A Universal Thanks and Another Accolade.

First off, I want to thank all the alumni who have oozed support this year whether it’s directly through the athletes, through me, or comments on this website. These guys have worked so hard this year and I’m glad they are getting the credit they deserve for it! I know, more importantly, that no one on our team – heading through winter and spring track too – is going to settle for just a flash in the pan. We’d like to take this program back to where it used to be, one small step at a time.

A couple notes:

Mike Rankin made the All-South Jersey squad seen here. He is up there – and rightfully so – with the likes of Haddonfield’s Boo Vitez, Ocean City’s Brett Johnson, and Shawnee’s Dave Forward.

The Paul VI XC Banquet, put together by our awesome Booster Club, will be held Tuesday, December 9th. We will hand out the season awards then. There will be two, however, handed out at the PVI Fall Sports Banquet on Tuesday, December 2nd – the Most Valuable Runner and the Coaches Award (Eagle Award).

The SJTCA Banquet will be held on Wednesday, December 3rd. Captains Mike Rankin and Alec Connelly will be in attendance.

Last but not least – and things don’t always work at as planned – if you take all of the returning PVI runners next year and average out their Holmdel PRs, you have yourself a team that would have taken 11th/12th at Meet of Champs this year with a 17:24.8 average. That should get people ready, willing, and able to do the work in the winter and spring to bring us to where we want to be in the fall next year.

YOUR FINAL VARSITY POINTS TALLY, TOP 10

Rankin 247.5
McKean 108.5
Walter 104.5
Connelly 99.5
Hoban 93.0
Mastrando 67.5
Catrino 49.5
Vadino 43.0
Gallagher 37.5
Nuccio 26.5

We hope to have an Alumni function come Spring so please…if you have any suggestions or ideas on how to get all Past Eagles together, shoot me an e-mail.

Coach

Mike Rankin 14th at MOCs!

More on the race later, but Mike had a great day (as did Coach Rankin and I of course). Mike has had a fantastic last month to a great season. The junior was out pretty efficiently in and around the Top 30, he then turned on that deadly kick of his in the backwoods to catch some of the best kids in the state (which he is now part of) and to finish 14th (second team All-State!).

VIDEO!

Mike getting ready to start the kick with less than a mile to go!

Mike finishing out with a monster kick to finish 14th to grab 2nd Team All-State honors at MOCs!

His splits:

MILE 1 – 5:29

MILE 2 – 5:26

MILE 3 – 4:46!!!!

FINAL – 16:18 (13th on the All-Time PVI Holmdel List and 3rd on the All-Time Junior Holmdel List)

Mike should now be in great contention for All-South Jersey honors. Something that hasn’t been done in a while! It’s the fastest run in almost 15 years! He was also the 3rd fastest South Jersey runner!

Congratulations to Mike and all of Paul VI Cross Country for a great year!!! I will elaborate on the race sometime soon, once I am able to sit down for more than a couple minutes.

Here are the BOYS RESULTS. Take a look.

Also if you get a chance, Sebastian Foxworth has put together a nice site for all PVI Sports and guess who gets to christen the front page!?!

- Coach

Thanks to Tom Hoban for the picture and support and NIck Vadino and Rich McKean for their support as well.

A Little Respect

Even though our young Eagles this year fell short of the Meet of Champs, they still managed to catch the eye of those doing all the ranking. We tend to not highlight rankings just because in the long run they don’t really mean much, but I know – with the season ended as a team – this will be a great stepping stone heading into next season.

Paul VI comes in at 13th! In the STATE!!! A far cry from the glory days of 1994 and the 80s, but a remarkable feat nevertheless and something that every member of our team deserves. Can’t wait to see what the future holds!

- Coach

PAUL VI OPEN HOUSE!

Any middle schoolers looking to come to Paul VI and interested in Cross Country or Track, please find Coach Bonnette or Coach Rankin at the Paul VI Open House this coming Thursday, November 20th. It starts at 6:00pm. We hope to see you and your families there and answer any and all questions you have about the sport of cross country and the PVIXC program!

In the meantime, any questions can be directed to bbonnette@pvihs.org.

Wow. Brief Parochial A States Recap.

I will recap everything fully in the next week or two, especially after Meet of Champs but for right now I will leave you with this quick teaser on States…

In Parochial A, it seemed heading in that the first two places were a lock as two nationally ranked teams – Don Bosco Prep and Christian Brothers Academy – looked the favorites. They performed as anticipated – despite a slow day – with Bosco taking its’ third consecutive Par A title. Therefore, the race for third was wide open with Paul VI operating as the “sleeper” pick. Red Bank Catholic, Pope John, Delbarton had all been state ranked heading into this race and Paul VI was looking to creep in there. To start, we needed what you call a “high stick”…or a big race from our #1 and that’s exactly what we got…

Mike Rankin qualified for his first Meet of Champions by finishing 5th in the State Parochial A race in 16:34 on a windy, blustery day. The first two races of the day – Parochial A and B – experienced tough conditions and the times for the most part seemed a bit a slow – except for Mike, who PR’ed on Holmdel by almost 40 seconds! On top of that, Mike put himself in contention for an All South Jersey spot as well as All-State recognition if he places in the Top 21 next week. He was also the 23rd fastest overall time of the day and 5th fastest harrier from South Jersey. To add to all that, it was the first time in 6 years a Paul VI harrier has qualified for the MOCs!

Rankin’s 5th place finish paced your Paul VI Eagles who ran an admirable race, coming so close to their first Meet of Champions appearance in almost 10 years. In fact 13 points decided it. The Eagles have so much to be proud of and established themselves as one of the best in South Jersey and Top 15 in the State. They were the 3rd fastest team from South Jersey, an amazing feat that has seen them rise out of the ashes. With only one senior graduating, our boys have set themselves up for a promising shot at a championship season next year. But sticking with the present…sophomore Tom Hoban was #2 man once again for the Blue and White, finishing 22nd with a 17:22. Tom has been doing all of this running not quite 100%, but with a shot at Meet of Champs – he made sure he was on the line for the last two races of the year. It’s been a breakout year for Hoban and we can’t wait comes of him this winter/spring and into next fall. Our 3,4,5 finished an amazing year in perfect fashion – finishing together. 30th, 31st, and 32nd…Brian Walter, Alec Connelly, Rich McKean. Probably a little frustrated with their times, they ran with absolute heart and determination – showing they weren’t out of place up there with the best in the state. All three were around Top 40 heading through the mile and moved gradually up in the 30s before their charge home.

5. Rankin 16:33.9
22. Hoban 17:21.5
30. Walter 17:39.8
31. Connelly 17:41.5
32. McKean 17:41.9
95. Mastrando 19:14.1
115. Gallagher 19:46.9

Words can’t begin to describe how proud I am of these guys. We satisfied 2008’s goal – Top 5 in Parochial A’s – by finishing 4th and we only missed out on the Wildcard bid by a little. Both Mike Rankin and Tom Hoban have established themselves as two of the best in South Jersey and Brian Walter and Rich McKean are on their way. Not only that – a great group of freshmen and sophomores were there to support these guys all year as they strive to line-up as part of the Varsity squad.

I will touch on many things after Meet of Champs and post pictures/videos, etc. from the whole year, but it’s safe to say you can file this season – the Fall of 2008 – under…

SUCCESS.

We’ll take a little while to reflect before starting the work for next year! We have also set our date for the PVIXC Fall Banquet – it will be Tuesday, December 9th! More details to come.

Now please come join us in supporting Mike Rankin at the Meet of Champs this coming Saturday! It should be a fun one!

- Coach Bonnette and Coach Rankin