: Five Eagles Running

4:00pm Boys JV Invitational  - (Rooney, S. Pellegrino, T. Pellegrino, J. Pinto, N. Carrozzo)

We will be leaving at 3:00pm and running over from the school. The whole team should be ready to go by then. To the seniors in this race – let’s make it a good one! Flat course, decent weather – that’s about all you can ask for.

Coming soon: information on the SJ Parochial meet this Saturday.

Rainy on Tanyard: Olympic Conference 2007

Disgusting conditions to some, but a haven to cross country runners – the pouring rain out at Gloucester County College acted as a bit of a . The rain accumulated over night and continued well into the day, never once letting up completely. Its’ presence caused the meet directors to change the course to avoid the slip-n-slide that was the ‘A’ course hill. In its’ place was an A and B course hybrid that was flat, muddy, and longer (5250 meters to be exact).

The day began with Alec Connelly, the Pellegrino brothers, Jamie Rooney, and Nick Carrozzo in the JV race. Connelly has spent the past few races chipping away at his personal bests and was itching to continue that trend despite the elements. He succeeded in doing so by lopping off another 80 seconds, charting the 3.2 mile course in 20:45 (about 20:05 through the 5k). Steve Pellegrino finished right with him down the homestretch in 20:46. Both finished 59th and 60th. Tom Pellegrino was the next finisher at 103rd place in 22:46, while Rooney came in at 112th in 23:33 and senior Nick Carrozzo in at 122nd at 24:29.

Junior Connelly set the tone for those in the Varsity race that toed the line around 3:40pm. Mike Rankin – battling a touch of discomfort – was joined by Tom Hoban, Tom Norris, Paul Lively, Ed Murphy, Wil Bradford, and junior Joe Fiore who was returning from a stress fracture suffered earlier in the year. The goal was simple – not get fazed by the elements and race. For the most part, mission accomplished. Rankin put in a courageous performance finishing 20th in 17:40 for the long course, while freshman Tom Hoban fought hard again despite heavy legs and took 47th in 18:34 (heading through the 5k in about 17:50). Paul Lively stepped it up a bit and finished in 53rd running 18:53 in the process, while Norris and Ed Murphy rounded out the top five with 63rd and 69th place finishes. Overall, a decent day but several spots were lost in the homestretch which could have pushed the Eagles on up and as it stood, PVI XC finished 10th out of 12 scored teams (although 16 teams competed). That push in the last 200m needs to be remedied as the Eagles prepare for next Saturday’s South Jersey Parochial meet at Delsea.

The freshman not only had to deal with the rain and wind, but they also . The shortened race (about 2.25 miles) featured Alec Holland, Mike Giordano, Eric Hubbs, Nick Vadino, and Joe Pinto. A mile in, Holland and Giordano positioned themselves in the top 10 at about 5:50 pace, while Hubbs and Vadino were not too far behind. Everyone – competitors and spectators alike – were thrown for a loop when less than a mile later there were 10-12 freshmen finishing the race. Clearly a mix up, a good brunt of the racers were DQ’ed after the leader – who was supposed to cross over the homestretch and into another loop before coming back to the finish – made a sharp left turn and booked right into the finishing chute, taking about a half mile off the course. Nick Vadino hung on and didn’t get sucked in, placing 4th, while Hubbs made his way halfway to the finish before turning around, settling himself, racing the last loop and taking 12th. Joe Pinto took 16th, but it was Holland and Giordano who – running incredibly well – finished early and not factoring into the top 5. If the race had been run straight by all, the team of Giordano, Holland, Pinto, Hubbs, and Vadino would have taken top two. All will have another shot at a flat course coming up either at the Haddonfield Sub-Varsity Race at Pennypacker Park or the South Jersey Parochials at Delsea.

Parents: please send any pictures you might have. For all: here are the results. Congratulations to the girls who took a promising 2nd place to a strong Lenape squad.

2007 Olympic Conference Championship Itinerary

Be in the PVI parking lot by 1:15pm, bus leaves for GCC at 1:30pm. Course being run is ‘A’.

JV Boys 3:00pm - (7) Rankin, Hoban, Murphy, Fiore, Bradford, Lively, Norris

Varsity Boys 3:40pm - (5) T. Pellegrino, S. Pellegrino, Connelly, Rooney, Carrozzo

Frosh Boys 4:45pm - (5) Hubbs, Holland, Vadino, Giordano, Pinto

Let’s get ready to go.

Coach Eric’s Course: Racing Tactics, Pt. I

RACING TACTICS 

Installment 1 

Breaking a Race into Manageable Sections

A 5k race can be a demanding task. A 5k cross country race with a variety of challenges such as hills, sand, roots, etc. can be even more of a struggle.  A sound approach to planning for a cross race is to break the course down into mile or even half mile sections.  By focusing on smaller sections at a time the challenge of running a hard 5k cross race is less daunting.   

If you’re able to get your hands on a course map, with even the most basic description of mile markers and the terrain of the course, your ability to plot out a race plan becomes that much easier.  For the courses that you have already run the ability to visualize the different sections of the race is simplified.  For a course such as Holmdel, when you think of the first very challenging mile your approach is clearly going to be much different than when you think of Gloucester County College’s fast first mile on all three variations of the course.

Instead of obsessing over splits in cross country, which are not nearly as important as on the track, think of the amount of energy each section of the course will require and the desired position you would like to be in at each point.  The first 600 meters of Holmdel is going to put your breathing and legs to the test earlier than a course such as GCC or Delsea will.  Your recovery from that first hill is going to be at much more of a premium, and picking a rough place range you want to be in coming out of the woods to the open field heading to the mile at Holmdel is more important than worrying about the Bowl and the final 2 miles.  Similarly, focusing on positioning entering the woods at Delsea and GCC is much more important than worrying about the split at the half mile or mile. 

Another effective way of visualizing and then executing a segmented race plan is to view the first half of the race as “Pacing”, and the second half of the race as “Racing”.  By keying in on such things as your form, breathing, and positioning in the first 1.5 to 2 miles of a race, your mental energy will be much higher as you get ready to rock and roll the last half of a race or even last mile of the race.  By narrowing your focus to half mile or mile segments, and checking off each in your head as you go by the markers, your energy stores will be much fuller as you get ready to close a race off than if you think 10-15 minutes down the line.  Remember, you can only control your own race, and even then the control is limited to the next stride you take.   

Eastern States Results: An Eye-Opener

A surprise of a cross country course up in New York City humbled our Eagles, but some performances stood out. Results here.

Alec Holland and Joe Fiore returned from injury and debuted well in the JV Race. Both are itching for more and should be ready for their last three championship races. Alec Connelly had yet another decent performance, while sophomore Mike Rankin finished 9th in the ‘B’ Race while leading the Eagles to a 5th place performance.

Overall – it was a learning experience and a jarring introduction to the beast that is Van Cortlandt Park.

The Eagles will be preparing next for the Olympic Conference Champions held at Gloucester County College on October 26th, 2007.