On Saturday, May 12, the track team took 4th at the Chicago Catholic League Championship. All-Catholic League honors were awarded to Kevin Jones, who placed 5th in the triple jump, long jump and 3rd in the high jump; Sam Jaros took 4th in the pole vault; Marcus Cheatom placed 3rd in the shot put; Pat Mahoney came away with 3rd in the 300 hurdles; Dan Caddigan placed 5th in the mile; and Cody Stull took 4th in the shot put. Event runner-ups were Marcus Cheatom in the discus and the 2 mile relay team of Emmet McClain, Aaron Larson, Dan Caddigan and Dennis Hasty. Cody Stull was also the discus champ. On Thursday, May 17, the team will compete in the St. Ignatius Sectional at Concordia University for the right to qualify for the state meet.
Track Takes 4th at CCL
Track Takes 7th at Sandburg
The Brother Rice track team competed in the Eagle Classic at Sandburg on Thursday, April 26. The team placed 7th out of 17 teams. Top performances came from Kevin Jones (2nd in the high jump), Dan Caddigan (2nd in the 2 mile), and Marcus Cheatom and Cody Stull who placed 1st and 2nd in the discus. Next Friday, May 4, the freshman/sophomore team will be at St. Laurence for the Catholic League Championship, while the varsity will travel to Thornton on Saturday, May 5.
Track Takes Home Rice Relays
The track team was victorious in the 6th Annual Rice Relays on Friday, April 20. The Crusaders outdistanced runner-up Providence 88-74 to earn the team title in the 12 school field. First place finishes were turned in for three events including the high jump, shuttle hurdles, and the mile relay. The team’s next meet will be Thursday, April 26, at Sandburg.
Rice Relays: Friday, April 20 – Timers and Volunteers Needed
The Brother Rice track team will host the 6th Annual Rice Relays on Friday, April 20. The meet is set to begin at 4:45 P.M. with field events and track events starting at 5:45 P.M. If anyone is interested in helping run the meet (specifically timers), please contact Coach Wazio. We look forward to seeing many track alumni at this event!
Coach Waz’s Blog – IHSA Sectionals
Saturday was the race we’ve been looking forward to for the entire season. Ever since the first day of practice in August, the workouts were tailored so that we would be at our best on this day and reach our goal of qualifying for the state meet. The workout on Monday was phenomenal. We were blessed with a nice day in terms of weather. and the kids did not let it go to waste. Even though we did not have a great “team race” yet this season, I was optimistic that the guys would peak and perform well this week.
There were no classes on Thursday, so that morning we made the trip out to Lockport to go over the course. In case you have never been to Dellwood Park, it is definitely one of the most challenging courses I have ever dealt with. It is in every sense of the word, a true “cross country course.” It is a 5k that includes flat land, hills, streams, tight turns, and forests. For those of you who remember the old Bullfrog Lake course, I would say Dellwood surpasses it in terms of toughness. Still, I believe the layout of the course would help us rather than hurt us. We do not have a lot of team speed this year, so I definitely felt we were up to the challenge.
Saturday morning we met at 6:30 A.M. for a team breakfast before getting on the bus to head to Lockport. Overall, the team was a bit on the quiet side, which I took as a good sign. I think it showed they were focused and ready. When we arrived at the park, we could not have asked for better race conditions. It was about 50 degrees, sunny, and minimal wind. Before the team warmed up, I gave them a few last encouraging words about having faith in their preparation and to race with confidence.
While the team warmed up, I watched the finish to the girls’ race. Immediately after, the nerves set in and I knew it was almost “Go Time!”
As soon as the gun went off, I ran to the half mile point of the race to stand on some bleachers to shout instructions about positioning as they passed. Caddigan got out towards the front in fourth place, with four other runners in the 30′s. At this point, I felt good and remarked that the first part is done, but it’s the next checkpoint at the mile and a half that will give a much better indication of how the race would end up.
As they approached the forest entrance for the second time just past 1.5 miles, Caddigan was still in fourth place, leading a group of about six runners. Pat Maguire was moving very well, not far behind at all in about 15th. Our other runners dropped behind Pat a little and were spread out. At this point, if we wanted to secure one of the top 5 spots, we would have to come on strong the last mile and have our #3-5 runners move up about 15 places each. The next time I would see the competitors, they would be making their way up an incline with about 700 meters remaining in the race. The top two runners that came by were from Nequa Valley, with a good amount of distance on Sandburg’s top runner in third. Only 10 yards back was Caddigan, still leading the pack of six. Maguire was still having a phenomenal race and was running about 16th. Aaron Larson was next, passing around 40th, and James Durkin was about 20 places back. I was paying attention to some other teams; it was evident it was not in the cards for us this day to advance as a team, but Caddigan and Maguire were still possibilities to qualify as individuals.
Caddigan’s early aggressiveness cost him a little in the last 200 yards and he dropped to 10th, but it was still good enough to earn him his second consecutive trip downstate. Maguire was racing in a tight group over the last straightaway. He finished 19th. It was Pat’s best race of the year, and he showed the type of runner he is capable of being. I wasn’t sure if Pat had qualified. I only knew he was going to be one of the “border guys” and it was going to be close. Aaron Larson had dropped a little in the last half mile but showed a lot of speed and strength with a good kick, passing at least 4 runners (from what I could see) and finished 48th. Durkin crossed the line in 59th. Anthony Maciag was our 5th runner this day and finished 80th, and Tom Cira was our sixth and final runner in 112th. Once again, luck was not on Emmet McClain’s side and he had to drop out at about 2 miles.
I was able to get a look at the results before the awards ceremony. I knew Dan had qualified, but Pat was foremost on my mind. The results showed that 12th place was the last individual qualifier, so Pat had just missed. Last year, 24th place got the last spot. On the team side, we finished 9th as a team with 211 points. Nequa Valley won with 59 points, easily outdistancing Hinsdale Central in second. Plainfield South was 3rd, Sandburg was 4th and Lyons and Plainfield East tied for 5th with 163 points. The rules state that in the event of a tie for 5th place, both teams qualify for the state meet. Later that day, I looked over (okay – studied is probably a more accurate word) the results. If we had placed 5th, 19th, 37th, 45th, and 60th, that would have been good enough. This just reaffirmed to me that we were capable, but we just couldn’t put it together at the right time.
So now, with just a week left in the season, I’ve had a little time to reflect on how things happened. I can say without reservation that I had fun coaching this year’s team. The guys definitely got along with each other and I looked forward to practice every day because of them. I believe they worked extremely hard and were committed and did everything asked of them, but it just wasn’t meant to be. I do think this season had some great outcomes. For one, Aaron Larson has developed into the athlete I’ve been waiting for him to become. Hopefully his success in cross country will be a great springboard for track season. Despite a most non-desirable last few weeks, Emmet McClain showed great dedication and asserted himself as a leader of this team. Much of the credit goes to these 2 young men, along with seniors Tom Cira, Matt Heavey, Pat Mahoney, and Dan Caddigan. They are the epitome of what Br. Rice Cross Country is all about. They set an example for the younger athletes to follow to ensure that the long-standing tradition of this program continues.
Being a coach, I’m always looking to the next step. I think we return a good group of four guys next season, but we desperately need at least one more person to step up and make the transition to be our 5th man. We’ll see what happens during track and in the summer months to find out who that person will be.
As for the state meet, Caddigan is definitely fit and ready to pop a great race. He just needs to run his style of race, and there is no doubt in my mind he will be in the hunt for an all-state medal. Dan has already made his mark as one of the best XC runners in school history. A top 25 performance would just be icing on the cake. Running at the state meet is an honor, accomplishment, and experience in itself. Detweiller Park had been called the “promised land,” and I look forward to a great weekend of Illinois Cross Country.
Thanks for reading at Go ‘Running Ugly” Crusaders!
Coach Waz
—My predictions: Watching Nequa Valley last week, they looked very impressive and they are my pick to win the team title. Individually, it is much tougher because there are probably about 6-8 athletes with a legitimate shot. I’ve had the chance to see all but one of the contenders race this year, and based off that, Leland Later of New Trier gets my vote.
Coach Waz’s Blog – IHSA Regionals
This past Saturday was the IHSA Regional, hosted by Marist at Midlothian Meadows. Many times in recent years, the team has had their best race of the year at the regional meet, and thus we have won the championship six of the last ten years. I was looking for a similar outcome this year. It did not happen that way, however. The top ranked team in the regional was Sandburg. Last year, Sandburg decided to rest their top five runners in preparation for sectionals. We were able to take advantage of this decision, and placed 4 runners in the top 10 en route to a narrow victory, 37-41. It was not clear if Sandburg would once again rest their top runners or put their best team on the line. In my mind, if they did decide to put their best lineup together, we should finish second. If they went with the other option, we should be able to repeat last year’s performance. But like I said earlier, it did not happen that way.
After the Catholic League meet, the decision was made to rest Emmet McClain (our usual #5) and Sean Waters would get the nod, coming off of a strong 3rd place finish in the open race. I was 100% confident that this was a team capable of getting the job done. The strategy for the race was to have Caddigan stay with the runner from Oak Lawn, (a state qualifier last season) then after the mile, when he felt ready, make a strong move and carry it to the finish line. Following Dan would be two packs of three consisting of Maguire, Larson, and Durkin in one; and Cira, Maciag, and Waters in the other.
While the team was warming up, I noticed Sandburg’s team warming up as well. I did not recognize some of their top athletes, so it was clear to me the decision they had made. The opportunity was there for us to take care of business. All we had to do was stick to our race strategy and things would work out.
The weather Saturday was pleasant; maybe a little warm for perfect racing conditions, but definitely a good day to run. After the gun went off, I remarked to Coach Molenda that because of the atmosphere the day had provided, it was going to be difficult for Dan to hold back. I knew he was going to be anxious and ready to get out there and get after it right away. As we waited by the 1/2 mile mark for the field to head back toward us, Coach Molenda spotted the runners before I did and said, “You’re right.” Dan was in the lead by a good ten yards and looked poised and in control. The next pack consisted of Sandburg’s entire team, and right behind them was our 1st pack of 3, exactly where they were supposed to be. Not far behind were Cira and Maciag running together with Waters, maybe a couple steps back. At first sight, things were going according to plan.
The next chance I got to see the runners was at the 1.5 mile mark into the race, just as they were coming out of a horseshoe loop in the woods. Caddigan still had his lead but didn’t look quite as good as he did early on. I found out later, Dan got a cramp and wasn’t feeling terrific. I instructed Dan to make a little surge once he made a blind turn, so he could put a little distance on the Oak Lawn runner. Next I saw Pat Maguire in a group of about 4 and looking very strong. Pat began to move past a couple of them and found himself side by side with Marist’s #1 (last year’s individual champion).
The next big group consisted of four Sandburg runners. Trailing them were James Durkin and Aaron Larson. I had hoped that they would be in front of them by now or, at the very least, break up their pack. The next Rice runner was Anthony Maciag, not far behind at all and making up considerable ground with each step.
I then ran over to a location on the course, approximately 500 meters from the finish. I wanted to give each runner one last bit of encouragement or instruction before they hit the final homestretch. Caddigan came by, still maintaining a ten-yard lead on 2nd place. Even though he was not feeling great, he had the race in control and went on to win his 1st Regional individual title, and his 3rd victory of the season. Pat Maguire was still looking strong. He ended up finishing 5th in 15:33. This was Pat’s best race of the year and it earned him medalist honors.
The Sandburg pack passed next as they placed 8th-11th. Our 3rd runner was James Durkin who wound up 15th. Anthony Maciag had a phenomenal third mile and was not far behind in 17th. Aaron Larson had some stomach problems and decided to help fertilize the forest preserve as he sprinted towards the chute to place 19th. Ten seconds later was our 6th man, Tom Cira in 25th, and then Sean Waters, who also had a good second half of the race and placed 30th. Maguire, Maciag, and Waters all had great races and ran huge personal bests of 14, 9 and 20 seconds.
My immediate post race analysis was that we lost by about 8 points. Our #1 and #2 runners were very good, but our 3-5 should have been up a little higher to break up Sandburg’s top 4 runners. It seemed to be the opposite of the week before, where Larson and Cira had great races. We just need to find a way for everyone to have their best race on the same day.
I also think it’s worth mentioning another performance from Saturday. After the race, Marist held a time trial. Senior Matt Heavey ran the race and had a very impressive 2nd place finish. He also ran a 16 second PR. It was a good day for him.
While the team was on their cool down, I received the results, and the little disappointment I was feeling probably grew 100 times bigger. Our chance was there, but we just were not able to get it done. When all was said and done, Sandburg just edged us out 56-57. I showed the results to the team, and they echoed the same feelings I had just a few moments earlier.
A lot of issues went through my mind and I began to second guess some decisions I had made. For instance, if Emmet runs, do we win? However, like Coach Molenda pointed out, hindsight is 20/20. I think it hurt as much as it did because, for the second week in a row, we were so close to accomplishing our goals, but fell just a few points, or just one point, short.
Just like last week, the team goals did not get met, but some positive individual results were worth mentioning. The bus ride back to school was quiet for the most part. We talked about the workouts for the upcoming week and I told the team that despite the last two weeks’ disappointments, the season is not over. We still have the talent and ability to accomplish the goal we set in place back in August – a state berth. We have not had our best race yet as a team. All the training we have done, the doubles, the morning pool workouts, the 14 mile runs, are all in preparation to be at our best this Saturday. The workout that the team completed Monday (2 man, 10 mile relay) gives me the utmost confidence and provides evidence that our fitness level is extremely high. The workout is twenty 400′s in teams of two, where the only rest the runner gets is while his partner is running. Caddigan ran the best workout I’ve seen by a Br. Rice runner in 10 years. He averaged 66′s, a 4:27 mile average. I’m even willing to go as far and say that the workout, as a team, could be the best as well.
This Saturday the sectional race is at 11:45 at Dellwood Park in Lockport. As I said in previous blogs, a few teams have separated themselves from the rest of the field. In my opinion, it will be a hard-fought battle between seven schools for the final two spots, and we are one of the seven. I truly believe that we are ready to race at our highest level, and all that’s left is just to show up Saturday and perform. No one is looking at Br. Rice to even have a shot at a top 5 finish, except for the people that have a say in whether or not that happens. We’re going into this race with nothing to lose and everything to gain. I do not know how the race will turn out, but I do know that if we race with the same confidence and heart we exhibited at practice Monday, we definitely will be competitive and a force to be dealt with.
******PLEASE NOTE: Dan Caddigan has been nominated for the Patch “Athlete of the Week.” Please take a moment and vote for Dan. Dan is one of the top Cross Country runners Br. Rice has produced and is definitely deserving and worthy of this honor. Thanks!
Go “Running Ugly” Crusaders!
Coach Waz
Coach Waz’s Blog – Catholic League Championship
This past Saturday we hosted the Chicago Catholic League Championship at Midlothian Meadows. The week leading up to this meet was definitely an interesting one. Even though we were dealing with injury and sickness, I still felt that if we ran the way we had been all season, we should finish second to Loyola. St. Ignatius had beaten us by 38 points the previous meet, but this was going to be the first of the important meets, and I felt we were ready to take them on. Needless to say, Saturday left me with feelings of frustration and disappointment that I have not felt since the sectional meet of 2007.
A little recap: In 2007, we had a phenomenal team, definitely one of the best in Br. Rice history. We were Catholic League Champions that year, besting runner-up Fenwick. Rich Eber was the individual champion and our 2-5 guys ran about a seven-second split (15:24-15:31, I believe). The following week at Regionals, Eber followed up with his 2nd individual Regional title and we came in 2nd to the #1 team in the Sectional, Sandburg. Things were looking very promising to make a run at a top-ten finish at the state finals. That’s when we hit some bad luck. Our #2 and #5 runners (Dan Hasty and Dave Janet) developed leg injuries (one a stress fracture) and had to drop out of the race. We wound up taking 7th as a team, and missed qualifying for the state meet. Fenwick finished 2nd. I cannot put into words the disappointment that the team, Coach Molenda, and I felt that day. One thing that is stressed in the Br. Rice Cross Country program is the importance of the team. The day was not a total waste as there were some very good things that happened in the race. It was not until we got on 294 to head back to school, that we were able to comprehend just how big those good points were. Coach Molenda turned to me and said, “Hey, Richie won.” He was right! Eber had just won the Sectional race, the only Br. Rice harrier to accomplish that feat, and it took us a good two hours to see the good amidst the bad. The following week, Eber ran the perfect race and finished 10th in the state finals.
The reason I’m telling that story is because Saturday, as I was feeling the frustration of our 4th place team finish, the Sectional meet from 2007 immediately came to mind. The two days share many similarities.
A few minutes before the gun went off, the team took off their sweats and the new uniforms were unveiled. (I have to say, I do think they look good!) The strategy was for Caddigan to go out with the lead pack and run up front for as long as possible. The rest of the team was told to form one tight group just behind St. Ignatius’ pack. At the half mile, everything looked good, except James Durkin was not in the group. James had some nagging injuries during the week, so we decided to take it easy with him for a couple days leading up to the race. What I didn’t expect was for him to develop a severe cramp at the start of the race that would greatly influence his racing. Coach Molenda and I decided it was best not to take the risk of losing James for the next few weeks and had him drop out. I assumed James had re-aggravated his injury, so I was slightly, very slightly happy to hear afterwards that this was not the issue.
Immediately after this unexpected setback, I ran to the other side of the course to catch our pack and let them know each guy had to play an even bigger role now. At this time, we still had Caddigan up front, and four runners all within one second of each other at the mile, exactly where they should have been. The second mile of the course is run through the woods and away from the spectators, so at this point it was just waiting and hoping and having faith that team would continue their aggressive racing. The next four minutes seemed like ten as I waited at the two-mile marker until they came back into sight. When they finally emerged from the forest, Caddigan was now one of four runners in the lead pack. The rest of the field had strung out a bit. Pat Maguire was closely following a group of five with Aaron Larson just a few seconds back. I expected to see Emmet McClain right with Aaron. Trigger setback #2; Emmet had been sick during the week and missed some school and practice. Not fully recovered, he was unable to catch his breath and was forced to drop out as well.
At this point, it was clear as day that we were going to need all five remaining runners to do their job. Usual #6 Tom Cira and #7 Anthony Maciag were now going to be our fourth and fifth scorers. Both athletes were by far having their best races of the year and were right with two St. Ignatius runners. I knew it was going to be very close for second place.
The competitors once again hit a dirt path in the woods for the last portion of the race before exiting for the final 400 meter straightaway. Caddigan ran a great race and continued to close the gap on the top runners from Loyola and St. Ignatius. He finished 4th in 15:21. Maguire finished 9th (16:00), Larson was 16th (16:34), Cira was 18th (16:46) and Maciag was 20th (16:50). This gave us a total of 67 points. St. Ignatius acquired 63 to take the number two spot. I thought we just missed 2nd place and got 3rd. I was only half right. Even though our fifth runner beat Fenwick’s fourth, they also scored 67 points by placing 3 finishers in the top 10. Because we had no 6th man, they beat us on the tie-breaker. To sum up, we finished four points from second, tied for 3rd, but lost because two runners dropped out.
As you can see, for a team that in my opinion is clearly the second best team in the league, a 4th place finish was unexpected and honestly a little crushing. But just as in 2007, there were some positive moments, and it didn’t take me until the bus ride home this time to recognize them.
All five of our finishers raced well and earned All-Catholic League status. Our training is progressing exactly how I envisioned it would in August. We’re showing signs that we are ready to race aggressively and compete with confidence against the top teams in our sectional. The team is completing workouts comparable to the state qualifying team of 2001.
As we prepare for the Regional Meet, our issues from Saturday seem to be under control. Durkin and McClain appear to be getting healthier each day. This week will be a great test to see how we stack up against Sandburg, and if we truly are ready for the sectional race. Our 2-5 split (should have been 2-7) at Catholic League was 52 seconds. If we can get our full team firing on all cylinders, that can be reduced to 30 seconds, and possibly our 1-5 under a minute.
Saturday, we stay on the southside and return to a familiar site (Midlothian Meadows). Race time is 11:00 A.M. If your schedule permits, stop by to see the “Running Ugly” Crusaders as we attempt to repeat as Regional champions. The forecast is promising and looks to be much nicer than the last couple of days. And if it’s raining, then I guarantee it will be a great race to watch! I believe that we are tougher than many other teams and as I like to say, “The worse the weather, the better the day.”
Lastly, I would like to say a quick thank you to all the BRXC alums that were able to make it out to a meet this year and offer their support. It’s great when the current team can see and meet the people whose names they’ve seen on the record board or heard stories about. You are the ones who have kept the tradition and pride of the program going strong for so many years! Go Crusaders!!
Coach Waz
P.S. Once again, pics from the meet can be found at http://tdcsportspix.smugmug.com/
Coach Waz’s Blog – Wheeling Invite
This past Saturday, we made the trip north to Wheeling. We started going to this meet ten years ago, rather than taking the weekend off from racing. The meet has gotten very competitive in the last few years. This year would field three ranked teams including state power Belvidere North, as well as Barrington and Lake Zurich. I thought that if we ran well we could earn a top five finish.
I also knew that we would not be in our best racing shape since the team put in a very hard week of training. (Caddigan’s mileage for the week hit somewhere around 80.) We concluded the week with 28 200′s on Friday. I was extremely impressed with the way the team completed the workout. Two thoughts went through my head after the workout that I shared with the team. One was that no other team in the state is putting in the kind of work we are today, and the second was that the quality of the workout provided evidence of our fitness level. To me, it was a workout only a state qualifying team could complete. Even though we would not be fresh, I was hoping the team would show the same competitive spirit that they have all season…and they did.
This was our last race before Sectionals that would feature a similar sized field, so we would use this meet as a practice run for how we plan to race in three weeks. When we arrived at the meet, the conditions were perfect for racing. The problem was that the varsity race wasn’t scheduled to go off for nearly another 2.5 hours. It turned out to be a beautiful day to watch a cross country meet, but perhaps a little on the hotter side of ideal conditions for racing.
When the runners came around for the first time about half a mile into the race, the team was right where I wanted them to be. Caddigan was positioned in the lead pack of about ten runners. The chase pack consisted of Lake Zurich’s team, followed closely by Barrington, then the Crusaders. Over the next mile and a half, the race began to string out a bit and almost every one of our runners found themselves just a few places behind a St. Ignatius runner. I was paying particularly close attention to this, since this is a team we will be facing this weekend at Catholic League. The way the race unfolded gave me a good idea of how things would go a week later. If we could run just behind Ignatius today, I felt we were in good shape for the Catholic League race. The team results showed Ignatius in 4th with 132 points and us in 6th with 170, but we were closer than what these scores seem to indicate. With our legs being tired, we dropped a few spots on each runner in the last 400 meters. I expect just the opposite this week.
Caddigan crossed the line 8th, after running most of the last mile in 6th, in 15:38. Pat Maguire did not have his best race and finished 29th in 16:38. Aaron Larson continues to run very well and finished 41st in 16:53. Emmet McClain is healthy again and had his best race of the year and wound up 45th in 16:57. James Durkin lost touch of these guys early in the race and had a little trouble catching back up but still ran a respectable 16:59, good for 48th. This rounded out our scorers. Although Maguire and Durkin were a little further back from where I expected, the encouraging statistic is that our 2-5 split on this day was 21 seconds. If we are able to do this the next three races, we’re going to be having lots of fun and success!
If you’ve read this far, you already know that the Catholic League Championship is this Saturday at Midlothian Meadows on 155th Pulaski. It would be great if you could make it out, as I expect it to be a great day. If we run what we are capable of, I believe we can finish 2nd place. I would love to pull off the huge upset and beat heavily favored Loyola for the title. While this may not happen, we will definitely just not hand it over to them. They will need to earn it because we will be ready to go. It is also the first day our new uniforms make an appearance in competition. The varsity race begins at 11:30.
Go “Running Ugly” Crusaders!
Coach Waz
P.S. I’d like to send out a Congratulations to BRXC alum Mike Girzadas ’11, for running and completing his 1st marathon on Sunday. Also, if you are interested in checking out any pics from our meets this season, they are available online here. A VERY BIG THANK YOU to Mr. Tom Cira for his photography skills.
Coach Waz’s Blog – Loyola Lakefront Invite
This past Saturday definitely felt like cross country weather. When we got off the bus at the lakefront, the temperature struggled to reach 50 degrees. As previously mentioned, this is my favorite meet of the year. It’s a chance for the athletes to run on a great course in the heart of Chicago as well as a chance to catch up with alumni and old friends. Action for the Crusaders this day started off with the frosh/soph race. I knew that the runners would be slightly tired, since this would be their second race in three days after Thursday’s meet. James Durkin rebounded from a subpar performance Thursday, during which he got a cramp and dropped five spots in the final stretch. Saturday morning he looked much better from the start and competed like he had the first month of the season. By the mile, he was in 3rd place and wound up finishing 2nd in 17:13 on the windy 5k course. As a team, we came in 17th out of 26 schools.
Next up was the varsity race. It would feature 6 of the top 25 teams in the state. For the most part, I was not concerned with a team place this weekend, as much as I was with how they competed. The workout the team had on Tuesday leading up to the meet put me in a good place and indicated that the guys are ready to start running fast.
As the varsity race was about to start, the temperature started to sneak into low 60′s. The speakers by the starting line provided some motivational music just before the gun sounded. Coach Molenda and I positioned ourselves at about the 1200 meter mark on the course, which is just after the first tour of Cricket Hill. Caddigan was right in the middle of the first pack. He passed the mile in 4:53, a much more conservative start than he had in his last race. The next Crusaders to pass were Pat Maguire and Aaron Larson side by side, in good position. Tom Cira, Anthony Maciag, and Sean Waters were close with Emmet McClain a little bit behind. Emmet had encountered a minor ankle injury, so his strategy was to start out a little slower and move up when he could as the race progressed. The second time up Cricket Hill, the runners were much more spread apart, and I was able to get a good idea about how and where we were running. I felt that we were in good striking distance, but we still needed to make moves the last half mile to improve our team score.
Caddigan crossed the finish line 7th in 16:00. Newly appointed captain Pat Maguire was 36th in 16:38 and Aaron Larson was 52nd in 16:51. I was very satisfied with the way these three guys performed on that day. However, three guys don’t make a cross country team. The point we’ve been stressing for the entire season is our team is only as good as our 5th man. Tom Cira made up considerable ground in the last 600 meters and caught Maciag and McClain as all three finished within a second of each other at 127th, 128th, and 129th (17:35-17:36). Anyone looking at results could see that this is too big of a distance to have for any of your top five scorers. The team results showed us finishing 15th with 350 points. If Durkin’s time is inserted into the varsity race, we move up to 10th place. Hopefully by Catholic League, we can get five guys, if not seven, all clicking and functioning together as one team. For our team to achieve the success I believe it is capable of, we still need to work on racing as a team. The main goal is still to run a 30-35 second split on runners 2-5.
On Saturday we travel to Wheeling for a highly competitive meet. Belvidere North, Buffalo Grove, Lake Zurich, and Rolling Meadows (all state-ranked teams) will be there, as well as Catholic League rival St. Ignatius. The team will be somewhat fatigued when we toe the line Saturday, since we will get one last full week of hard training in, book-ended with intervals on Monday and Friday, as well as a hill workout Wednesday and morning workout and distance run Thursday. Next week we will back off a little to prepare for Catholic League.
In my opinion, the real season starts next week. I have complete confidence that we will be ready for the Catholic League meet as well as the state series to make a run at a state berth. This year we are hosting the conference meet on the south side at Midlothian Meadows. We plan to unveil some new uniforms that day, but will still stay true to our team motto of “Run Ugly!” It would be great to see some BRXC alums out there.
Go Crusaders!!
Coach Waz’s Blog – Peoria Notre Dame Invite
The Peoria Notre Dame meet has had the reputation of being a “pre-state meet” the last few years. Many teams circle the date on their schedules as a major check point for how their seasons have gone the first few weeks. This year we decided to make the trip to see how we stack up to the other top teams in the state, while keeping an extra eye on the teams in our sectional. Last Friday the day before the meet, the IHSA released the Regional and Sectional assignments for the state series. Br. Rice will compete in the Marist Regional at Midlothian Meadows, which feeds into the Lockport Sectional at Dellwood Park. I expected this would be the case as it has been this way for the last few years. The state did, however, make some changes from last season. This year there will be fifteen regionals around the state feeding into five sectionals. The top seven teams out of three regionals will advance to a particular sectional location. The top team in our regional, once again, is Sandburg. After looking at the teams assigned to Lockport, I believe that there will be eleven teams competing for a berth in the state finals, and we are one of those eleven teams. Nequa Valley and Hindsdale Central have separated themselves so far from the rest of the field. In my mind, this means that there will be nine schools battling each other for the three remaining spots. I talked to the team about this Saturday morning at breakfast before we got on the bus for the drive to Peoria.
After seeing the results from the Peoria meet the prior week, it was obvious that Saturday’s race was going to be fast and extremely competitive. Twelve of the top 25 ranked teams in 3A would be there along with six top 2A schools, headed by state powerhouse, Belvidere North.
This week we stressed running together. Dan Caddigan had a race strategy, then the remaining eight runners were supposed to be in groups of two (Pat Maguire & James Durkin), two (Aaron Larson & Emmet McClain), and three (Tom Cira, Anthony Maciag and Sean Waters). To have a chance at running on this course in November, our pack running needs to improve, especially our 2-5 second split.
Dan’s race strategy was not to worry about the leaders, but rather to hit the mile at 4:55, then come back with another 4:55, and then finish strong with whatever he had left the last mile. The leader from Oak Park paced about eight guys through the first mile in a blazing 4:38. Dan was back off the leaders in the second chase pack, but still a little too fast. We believe his split was around 4:43. This put him in approximately 27th place. Dan’s fast start ended up costing him a little in the end, and he wound up finishing 33rd in 15:10.
Our next finisher was Pat Maguire in 102nd place (15:45). James Durkin ran 16:07, Aaron Larson ran 16:22, and Emmet McClain ran 16:26 for our top five scorers. Even though all of these guys ran PR’s, I still thought we were not as good as we should have been. I was expecting everyone to be 10-15 seconds faster. As a team we finished in 25th place. The schools we will be chasing at sectionals finished 15th, 16th, 18th, 19th, and 23rd. All of these schools were separated by 120 points, which in a big meet such as this is not very much. If each person runs just five seconds faster, we improve our score by 50 points. Our 2-5 split was 41seconds. We still need to get that down to 30. Our sixth man was Tom Cira, who bounced back from the previous week’s race. He “negative splitted’ the second half of the race and ran 16:45. Anthony Maciag got spiked and his right shoe underwent a color change. He finished in 16:55. Sean Waters just missed a PR running 17:02.
Immediately after the race, my analysis was that we were too far back to do any damage. When the results came out, my spirits were slightly lifted. Because there were over 550 runners in the race, team scores tend to inflate quickly. Seeing how close we were and knowing that we did not have our best team race got me pumped up again that qualifying for the state meet is definitely within reach.
This week we do not have a race, which means we can get in a good, solid week of hard training. We are definitely going to work hard this week and pile up some quality miles, including some morning workouts. Hopefully, the team can now realize that the season is just now getting started and our goal is close enough they can start to taste it!
The next time we toe the line will be at Turtlehead Lake next Thursday, September 29, for the Andrew F/S Invite. The varsity’s next race is Saturday, October 1, at the Loyola Lakefront Invitational. It is also the biggest collegiate invite in the nation that weekend. This is my favorite course and meet of the whole year! There’s something about running along the lakefront with the Chicago skyline in the distance that gets the blood flowing a little bit quicker and the heart pumping just a little bit faster. I also look forward to seeing the college runners compete, especially the Br. Rice XC alums. It’s just a great day for Cross Country in Chicago. Hope some of you can make it out to the race.
Go “Runnin’ Ugly Crusaders!’
P.S. As I write this, we just finished our Tuesday interval workout of 5 x 1 mile. The team looked good. Caddigan’s splits were 4:55, 4:56, 4:54, 4:53, 4:53.
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