Varsity Points Update – Top 10

1. Rankin 44.0
2T. Walter 34.0
2T. McKean 34.0
4. Connelly 31.0
5. Mastrando 28.0
6. Hoban 27.0
7. Gallagher 24.5
8. Vadino 20.0
9T. Catrino 7.0
9T. Hubbs 7.0
9T. Holland 7.0

South Jersey Shootout: RECAP!

Well. Busy day is over and it was certainly a fun one. The team as a whole took big strides forward, finishing 5th in a race that last year they finished 19th in! There was deeper and better competition this year as our Eagles were able to beat some pretty significant teams. The races went like this…

FRESHMEN

The day started with our freshmen army once again and they delivered a fine performance. All five finishers were in the top half of the race representing small steps for some and huge leaps for both Pat Henkel and Tim Bretschneider (both running close to 21:00-21:30 pace after posting PRs of around 23 minutes a week and a half ago). Joe Nuccio set the fast pace again, heading through the mile in 5:42 – another mile PR – and setting himself in position for a tough roll through the hills. He lost a few spots but regained composure after the two mile mark. Peter Gallagher closed Nuccio down in the last half-mile or so to finish only 2 spots behind him and grab a Top 30 medal. John Madden – fighting a little bit of a nagging knee injury – endured the hills to come in 34th. All in all, a great day for the new freshmen who were without Stefano Mastrando, picked to represent the PVI Top 7 in the 5,6,7 Race!

[2.39 MILES]
26. Joe Nuccio 15:20
28. Peter Gallagher 15:28
34. John Madden 15:49
36. Pat Henkel 15:52
43. Tim Bretschneider 16:05

JV RACE

Good step forward for our JV guys. Alec Holland is slowly moving his way upwards on the depth chart and, MOST IMPORTANTLY, staying healthy. Last year at this time, it was Holland’s first race ever in the PVI uniform and he ran 21:52. He ran :47 seconds faster on Saturday. Not bad at all. Dave Nole picked it up when it counted and charged home to grab a 2 second PR on a hilly course. Tom Pellegrino held on for a 23:55, setting himself for a nice duel with the Holmdel hills next week!

87. Alec Holland 21:05
130. Dave Nole 22:03
177. Tom Pellegrino 23:46

5,6,7 RACE

Brian Walter has been accustomed to being able to run with a teammate, helping each other, moving together down the homestretch. That’s why Saturday’s 5,6,7 Race was so important. Walter had a firm race plan – one riddled with the key word “commitment” – and executed it perfectly, grabbing a PR in the process! Through the mile in 5:15, Walter put himself in the top five heading into the backwoods behind a couple Toms River North and Red Bank Catholic guys. The plan was to hold position in those hills and Walter did just that, catching a second win with 400-500m to go to finish 6th with a 30 second PR. As happy as we were with Brian’s time, it wasn’t a surprise really – he has put in so much work and effort this year that it was only a matter of time. The big surprise did come however in the form of freshman Stefano Mastrando. Heading into this race with a PR of 20:13 on the “flatter” ‘A’ course, Mastrando earned his chance at Varsity through hard work and a slight injury to 6th man Paul Catrino and he met that challenge head-on. The frosh dominated the hills (almost keeping even the whole way) to finish 27th with a full minute PR! – 19:13. I’d say it was the MVP performance of the day, but we had a lot of those. Soph Nick Vadino also got his first taste of Varsity competition and he put himself in it immediately. He looked solid heading through the mile, but the hills took their toll. Vadino still held on for a respectable 20:30 (a lot quicker than where he was last year). With 6 points under our belt thanks to Walter, it was on our way to the 3,4 Race.

6. Brian Walter 17:58 PR
27. Stefano Mastrando 19:13 PR
58. Nick Vadino 20:32

3,4 RACE

Another plan executed perfectly. Connelly and McKean’s main goal was to stick together – ideally sub 18:00 – but stick together nevertheless. They did just that and the way the race went out sub 18:10 is certainly acceptable! The lead guys were out in 5:10 with McKean and Connelly behind in 5:22 around 20-25th place. That’s when they started picking people off together one by one and by the 2 mile, heading out of the woods, they were in the top 20. They moved up a bit more as senior Captain Connelly starting a push that McKean tried to cover. Ultimately, Alec barreled home fighting the clock for sub-18:00, eventually settling for just above but it was his first real competitive 5k and he responded wonderfully. McKean threw down what’s quickly becoming his trademark kick to make sure he was right behind Connelly, beating one or two kids down the homestretch. They were 17th and 18th (giving us 41 points with only one race to go). With the “gimmick” races done for good (meaning no class races, no “3,4″ races), the strength of this team will come down what our 3,4,5,6 and 7 runners can do running as the fabled PVI pack.

17. Alec Connelly 18:03 ‘C’ Course PR
18. Richard McKean 18:11 PR

STUD [1,2] RACE

Mike Rankin and Tom Hoban lead chase pack through the mile at the SJ Shootout 2008

The “Stud Race” saw two significant PRs from Junior Mike Rankin and Soph Tom Hoban and some real tough racing. A pack of about 7 went out in 4:54 and both Rankin and Hoban were smart enough to hang back a bit, lead that chase pack, and head through in much more manageable 5:02 (still blazing). It was clear several of the lead pack would be coming back to them and you could see that taking shape as the duo rounded the switchback at the top of the ‘A’ course hill. They had put themselves in real contention and gained several spots. Averaging 5:20s through the hills, both started their final push to the straightaway. Hoban – owner of a 4:52 freshman mile PR – began to feel the heaviness in his legs (normally happens when you go through only 10 seconds off your mile PR). He lost a couple spots, but kept real close to Mike Rankin and the pack trailing him. With Rankin determined, the junior finishing strong in 6th place at 16:47 only several seconds off 4th. Hoban was 10 seconds behind, finishing 11th for an extremely promising 16:58. Pretty impressive coming off a strong summer of training. Both have different styles of racing, but together they share one big thing in common – intestinal fortitude. Holmdel awaits…

6. Mike Rankin 16:47 ‘C’ Course PR
11. Tom Hoban 16:58 ‘C’ Course PR

Overall, a lot has been said above so I didn’t need to express much more. Coach Rankin and I are happy. The kids are happy. And we all took a day or two to be happy, but we’re not resting now! There’s still a long season to go and many goals that we want to accomplish. Congrats Eagles – keep it up. Take a look at the Times 2007- tab and you’ll see just how impressive that race was.

Pictures to come.

- Coach Bonnette and Rankin

NEXT RACE: Shore Coaches Invite, Holmdel, NJ

Picture courtesy of Scott Anderson/Courier-Post

South Jersey Shootout DETAILS [UPDATED]…

Bus will leave from PAUL VI HS at 7:15AM. Be there at 7:00AM SHARP! Race assignments to follow…

The schedule looks like this:

FROSH BOYS (9:15AM)

Nuccio
Gallagher
Madden
Henkel
Bretschneider

JV BOYS (10:00AM)

Holland
Nole
Pellegrino
Patterson

5,6,7 BOYS (11:00AM)

Walter
Vadino
Mastrando

3,4 BOYS (12:00PM)

Connelly
McKean

1,2 BOYS (1:00PM)

Rankin
Hoban

We should be back at Paul VI HS by 2:30PM. If you are leaving from GCC with your parents, make sure you check in Coach Rankin or myself BEFORE YOU LEAVE! It is supposed to be wet and somewhat cold (60s). PLEASE COME PREPARED.

Let’s get ready to make a statement.

Check back for RACE ASSIGNMENTS.

RECAP: Cherokee Challenge 2008!

First up was the army of PVI freshmen ready to tackle Cherokee’s two mile course. All six of them were coming off a strong midweek performance and looking to build upon that. Mission accomplished! Stefano Mastrando led the freshmen with an 11:50 performance, complete with a mile PR – 5:30 as he rushed to keep from getting boxed in in that first half-mile. Joe Nuccio was close behind, after sharing the lead for a while, in 12:27, also grabbing a mile PR, 5:44. Peter Gallagher stayed a bit more conservative, but closed hard to finish in 12:33. Madden wasn’t too far behind as he continues to make leaps forward! Both Pat Henkel and Tim Bretschneider were able to beat that 7:00min/mile pace, showing us they’re fully capable of putting another PR their next 5k out!

Stefano Mastrando in his first Invitational!

33. Mastrando 11:50
85. Nuccio 12:27
92. Gallagher 12:33
106. Madden 12:51
132. Henkel 13:21
166. Bretschneider 13:41

The Sophomore race (along with almost every race) was stacked. Several kids last year, including Tom Hoban, who put in big XC seasons and even bigger spring track seasons. Tom, always looking forward to a longer race, was a bit unsure of where he’d be in a race that HAD to go out so face just to get the right position. Sure enough, Tom – All-Conference last year – was out in 4:55, only a couple seconds off his mile PR. He held on well to finish 7th behind, but it was clear if it was a 5k – Hoban still had some left. Nick Vadino showed significant improvement from last year (:50) even without getting out as fast as he would have liked to. Alec Holland, coming off of injury and with limited training under his belt, took another small step forward. Dave Nole, in his first invitational race, was not overly happy with his performance but fighting sickness during the week, he was still able to set himself a nice stepping stone for later races.

Tom Hoban on his way to 7th out 300 in the Sophomore Race!

7. Tom Hoban 10:23
148. Nick Vadino 12:26
171. Alec Holland 12:39
220. Dave Nole 13:19

The Juniors established themselves as a huge part of what the Eagles are trying to do this year with an inspired performance in their race of 300 kids. Rankin, Walter, and McKean finished in the top 10% of the race and all put in significant PRs. Mike Rankin went through in a solid 4:51 facing an incredibly deep race. With about a 1/2 mile to go, he wasn’t exactly where he wanted to be – around 15th/16th, but instead of letting up, Captain Rankin surged at the top of the hill and picked almost 10 runners off in the last 300-400 meters to finish 9th. Place-wise, still not where he’d like to be, but based on where his training is right now, this was a great race. Brian Walter and Rich McKean followed suit. Walter went out quick, running 5:05 through the mile with McKean a couple seconds behind. McKean then worked his way up to Walter only to lead the charge through to the finish. Looking solid, they charged home together with Walter coming in at 10:42 and McKean at 10:44 for great #3/#4 times. Both being transfers from other sports and having little XC experience, it’ll be fun to see where their commitment and new found dedication to this sport will take them. Tom Pellegrino registered a :20 PR on last year’s time rounding out a fantastic Junior race.

9. Rankin 10:05
33. Walter 10:42
35. McKean 10:44
271. Pellegrino 14:12

The lone Senior and newly minted Captain Alec Connelly found his way to the line when the sun was its strongest. Standing next to Haddon Twp. – who had at least 7 seniors – Connelly was eager to get the race started. The gun went off and immediately Connelly was engulfed by a sea of runners. Coming through the 800 mark, it was clear he was not where he wanted to be. Instead of through the mile at 5:10, he was through at 5:22 about 50 places back from the goal. He responded as well as he could in the long line in front of him and managed to pick up a few places, finishing 81st overall in 11:12 (a time that would have beaten our 2nd Varsity runner last year). Despite his disappointment, Connelly recognized his improvement from last year (over 3 minutes) and is eager to get back on the line!

81. Connelly 11:12

Overall, there was little more we could ask of such an inexperienced bunch!! They’ve done the work and they put it all to work, not wasting an ounce of what we taught them and they taught themselves. Experience will only help them more through out the season and it was clear that Saturday’s lesson was commitment. If you put “top five” times together, Paul VI has taken HUGE steps forward and for the first time on Saturday – I’m pretty sure they realized it.

And so it begins…! Back to the weekly grind before South Jersey Shootout this coming Saturday. Congratulations from Coach Rankin and I to these guys for putting together a memorable day.

Also – please congratulate Mike Rankin, Tom Hoban, Brian Walter, Rich McKean, and Alec Connelly for all making the Top 15 Cherokee Times list. Mike broke his own record of 10:11 set last year. Tom improved by a minute over his time of 11:22 last year, while Walter, McKean, Connelly all moved into 6,7, and 12 on the updated list!

Pictures to come…

CHEROKEE CHALLENGE: Details

Eagles:

We are meeting at Paul VI HS (in the parking lot) at 7:45AM. BUS DEPARTS FOR CHEROKEE HS AT 8:00AM. Don’t be late!

Make sure you have your spikes, warm clothes (your hoody, pants, several shirts, your long-sleeve, etc.) as it will be chilly in the morning, your trainers, uniform, and anything you else you need to prepare properly for this race. Pack your bag tonight so you’re not rushing around in the morning. Be ready for a cool morning and a fast day! Should be a fun one…

For those unaware, it is a 2-mile course. Flat, fast, and soft.

RACE ASSIGNMENTS

Freshman Boys – 10:00AM

Mastrando
Nuccio
Gallagher
Henkel
Madden
Bretschneider

Sophomore Boys, 10:40AM

Hoban
Vadino
Nole
Holland

Junior Boys – 11:20AM

Rankin
McKean
Walter
Pellegrino

Senior Boys – 12:00PM

Connelly

See you all at 7:45AM.