Congratulations to the Boys and Girls CC teams for such a successful year. The Girls finished with record of 9-1 and the boys finished 8-4.
2007 Westminster Academy Cross Country Awards
Step It Up Awards
--Someone who stepped up big time in a major meet to help contribute to the team in a major way.
District
Teddy Hess
Emily Carlson
Kayla Cochran
Regional
Michael Luzinski
Brittany Carey
State
Christian Wackes
Remmy Rickel
Circe Burnett
Bright Future Award
--Someone who showed throughout the year the potential to be a great athlete and never gave up.
Josh Longerbeam
Javier Pulido
Katie Auld
Character Award
--Someone who goes above and beyond displaying Christlike attitude and being a great example as to what we expect from our athletes
Dylan Burns
Ali Battista
Perseverance Award
--Someone who showed they would never give up no matter what obstacles they faced.
Thomas Carrie
Melissa Keightley
Kara Gahagen
Team Captain
Layna Roycraft
Teddy Hess
Michael Luzinski
Remmy Rickel
Christian Wackes
Most Improved Runner
Mark Newsom
Circe Burnett
Most Valuable Runner
Christian Wackes
Layna Roycraft
Tuesday, December 11, 2007
State Meet
What a great way to end our amazing season. It was a great day with beautiful weather, even if it was a little cold. In the end our kids went out and ran very well and represented Christ and WA well. I can’t be more proud of this group of athletes and the way they have carried themselves all season. What a great group of kids. We are certainly going to miss the Seniors. We had a great drive up on Thursday and Friday turned out to be great. We visited the course in the morning, discussed meet strategy and later in the day had a great relaxing time bowling. That night we had our final team meeting which was a great time to honor those running and let them know just how much of an impact they have made on the team. Saturday was an early, cold morning, but a great day to race. It was so great to have so many families there to cheer everyone on. I don’t recall too many other teams with the amount of parents we had there. Thanks for all you do.
The girls started everyone off running to a 22nd place finish. It was our 2nd best team average of the season, 2nd to our finish at the Markham Park meet which was an extremely fast course. This course was about as tough as it looked, rolling steady uphills and gradual downhills. Our team average was 22:48 which was 36 seconds faster than last week at Regionals. Leading the way for us in her final Cross Country race of a remarkable career at WA was Layna Roycraft. She raced to a 39th place finish running a great time of 20:28. That finish was 5th among all Seniors and overall that was the 10th fastest time among all girls from Broward County. Not only that but Layna did a great job balancing Cross Country training and not overdoing it and re-injuring her leg. On to track season! Running 2nd for us and having a remarkable bounce back race after a tough Regional meet was Circe Burnett. She did an outstanding job running 123rd overall in her first State meet. Her time of 22:49 was also only 7 seconds off her all time Personal Best. Running 3rd was Emily Carlson who also had a great race finishing 142nd with a time of 23:20, just 31 seconds off her Personal Best. That was also a great performance after a tough run at Regionals. Stepping up and running 4th was Kayla Cochran who ran 23:35, just 24 seconds off her Personal Best in her first State Meet. Continuing to impress was Brittany Carey who ran 23:47 which was only 15 seconds off her Personal Best. Kara Gahagen continued to gut out the season despite lots of pain in her knees running 24:46. Running 7th for us this week was Melissa Keightley. She stepped in for, freshman, Ali Battista giving Melissa one last opportunity to race for our Cross Country team running 25:56. I can’t tell you how happy I was to give Melissa one last opportunity, but I am equally happy by the way Ali carried herself knowing her times were just a little bit better than Melissa. Ali showed just how much character she has by asking that she not take a Senior’s place. Not only that, Melissa showed the same character by giving up her spot to Ali for the Regional meet. I pray that God continue to bless WA with girls who have the same character as Melissa and Ali.
The boys also had a great day with two Seniors running their all time Personal Best times in their last race. That’s a tough thing to do, but great job for Christian and Remmy. The team finished 24th overall and despite the place I am glad to say that at no time did they take the opportunity to run in the State meet lightly. Qualifying was not the main goal; it was to go out and run well and represent Christ and our school well. They also did a great job accomplishing that. Christian Wackes finished his Cross Country career by being our #1 runner for the entire season. He finished in 70th place with a Personal Best time of 18:11 taking 27 seconds off his previous PB. Running 2nd for us, which is what he did all year, was Teddy Hess. He finished 137th overall and ran 19:46. Running 3rd was Michael Luzinski who also finished off a great Cross Country career running 20:29, just 22 seconds off his PB. Thomas Carrie ran 4th for us running 20:38 which was just 2 seconds off his PB. He was followed closely by Remmy Rickel who ended his Cross Country career running his PB in a time of 20:39. Josh Longerbeam also had a good day running 20:50 which was 27 seconds off his PB. Running 7th for us was Dylan Burns who ran 20:52. Dylan takes this team over from a great group of Seniors as he will be the most experienced runner next year.
All in all I can’t tell you how much I am going to miss these teams next year. They have made some lasting memories and some great friendships that they will always remember. I am just glad that I had the opportunity to have a small influence in their lives and be a part of the journey that God is taking them on. The great thing is that they leave us in great hands and some high expectations that I believe the returning athletes will follow through on.
The girls started everyone off running to a 22nd place finish. It was our 2nd best team average of the season, 2nd to our finish at the Markham Park meet which was an extremely fast course. This course was about as tough as it looked, rolling steady uphills and gradual downhills. Our team average was 22:48 which was 36 seconds faster than last week at Regionals. Leading the way for us in her final Cross Country race of a remarkable career at WA was Layna Roycraft. She raced to a 39th place finish running a great time of 20:28. That finish was 5th among all Seniors and overall that was the 10th fastest time among all girls from Broward County. Not only that but Layna did a great job balancing Cross Country training and not overdoing it and re-injuring her leg. On to track season! Running 2nd for us and having a remarkable bounce back race after a tough Regional meet was Circe Burnett. She did an outstanding job running 123rd overall in her first State meet. Her time of 22:49 was also only 7 seconds off her all time Personal Best. Running 3rd was Emily Carlson who also had a great race finishing 142nd with a time of 23:20, just 31 seconds off her Personal Best. That was also a great performance after a tough run at Regionals. Stepping up and running 4th was Kayla Cochran who ran 23:35, just 24 seconds off her Personal Best in her first State Meet. Continuing to impress was Brittany Carey who ran 23:47 which was only 15 seconds off her Personal Best. Kara Gahagen continued to gut out the season despite lots of pain in her knees running 24:46. Running 7th for us this week was Melissa Keightley. She stepped in for, freshman, Ali Battista giving Melissa one last opportunity to race for our Cross Country team running 25:56. I can’t tell you how happy I was to give Melissa one last opportunity, but I am equally happy by the way Ali carried herself knowing her times were just a little bit better than Melissa. Ali showed just how much character she has by asking that she not take a Senior’s place. Not only that, Melissa showed the same character by giving up her spot to Ali for the Regional meet. I pray that God continue to bless WA with girls who have the same character as Melissa and Ali.
The boys also had a great day with two Seniors running their all time Personal Best times in their last race. That’s a tough thing to do, but great job for Christian and Remmy. The team finished 24th overall and despite the place I am glad to say that at no time did they take the opportunity to run in the State meet lightly. Qualifying was not the main goal; it was to go out and run well and represent Christ and our school well. They also did a great job accomplishing that. Christian Wackes finished his Cross Country career by being our #1 runner for the entire season. He finished in 70th place with a Personal Best time of 18:11 taking 27 seconds off his previous PB. Running 2nd for us, which is what he did all year, was Teddy Hess. He finished 137th overall and ran 19:46. Running 3rd was Michael Luzinski who also finished off a great Cross Country career running 20:29, just 22 seconds off his PB. Thomas Carrie ran 4th for us running 20:38 which was just 2 seconds off his PB. He was followed closely by Remmy Rickel who ended his Cross Country career running his PB in a time of 20:39. Josh Longerbeam also had a good day running 20:50 which was 27 seconds off his PB. Running 7th for us was Dylan Burns who ran 20:52. Dylan takes this team over from a great group of Seniors as he will be the most experienced runner next year.
All in all I can’t tell you how much I am going to miss these teams next year. They have made some lasting memories and some great friendships that they will always remember. I am just glad that I had the opportunity to have a small influence in their lives and be a part of the journey that God is taking them on. The great thing is that they leave us in great hands and some high expectations that I believe the returning athletes will follow through on.
Monday, November 19, 2007
National and State Champions among us--Malone and Brother Martin!
I just wanted to say that, Malone College, Canton, Ohio, where I was a Graduate Assistant Track Coach from 2002-2004 took home the National Championship. The men's Cross Country team led by legendary coach Jack Hazen won the NAIA Cross Country National Championship! They run an 8km race or 5 miles.
--From the Malone website--The Malone men's cross country team, led by veteran head coach Jack Hazen, has captured its first NAIA national title in 35 years and its second in school history at the NAIA National Championships in Kenosha, Wisconsin on Saturday, November 17th. Malone tallied 59 points to easily outdistance runner-up Black Hills State (SD) University, which had 202 points, to earn the second NAIA national title since the 1972 Pioneer men's cross country team accomplished the feat.Four Pioneer athletes earned NAIA All-America honors (top 30 runners) led by senior Ryan Kienzle (GlenOak H.S.) who finished second overall in a time of 24:24.9. Aaron Melhorn (Fr., Fairless H.S.) placed fourth in 24:44.7, Nik Schweikert (Jr., Beavercreek H.S.) came in 12th in 15:06.1 and Chris Sinick (So., Field H.S.) finished 26th in 25:25.3. James Zeuch (Fr., Galion H.S.) narrowly missed All-America honors by finishing 33rd in 25:34.4. In addition, Michael Coates (Sr., Sandy Valley H.S.) placed 46th in 25:42.5 and Paul Robinson (So., Field H.S.) came in 123rd in 26:28.2. In addition, Malone head coach Jack Hazen was named the NAIA National Men's Coach of the Year.The Malone men finished first in every meet it competed in this season, which is believed to be the only time that this has occurred in the history of Malone cross country.
In addition to that, congratulations to my high school Alma Mater, Brother Martin High School in New Orleans, LA and the Cross Country team for winning the Louisiana High School State Championship.
--From the Brother Martin Website--The Crusader Cross Country team brought home their 8th State Championship trophy. They scored the 34 points and defeated the nearest team by over 50 points. The team ran a perfect race as Kenneth Schiffman finished 3rd in 15:56, Matt Pieri finished 4th in 16:04, Colin Cisco finished 5th in 16:11, Will Kirkikis finished 11th in 16:21, Scott Richardson finished 13th in 16:25, Casey Keiser finished 15th in 16:29, and Daniel Richard finished 22nd in 16:48.
Uncle Paul and Aunt Ashley!
Well, they came 5 weeks earlier then her scheduled C-Section and 8 weeks from the original due date, but there here anyway. Ashley's brother and his wife Kami gave birth to their twin boys Kaden and Nolan Monday night at 8:13 and 8:14 in Boston. They are living there while Brandon gets his MBA at Harvard. Brandon and Kami are both graduates of the University of Michigan....Go Blue!!!
Monday, November 12, 2007
Girls and Boys Headed to State
WA Boys and Girls headed back to State! What a great accomplishment. We all knew it was going to take great effort and that’s exactly what we got. The boys, fighting for their Cross Country lives made a bold statement on just what they can do when under intense pressure. God was certainly glorified through the way they went out and ran. I am so excited that after much adversity and figuring out what this team would look like after losing the two top runners from last year (one to graduation) that they still went out and qualified. It only makes everything that much sweeter and meaningful. This team is one that we coaches and the boys will always remember as one of the greatest. They will be talked about for many years to come and as examples of great character.
The girls team also ran through some adversity and earned another week of this great season. Even though we did not finish where we hoped, this team is still good enough finish in the top of the pack.
The girls were led by Layna Roycraft who was determined to make her last race on our course her best and end with an Individual Regional Championship. She had some tough competition despite running her home course Personal Best time, 21:12, by dropping 10 seconds from her previous best but it turned out she would have needed just 8 more seconds. Still she finished 3rd overall and her highest finish at the Regional meet. What a great day knowing at the beginning of the year the goal was to just get through the season without getting injured or another stress fracture. Lord willing that is going to be the case and she should still be ready to go out and finish in the top 15 at the State meet and be ready for Track season. Running #2 and with a cold was Emily Carlson who shook off the illness for long enough to run a home course Season Best time of 23:38 and finish 28th overall. Kara Gahagen finished next for us despite being given a cane to help her walk as a joke by Emily. All year when it looked like she could barely walk she kept on going and would not quit and she still finished with an impressive 23:59 while running down athletes toward the finish. Interesting thing is that she said the cane helped her…..hopefully she doesn’t grow fond of it. Our next finisher, Brittany Carey, had without a doubt the race of day. Not only did she move from her consistent #6 runners spot to run 4th for us, but she also dropped 1 minute off her previous home course personal best time to finish with a time of 24:05! Such an outstanding performance for a young runner. Our next finisher was Kayla Cochran who I could also say had an outstanding day. She ran a home course personal best time of 24:08 taking 44 seconds off her previous best time! It was great to see both Kayla and Brittany come on to the track in the form they had and run such a great time. All their hard work is really paying off. Finishing next was Circe Burnett who had an extremely tough day. She normally would finish as our #3 or #4 runner, but just didn’t have a good race. Despite that she still came through and finished while most other runners would have probably quit. The great thing is that she gets another shot at it this coming weekend running in her 1st State meet. Stepping in this week and doing an excellent job was Ali Battista. She was our #7 runner and ran a great race finishing with a home course Personal Best time of 25:51 taking 35 seconds off her previous best time. All in all for the girls they did just what they needed to do. Girls stepped up and helped their team when a teammate was having a bad race and while another ran to her best Regional finish and in the process got her picture in the Sun-Sentinel (Sunday’s edition). Despite that they still managed to bring their team average down by 18 seconds to 23:42 and get back to the State meet after missing the opportunity last year. For the girls it is their 6th qualification since 2000.
Layna Roycraft with the top 3 finishers.For the boys they were led by Christian Wackes who ran a home course Personal Best dropping 24 seconds off his previous best time. Seemed like the trip to the Doctors for an inhaler payed off for him. It was really great to see him run so well. He finished 9th overall and individually qualified for the State meet with a time of 18:40. Running second was Teddy Hess who also ran a home course Personal Best, 19:26, dropping 14 seconds off his time. He remarked that after the race he felt the worst he has ever felt. That was a good thing because he pushed himself so hard and got the most out of his body. As he came on to the track I could tell that he was extremely spent but he still had some fight in him. With about 30m to go he passed Noah Thompson from Coral Springs Christian (07 State Pole Vault Champion) only to get out leaned at the finish and beat by .30 seconds. A tough way to end, but a great fight after such a great race and 5:43 first mile. Running third was Michael Luzinski who put himself in the same position as last year. I think he likes to be the person who comes through for the team when it matters the most. After finishing with a time of 21:38 at District I reminded him of what he did last year and how at Regionals he dropped about 1:30 from the previous week to make the difference for our Regional runner-up finish. This year we didn’t get a trophy, but Michael did drop 1:10 off his time from District and moved from being the #5 runner to the #3 runner with a time of 20:28. What a great accomplishment for the Senior. That time was also his Season Best. Running right behind him was Josh Longerbeam who earlier expressed that he wasn’t feeling like he was going to have a good day. Must have been the nerves talking. At District he said he was feeling great and expected to run extremely well, but ran 21:46. Well if he didn’t go out and do just the opposite. He ran a course Personal Best time of 20:48 taking 58 seconds off from the previous week to finish as our #4 runner. Running in the #5 spot was Thomas Carrie who continues to impress us with his ability. He also ran a home course Personal Best time of 20:54 taking 20 seconds off his previous best. Rounding out the pack for us were Remmy Rickel and Dylan Burns. They ran together the entire race and both had great days. Remmy out sprinted Dylan to the finish to run 21:30, just 5 seconds off his personal best he set at District. Dylan also had a great day bouncing back from the ankle injury at District to run a home course personal best of 21:32, taking 14 seconds off his previous time. All in all the boys came into the meet seeded 7th overall and knew they could have well ended up staying home the following week, but they were just determined that they were going to trust God and do everything they could to earn another trip to State. They finished 5th overall, just 2 points ahead of Archbishop Curley leaving Miami Country Day in the tough 7th spot and first time to not qualify. With that finish the WA boys have earned their 5th consecutive trip to the State Meet and their 6th since 2000. They also turned in their best team average at home this year dropping on average 38 seconds to finish with 20:03 (Add up the top five times and divide by 5).
Teddy Hess in the battle of Track State Champions with Noah Thompson from Coral Springs Christian.
Josh Longerbeam at 2 mile hill.
Thomas Carrie on track for a home course PB.Thanks to all who helped out and make Saturday such a memorable day. I can’t be more impressed with how this team continues to step up to the challenges in front of them and overcome them. I look forward to a great State Meet and making more memories.
Friday, November 9, 2007
MIAMI HEARLD ARTICLE
Here is the link to the article on Layna and our girls team from the Miami Herald.
http://www.miamiherald.com/619/story/299961.html
Here is a copy of the article:
MIAMI HERALD
CROSS-COUNTRY
Senior recovers to chase state title
Senior Layna Roycraft, back from a leg injury, hopes to help Westminster Academy qualify for the the state finals.
Posted on Thu, Nov. 08, 2007
BY FABIAN LYON
flyon@MiamiHerald.com
When Layna Roycraft won the District 7-1A title last Friday, it earned the Westminster Academy senior more than a qualifying spot in the Region 4-1A Championships.
The victory also brought Roycraft a step closer to the state finals berth that was thwarted by a stress fracture last season.
Now brimming with confidence after an injury-free season that has launched her to the sixth-best time in Broward (19:33), Roycraft is expected to place among the top three runners and help the Lions qualify for the FHSAA finals in Dade City on Nov. 17.
''This is my last chance to be a region champion, I need to do it,'' Roycraft said. ``I had a stress fracture on my right fibula which eventually broke. I was doubtful when I first came back from the injury. Now I know I can do it.''
Roycraft, who showed her grit by running with the fracture through her junior track and cross country seasons, has come back better than ever.
She enters Saturday's meet at the Westminster Academy Complex with a career-best 19:33 (No. 14 in the flrunners.com Class 1A rankings) set on Oct. 24.
Roycraft started her senior season on a strong note, placing second at the Palm Beach Central Invitational and first at the Miami Country Day Invitational. She also finished third at the Westminster Academy Invitational, second at the Spanish River Invitational and first at the South Atlantic Coast Conference Championships on Oct. 18.
''I think this year Layna realized how much more work she needed to do to get to that next level,'' said Lions coach Paul Baur. ``I am looking forward to seeing what she can do at regionals. Dade Christian will try to run in front of her and Layna knows that. It will be good to see her run with a little bit of pressure.''
Roycraft is enjoying her moment in the sun after a prolonged recovery from a stress fracture. After sitting out most of last season to allow the fracture to heal, Roycraft returned for the postseason in hopes of extending the Lions four-year run to the state tournament.
Roycraft labored through the pain and advanced to regionals but ultimately fell short, along with her teammates, of earning a qualifying spot to the state finals.
''To not make it to states was really hard,'' said Roycraft. ``We had made it since my seventh grade year. To watch our boys team compete without us was horrible. We knew that we should have been out there.''
While Dade Christian is the overwhelming favorite to win the girls region title, the Lions should be in the mix, along with Miami Country Day, for the runner-up spot.
The Lions are looking to carry over the momentum from their district title when Roycraft, Emily Carlson, Kara Gahagen, Circe Burnett, Kayla Cochran and Brittany Carey placed in the top 16.
Meanwhile, Roycraft's main competition for the individual title figures to be Dade Christian eighth-grader Giselle Suarez, who won the District 8-1A title in 20:25.
But no matter how her final cross country race at home unfolds, Roycraft said she already considers herself a more complete runner because of the trials she has had to overcome.
''`Going through the injury made me a stronger person and stronger athlete,'' Roycraft said. ``The older you get, the more you are going to mature. Mentally it has taken more. That has impacted my performance.''
http://www.miamiherald.com/619/story/299961.html
Here is a copy of the article:
MIAMI HERALD
CROSS-COUNTRY
Senior recovers to chase state title
Senior Layna Roycraft, back from a leg injury, hopes to help Westminster Academy qualify for the the state finals.
Posted on Thu, Nov. 08, 2007
BY FABIAN LYON
flyon@MiamiHerald.com
When Layna Roycraft won the District 7-1A title last Friday, it earned the Westminster Academy senior more than a qualifying spot in the Region 4-1A Championships.
The victory also brought Roycraft a step closer to the state finals berth that was thwarted by a stress fracture last season.
Now brimming with confidence after an injury-free season that has launched her to the sixth-best time in Broward (19:33), Roycraft is expected to place among the top three runners and help the Lions qualify for the FHSAA finals in Dade City on Nov. 17.
''This is my last chance to be a region champion, I need to do it,'' Roycraft said. ``I had a stress fracture on my right fibula which eventually broke. I was doubtful when I first came back from the injury. Now I know I can do it.''
Roycraft, who showed her grit by running with the fracture through her junior track and cross country seasons, has come back better than ever.
She enters Saturday's meet at the Westminster Academy Complex with a career-best 19:33 (No. 14 in the flrunners.com Class 1A rankings) set on Oct. 24.
Roycraft started her senior season on a strong note, placing second at the Palm Beach Central Invitational and first at the Miami Country Day Invitational. She also finished third at the Westminster Academy Invitational, second at the Spanish River Invitational and first at the South Atlantic Coast Conference Championships on Oct. 18.
''I think this year Layna realized how much more work she needed to do to get to that next level,'' said Lions coach Paul Baur. ``I am looking forward to seeing what she can do at regionals. Dade Christian will try to run in front of her and Layna knows that. It will be good to see her run with a little bit of pressure.''
Roycraft is enjoying her moment in the sun after a prolonged recovery from a stress fracture. After sitting out most of last season to allow the fracture to heal, Roycraft returned for the postseason in hopes of extending the Lions four-year run to the state tournament.
Roycraft labored through the pain and advanced to regionals but ultimately fell short, along with her teammates, of earning a qualifying spot to the state finals.
''To not make it to states was really hard,'' said Roycraft. ``We had made it since my seventh grade year. To watch our boys team compete without us was horrible. We knew that we should have been out there.''
While Dade Christian is the overwhelming favorite to win the girls region title, the Lions should be in the mix, along with Miami Country Day, for the runner-up spot.
The Lions are looking to carry over the momentum from their district title when Roycraft, Emily Carlson, Kara Gahagen, Circe Burnett, Kayla Cochran and Brittany Carey placed in the top 16.
Meanwhile, Roycraft's main competition for the individual title figures to be Dade Christian eighth-grader Giselle Suarez, who won the District 8-1A title in 20:25.
But no matter how her final cross country race at home unfolds, Roycraft said she already considers herself a more complete runner because of the trials she has had to overcome.
''`Going through the injury made me a stronger person and stronger athlete,'' Roycraft said. ``The older you get, the more you are going to mature. Mentally it has taken more. That has impacted my performance.''
Sunday, November 4, 2007
BACK TO BACK TO BACK ('05-'06-'07) GIRLS DISTRICT CHAMPIONS
Back to Back to Back District Champions! What a great day for our girls team. Covered in red and blue body paint they went out and took care of business finishing 1st with a score of 43 points. With that win they have now won 3 District Championships in a row (2005, 2006, 2007)! The runner up was Boca Christian who had 66 points. The girls were led by individual District Champion, Layna Roycraft who ran uncontested for the title in a time of 21:35. Running second while chasing down competitors at the finish was Emily Carlson who finished 6th overall in a home course season best time of 23:43. Kara Gahagen finished next in 10th place while leading the next pack of finishers with a time of 24:08. Circe Burnett also had a great day running her fastest time on our course while passing a competitor at the line to finish in 12th place in a time of 24:12. Kayla Cochran was our next finisher, 15th overall, also running a home course personal best time of 24:52 to take the final spot for individual honors. The great thing was that the next finisher was Brittany Carey who also ran a home course personal best time of 25:05. That was very good to place 5 runners in the top 15 and 6 in the top 16! Our 7th runner was Melissa Keightley who ran a time of 26:58 which was also good enough to displace many teams’ top five runners.
Five Girls in the top 15! (Kayla-15, Layna-1, Emily-6, Kara-10, Circe-12) 
Layna running away with the District Championship!
Christian Wackes, 6th overall, and Teddy Hess, 9th overall approaching the 1st hill.
The boys heading up the first set of hills.The boys also had a good day doing what they were supposed to do, go out and qualify for next week's regional meet. They finished 3rd overall with 97 points, 2nd place had 64 points and 4th had 125 points. The boys were led by Christian Wackes who had a great day to finish 6th overall with a time of 19:26 all the while just narrowly out leaning the next competitor. Teddy Hess finished next coming on to the track with a good bit of energy left. His strength and experience helped him to a home course personal best, 9th place finish and the ability to hold off the runner from Sheridan Hills who did his best to pass Teddy only to come crashing at the finish. Teddy finished with a time of 19:40. Finishing 3rd for the teams also running a home course personal best was Thomas Carrie who finished in 21:14. He was followed by Remmy Rickel who had his breakout race of the season running his season best time and also a home course personal best of 21:25. Running 5th for the team was Michael Luzinski who finished with a time of 21:38 and one place ahead of teammate Josh Longerbeam. Josh finished in a time of 21:46 while Dylan Burns finished in 22:43. Now what began as such a great start for those final 3 turned out to be a tough day. Heading into the hills they were running together, but Dylan fell which prompted his fellow teammates to briefly stop to check on Dylan. Dylan turned out ok, but the injury to his ankle seemed costly to him and his teammates who continued the race but with a big concern for their teammate. All in all this was a day that a minor disaster could happen and we would still advance. In the end the guys know as prepared as they were they went away shaken, but hungry. It's a great thing for second chances and the boys have one coming up at Regionals.
CUSTOM UNIFORM FOR BERTHA
Circe Burnett accomplished her goal of running in the 22's and like a good Coach I came through on my promise. Here is Circe with Bertha the porpoise along with Bertha's custom uniform. Thank goodness for large dogs and Coach Doria's sewing ability.
Sunday, October 28, 2007
Markham Park Meet
Yesterday was just what we were looking for! All the hard work we have been putting in and now we were ready to go out and really run fast.....and we did! All of our runners competed yesterday and out of the 13 boys, 9 had Personal Bests, and 3 had Season Best times. Out of the 13 girls that ran yesterday, 12 had Personal Best times with Kara running her Season Best time. To clarify those that did not have their Personal Best, Christian Wackes and Michael Luzinski were both 1 second off their PB times. Kara Gahagen's fastest time was recorded back in 2002 when she was in 6th grade when she last competed.
Overall for the meet both the girls and boys teams finished 1st overall bringing their regular season records to 9-1 for the girls and 8-4 for the boys. But even more importantly was the look in their eyes before the race. They were extremely determined and approached the line ready to go out and do their best.
The girls were led by Layna Roycraft who probably ran one of the best races by a female runner in Broward County this year. She ran a Personal Best time, by 41 seconds, of 19:33 and finished 1st, her 4th victory of the year. In addition to that her time moves her from 12th in the Sun-Sentinel's All-Broward Country rankings to 5th overall. But that's not it. Her time also ranks her 10th overall in the State according to the FACA/Flrunners.com rankings. It seems like her recruiting visit to the University of South Carolina this past weekend did her well in getting her ready to run fast. Running 7th overall and #2 for the team was Emily Carlson who looked really strong the entire race. She ran a PB by 52 seconds to finish in 22:19. Running in the #3 spot was Circe Burnett who took 1:45 off her time to finish in a PB time of 22:42. As excited as she was to do this I believe the most excited person was Circe's friend Bertha. Bertha is not her brother or sister, but her inflatable porpoise......yes, that's right. Ever since it caught her eye while visiting the WA school store last year she had to have it. Even though it wasn't for sale Mrs. Wackes though $3 would be a fair deal. Why is "Bertha" happy? Well before the season started I agreed to a little wager that if Circe ran in the 23's I would give her a uniform for Bertha, but I also went as far as to say I would get her a custom made uniform if she ran in the 22's. Well needless I will be searching for something that's about a size 2 in porpoise.
Finishing 10th overall and our #4 runner was Kara Gahagen who despite lots of pain continues to do just what she needs to do to compete. She had a Season Best time of 22:52. Our next three finishers were part of a group of girls that dropped over 2 minutes. Kayla Cochran (2:00), Brittany Carey (2:03) and Ali Battista (2:19) ran 12,15 and 16 respectively. Our next finisher was determined to make a statement even though she has struggled with breathing problems all season. The weather turned out to be her friend and while still not 100% she managed to drop 48 seconds to run 23:41. One second behind her was Katie Auld who had her breakout race of the year and did what I knew she was capable of doing all year. She dropped the second most time for girls. She improved 2:56 to finish with a PB of 23:42. Rounding out the finish for our girls was Nathalie Grosz-Tenger who dropped :59 to run 24:43 and Tawny Grogin who dropped 2:41 to run 25:06. But the biggest improvement for our girls came from 6th grader Jessica Madhukar. She dropped 5:26 from her best time to run in a blazing 24:54! What a great accomplishment for just a beginner.
The boys were led by Christian Wackes who looked for the shortest distance to run, but sacrificed some time by running in the high grass. You were allowed either the road or just off the road on the grass as the course. Despite that he finished 1st for his 2nd victory of the year and 1 second off her PB with a time of 18:39. Running right on his heels was Teddy Hess who had an outstanding breakout race. He dropped 1:12 from his time and finished 2nd with a time of 18:41. A very good time for a sprinter. Running in the #3 spot and finishing 10th overall was Michael Luzinski who before the race led one of the most bizarre cheers I have ever heard. The problem is that nobody understood what we were saying, but they looked afraid when we were done. He ran a season best time of 20:08, just 1 second off his PB. The biggest improvement yesterday was turned in by Dylan Burns (pictured). He dropped 1:37 to run in the #4 spot and finish with a PB time of 20:09. The next group of guys rounded out our top 7 by all running PB times. Josh Longerbeam dropped 1:03 to run 20:23, Thomas Carrie dropped :50 to run 20:36 and Timmy Moses dropped 1:03 to run 20:57. Finishing next and running an extremely consistent race was Mark Newsom. He dropped 1:28 to run a PB of 21:13. Running a SB time of 21:38 was Remmy Rickel while Ryan Sharpe took off 1:33 to finish with 22:02. Next was Javier Pulido who has been recovering from an injury. He was not planning on running, but ended up learning how to try to run your best when you are not at your best. Afterwards he said he was very glad that he ran and his teammates had the same sentiment for him as he ran 22:02 which is just a few seconds off his PB. Rounding out the teams were Javier Pena, 22:06, and David Luzinski, 22:49, who also ran PB times dropping 1:06 and :57 respectively.
All in all yesterday felt like Christmas. Getting so many gifts and being so excited you kind of feel overwhelmed, but in a very good way. I have to say that yesterday's meet is just what we were looking for right before the Championship part of our season. From here on out it's all about racing and competing. Times will not matter much as long as you are focused on place and passing people up. Our focus not is getting our teams to move on to the next meet. Lord willing this is just the start of an amazing end of the year!
Overall for the meet both the girls and boys teams finished 1st overall bringing their regular season records to 9-1 for the girls and 8-4 for the boys. But even more importantly was the look in their eyes before the race. They were extremely determined and approached the line ready to go out and do their best.
The girls were led by Layna Roycraft who probably ran one of the best races by a female runner in Broward County this year. She ran a Personal Best time, by 41 seconds, of 19:33 and finished 1st, her 4th victory of the year. In addition to that her time moves her from 12th in the Sun-Sentinel's All-Broward Country rankings to 5th overall. But that's not it. Her time also ranks her 10th overall in the State according to the FACA/Flrunners.com rankings. It seems like her recruiting visit to the University of South Carolina this past weekend did her well in getting her ready to run fast. Running 7th overall and #2 for the team was Emily Carlson who looked really strong the entire race. She ran a PB by 52 seconds to finish in 22:19. Running in the #3 spot was Circe Burnett who took 1:45 off her time to finish in a PB time of 22:42. As excited as she was to do this I believe the most excited person was Circe's friend Bertha. Bertha is not her brother or sister, but her inflatable porpoise......yes, that's right. Ever since it caught her eye while visiting the WA school store last year she had to have it. Even though it wasn't for sale Mrs. Wackes though $3 would be a fair deal. Why is "Bertha" happy? Well before the season started I agreed to a little wager that if Circe ran in the 23's I would give her a uniform for Bertha, but I also went as far as to say I would get her a custom made uniform if she ran in the 22's. Well needless I will be searching for something that's about a size 2 in porpoise.
Finishing 10th overall and our #4 runner was Kara Gahagen who despite lots of pain continues to do just what she needs to do to compete. She had a Season Best time of 22:52. Our next three finishers were part of a group of girls that dropped over 2 minutes. Kayla Cochran (2:00), Brittany Carey (2:03) and Ali Battista (2:19) ran 12,15 and 16 respectively. Our next finisher was determined to make a statement even though she has struggled with breathing problems all season. The weather turned out to be her friend and while still not 100% she managed to drop 48 seconds to run 23:41. One second behind her was Katie Auld who had her breakout race of the year and did what I knew she was capable of doing all year. She dropped the second most time for girls. She improved 2:56 to finish with a PB of 23:42. Rounding out the finish for our girls was Nathalie Grosz-Tenger who dropped :59 to run 24:43 and Tawny Grogin who dropped 2:41 to run 25:06. But the biggest improvement for our girls came from 6th grader Jessica Madhukar. She dropped 5:26 from her best time to run in a blazing 24:54! What a great accomplishment for just a beginner.
The boys were led by Christian Wackes who looked for the shortest distance to run, but sacrificed some time by running in the high grass. You were allowed either the road or just off the road on the grass as the course. Despite that he finished 1st for his 2nd victory of the year and 1 second off her PB with a time of 18:39. Running right on his heels was Teddy Hess who had an outstanding breakout race. He dropped 1:12 from his time and finished 2nd with a time of 18:41. A very good time for a sprinter. Running in the #3 spot and finishing 10th overall was Michael Luzinski who before the race led one of the most bizarre cheers I have ever heard. The problem is that nobody understood what we were saying, but they looked afraid when we were done. He ran a season best time of 20:08, just 1 second off his PB. The biggest improvement yesterday was turned in by Dylan Burns (pictured). He dropped 1:37 to run in the #4 spot and finish with a PB time of 20:09. The next group of guys rounded out our top 7 by all running PB times. Josh Longerbeam dropped 1:03 to run 20:23, Thomas Carrie dropped :50 to run 20:36 and Timmy Moses dropped 1:03 to run 20:57. Finishing next and running an extremely consistent race was Mark Newsom. He dropped 1:28 to run a PB of 21:13. Running a SB time of 21:38 was Remmy Rickel while Ryan Sharpe took off 1:33 to finish with 22:02. Next was Javier Pulido who has been recovering from an injury. He was not planning on running, but ended up learning how to try to run your best when you are not at your best. Afterwards he said he was very glad that he ran and his teammates had the same sentiment for him as he ran 22:02 which is just a few seconds off his PB. Rounding out the teams were Javier Pena, 22:06, and David Luzinski, 22:49, who also ran PB times dropping 1:06 and :57 respectively.
All in all yesterday felt like Christmas. Getting so many gifts and being so excited you kind of feel overwhelmed, but in a very good way. I have to say that yesterday's meet is just what we were looking for right before the Championship part of our season. From here on out it's all about racing and competing. Times will not matter much as long as you are focused on place and passing people up. Our focus not is getting our teams to move on to the next meet. Lord willing this is just the start of an amazing end of the year!
Tuesday, October 23, 2007
Footsteps of Faith article from Sun-Sentinel
Here is the link to the article on Layna and our Cross Country program from Sharon Robb of the Sun-Sentinel. It originally ran on Wednesday, October 10th, 2007.
http://www.sun-sentinel.com/sports/highschool/trackandfield/sfl-flspbrowcc10nboct10,0,6367700.story
Here is the text of the article:
Small-school runners follow in footsteps of faith
By SHARON ROBB South Florida Sun-Sentinel
October 10, 2007
Keeping the faith has a special meaning for Layna Roycraft and Stefon Napier.Roycraft, of Westminster Academy, and Napier, of Upperroom Christian, run for two of the county's more established small-school cross country programs steeped in Christian values.But what else these runners have in common is they are ranked among the county's top 15.
Napier, a sophomore, is ranked fourth among mostly large-school runners. Roycraft, a senior, is No. 12."Running cross country is a great equalizer for runners in all the classes. Some of the fastest times are in 1A and 2A," she said. "For sports like football and basketball the classes definitely matter, but for running it doesn't."Roycraft has been running cross country since seventh grade because she attends a private school. She is following in the footsteps of her older sister, Loren. The additional two years of experience have helped, she said. Most high school runners start running their freshman year.Last year, Roycraft ran a season-best 20 minutes and 14 seconds for 3.1 miles and is looking to run sub-20 minutes this year."When you're young, you learn more what it's about," Roycraft said. "It's not so much that you are that fast back then, but you learn what kind of commitment it takes. I am really happy I started out when I did."For Roycraft, it's not all about winning or running fast, she said."We believe we are running for God's glory and we go out and give 100 percent," Roycraft said. "With that kind of mentality we are just a closer team and we know we are working and praying together. We just stay positive. "It's not the most exciting sport to watch and people are always asking me, 'How do you do that stuff?' But I love to run. It's what I am good at."
Westminster Academy fourth-year cross country coach Paul Baur and his wife, Ashley, are in charge of the school's Fellowship of Christian Athletes."Our goal in that is to encourage athletes to grow in their relationship with Christ and to use the platform of athletics to be witnesses and examples for him," Baur said.
Upperroom Christian coach Jimmie Butler, a former star runner at Stranahan and Appalachian State, echoes Baur's sentiments. Butler, a pastor, has used running to stress life's lessons through discipline and dedication in his 13 years of coaching. "This sport is helping to teach these kids that life is a marathon," Butler said. "It's a race of patience, discipline and not giving up. I am just trying to educate the kids all the time and our results seem to be favorable. "Our faith is a very strong part of it because sometimes kids can be influenced by a lot of the elements out there. I just want to help that kid believe in himself and his creator and that there is something better in life. I don't want them to feel that running is a job, but something they like to do."Napier and teammates Marc-Kender Cheribin, James Dorcius and Jahmaine Richards are hoping to repeat as district champions this year."I think if you believe and work hard you can accomplish anything you set your mind to," said Napier, coming off a summer of Junior Olympic meets. "I know I have to work hard. I'm not always consistent but I run because I love it. I don't care who I run against, large or small schools, I just want to better myself as a runner and person."
Upperroom Christian will compete against 30 teams at the inaugural Broward County Championships on Friday at Mills Pond Park in Fort Lauderdale. Westminster Academy is traveling to New York to run the Manhattan Invitational on Saturday.Sharon Robb can be reached at srobb@sun-sentinel.com
http://www.sun-sentinel.com/sports/highschool/trackandfield/sfl-flspbrowcc10nboct10,0,6367700.story
Here is the text of the article:
Small-school runners follow in footsteps of faith
By SHARON ROBB South Florida Sun-Sentinel
October 10, 2007
Keeping the faith has a special meaning for Layna Roycraft and Stefon Napier.Roycraft, of Westminster Academy, and Napier, of Upperroom Christian, run for two of the county's more established small-school cross country programs steeped in Christian values.But what else these runners have in common is they are ranked among the county's top 15.
Napier, a sophomore, is ranked fourth among mostly large-school runners. Roycraft, a senior, is No. 12."Running cross country is a great equalizer for runners in all the classes. Some of the fastest times are in 1A and 2A," she said. "For sports like football and basketball the classes definitely matter, but for running it doesn't."Roycraft has been running cross country since seventh grade because she attends a private school. She is following in the footsteps of her older sister, Loren. The additional two years of experience have helped, she said. Most high school runners start running their freshman year.Last year, Roycraft ran a season-best 20 minutes and 14 seconds for 3.1 miles and is looking to run sub-20 minutes this year."When you're young, you learn more what it's about," Roycraft said. "It's not so much that you are that fast back then, but you learn what kind of commitment it takes. I am really happy I started out when I did."For Roycraft, it's not all about winning or running fast, she said."We believe we are running for God's glory and we go out and give 100 percent," Roycraft said. "With that kind of mentality we are just a closer team and we know we are working and praying together. We just stay positive. "It's not the most exciting sport to watch and people are always asking me, 'How do you do that stuff?' But I love to run. It's what I am good at."
Westminster Academy fourth-year cross country coach Paul Baur and his wife, Ashley, are in charge of the school's Fellowship of Christian Athletes."Our goal in that is to encourage athletes to grow in their relationship with Christ and to use the platform of athletics to be witnesses and examples for him," Baur said.
Upperroom Christian coach Jimmie Butler, a former star runner at Stranahan and Appalachian State, echoes Baur's sentiments. Butler, a pastor, has used running to stress life's lessons through discipline and dedication in his 13 years of coaching. "This sport is helping to teach these kids that life is a marathon," Butler said. "It's a race of patience, discipline and not giving up. I am just trying to educate the kids all the time and our results seem to be favorable. "Our faith is a very strong part of it because sometimes kids can be influenced by a lot of the elements out there. I just want to help that kid believe in himself and his creator and that there is something better in life. I don't want them to feel that running is a job, but something they like to do."Napier and teammates Marc-Kender Cheribin, James Dorcius and Jahmaine Richards are hoping to repeat as district champions this year."I think if you believe and work hard you can accomplish anything you set your mind to," said Napier, coming off a summer of Junior Olympic meets. "I know I have to work hard. I'm not always consistent but I run because I love it. I don't care who I run against, large or small schools, I just want to better myself as a runner and person."
Upperroom Christian will compete against 30 teams at the inaugural Broward County Championships on Friday at Mills Pond Park in Fort Lauderdale. Westminster Academy is traveling to New York to run the Manhattan Invitational on Saturday.Sharon Robb can be reached at srobb@sun-sentinel.com
Monday, October 22, 2007
Coach Baur's Sprint Triathon--Insanity at it's best!
Yes, I am absolutely crazy. Thanks to my wife's uncle, Walt Jominy or Mr. Jominy--fellow teacher at WA. We decided we would enter into a Sprint Triathlon this past Sunday morning at Tradewinds Park. The crazy part was that we didn't plan this until the day before and spent the rest of our Saturday making sure we would have the right gear to survive the race. The triathlon consisted of a 1/4 mile swim, a 10 mile bike and a 2.5 mile run. I thought why not do it. It sounded fun and the variety intrigued me. Doing well was not hinged on one event. Before the race we received a few sets of numbers and our yellow swim cap to distinguish our group. One number was to stick on the front of our bike helmet, one to put on our shirt or race belt for the run and one to put on our bike frame. They also wrote our numbers in permanent marker on each arm and right quad and then put our age on the back of our left calf. I think the age part was just to motivate everyone when they saw someone older in front of them to go faster, but who know the reason why? We were set to go off in the last group called "first timers". While the first 3 groups went off on their swim we anxiously waited to begin while trying not to get bitten by ants. When we were finally given the start I felt I would do pretty well being that I swam competitively since I was 7 and up and through high school. But within 10 strokes into the race I had a problem. The timing chip that was on a velcro strap affixed around my right calf slid down to my ankle and was beginning to come off. I immediately stopped and tried to first stop it from falling to the depths of the murky water then undo it and put it back on so it wouldn't come off. In the process Uncle Wally noticed what he thought was just some random guy drowning and and immediately alerted lifeguards. But after about 15-20 seconds and before the lifeguard to get there I had the strap back on my leg. That's when I noticed that my group was pretty far in front of me. I gave it my all and pretty quickly caught up to and passed my entire group. But I then proceded to catch up to the group that started 2-3 minutes before us and pass up a good bit of those people. I have to say that was one of my proudest comebacks as an athlete in my entire life. I got out of the water, pretty delirious and headed into the transition area to get my bike. My time for the swim was 7:12, but if you take off my sinking time I without a doubt finished in less than 7 minutes. Good enough for 1st in my group of 1st time males under age 40.After an embarassing transition time of 4:19 it was off to my $185 Diamondback Outlook bike that got me to and from class on the campuses of UF and Malone College. The biking part turned out to be pretty stupid due to the fact that I was on one of the toughest gears to try and keep up with women in their 40s on $1500 bikes. But hey I was the only one with my type of bike, a camelback and offroading gloves! During the beginning of the ride I noticed that I was not sweating and needed to force myself to drink my water. Even thought I didn't want too it made a big difference and after a few minutes I felt better. Towards the last mile I went to an easier gear to try and help my legs recover and flush out some of the lactic acid before the run. That didn't help. I ended with a time of 37:31, officially 38:28 depending where they got the split and two seconds behind Uncle Wally. I was a little faster this time in transition going 2:59 while enjoying a chocolate electrolyte gel.
By the time I got to the run I felt like I replaced my legs with mahogany tree trunks. They were super heavy, but I just started passing people up and shocked myself with the times I was running. They had markers at each half mile. My splits were 3:17 and 3:38 for the first mile (6:55 total), 3:39 and 3:37 for the second mile (7:16). The last half mile doesn't make any sense. I ran 4:15 to bring my total to 18:26. The good thing is that I passed up at least 30 people and had the 3rd fastest time for my group. Overall the biking part and my slow transition time killed me and contributed to my 8th place finish out of 19 in my group. My official total time was 1:10:32.025. That's 1 hour, ten minutes and 32 seconds. On my watch I had 7:18 of transition time. Most people had between 2 and 4 minutes.
All in all I have to say I was really happy with my performance. Without a doubt this makes running 5k's similar to watching paint dry. I can't wait until I can do another one, but maybe I will do some training first.
Thursday, October 18, 2007
SOUTH ATLANTIC COAST CONFERENCE MEET--October 18, 2007
It was our first time participating in the SACC, South Atlantic Coast Conference, and today we made a big first impression. Our girls team is the Conference Champion and we also placed 5 of our girls on the All-Conference Team. Those girls are Layna Roycraft, Kara Gahagen (pictured), Emily Carlson, Circe Burnett and Kayla Cochran. Great job as we start building momentum towards our District meet. Conference Champion was Layna Roycraft with a time of 21:42. She was followed by Kara Gahagen who finished 3rd with a Season Best time of 23:55. Other outstanding performances were turned in by Kayla Cochran, PB time of 25:12 and 7th overall, and Brittany Carey who also ran a PB time of 25:35 finishing 8th. All in all we placed 7 girls in the top 10. What a great accomplishment!
Congratulations to the boys team who ran an outstanding race. They finished as Conference Runner-up by only 5 points, but continue to impress and get faster. Christian Wackes, 2nd overall in 19:30 and Teddy Hess, 6th overall in 20:28 were named to the All-Conference Team. Outstanding performances were turned in by Michael Luzinski who went out in 6:17 only to follow it up with a 7:27 and finish the last 1.1 mile in 7:41 to run a Season Best time of 21:26 and finish 9th overall. Dylan Burns also ran a PB time with 21:46 while Timmy Moses and Mark Newsom both turned in WA Personal Best times running 22:41 and 22:45 respectively. Those two also were among the 8 WA runners that finished ahead of the #5 Coral Springs Christian runner.
Congratulations to the boys team who ran an outstanding race. They finished as Conference Runner-up by only 5 points, but continue to impress and get faster. Christian Wackes, 2nd overall in 19:30 and Teddy Hess, 6th overall in 20:28 were named to the All-Conference Team. Outstanding performances were turned in by Michael Luzinski who went out in 6:17 only to follow it up with a 7:27 and finish the last 1.1 mile in 7:41 to run a Season Best time of 21:26 and finish 9th overall. Dylan Burns also ran a PB time with 21:46 while Timmy Moses and Mark Newsom both turned in WA Personal Best times running 22:41 and 22:45 respectively. Those two also were among the 8 WA runners that finished ahead of the #5 Coral Springs Christian runner.
Tuesday, October 16, 2007
New York Pictures
Phantom of the Opera--Josh, Thomas, Michael, Javier, Teddy, Christian, Dylan, David and Remmy.
Tough guys in Times Square--Michael, Teddy, Coach Baur, Christian and Remmy.
Future Economists--Teddy, Michael, Remmy and Christian.
On top of the Empire State Building. They forgot to mention how windy it would be.
Look out! Tourists coming through who don't know where they are going.
"Tourists" in ESPN Zone in Times Square.
JV Boys--Javier and David.
JV Girls--Ali, Nathalie, Tawny and Katie.
Just a walk in the park.
Can you find our boys among all those teams?
Varsity boys after their race.
Varsity Girls after their race.New York Trip--Manhattan Invitational
What an awesome time we had in New York. One thing that we all figured out was why so many people move down here to Florida. It is non-stop busy and driving up there is a nightmare. But we still had an incredible time. We got into La Guardia early afternoon on Thursday, got our vans and then tried to head to Van Courtlandt park. We then got lost, found some food and finally found the park. By then it was raining and too late to go out and run. Later that night we decided after our earlier driving experience that we would take the NJ Park and Ride bus into Manhattan. After about 1.5 hours on the bus we finally got to the Port Authority bus terminal to be dropped off so we could barely get something to eat and head to Phantom of the Opera. The normal drive would take about 20 minutes, but with the rain and rush hour it was a mess. Our kids did their part and dressed extremely well to see the show and had a great time. Even if you are not a fan of musicals you had to admit that it was outstanding.
Friday morning we got up and headed to a nearby track complex in Palisades Park. The rain had stopped and the cold weather had moved in. It was a great morning getting that day of travel and our cramped Broadway seat soreness out of our legs. A great thanks to Kara for finding my wedding ring after it fell off while we were throwing the football during our run. That afternoon everyone got the chance to do what we were all looking forward to, shopping on Canal Street for the ladies and sightseeing for the guys and Kara. We were quite happy to have Kara hangout with us due to the fact she had just been to NY and was all shopped out. My wife and all the ladies had a great time getting some amazing deals on name brand purses while the guys saw some of NY's most famous landmarks. Being guys we could not just ride the subway we had to make it a game. We tried to see who could keep their balance while not holding on to anything. Michael got a little ambitious and tried to keep his feet together only to go tumbling head over heels on the "clean" subway floor. After that we saw the World Trade Center cite and to our dismay they were still taking debris out of the site. What an awful reminder of what happened on 9-11. After that we walked to Battery park to get a look of the Statue of Liberty and Ellis Island. We then walked to Wall St. to the New York Stock Exchange and then went to the tallest point in NY, The Empire State Building. What an awesome view despite the cold and wind. After that the guys felt we didn't stand out enough as tourists and we should really make a statement. We got a great deal on "I love NY" t-shirts and all put them on as we continued to walk the streets. I never felt like I stood out as much as I did that day, but was it hilarious! That night we had dinner at the ESPN Zone in Times Square and later visited Toys-R-Us before heading home.
Saturday we got up and finally headed to the race. From the minute we got off the Major Deegan Expressway we knew how nuts the meet would be. Parking was not even an option. Nothing within 1.5 miles! And we thought we participated in some big meets. How about 419 schools and over 12,000 athletes. They started a race roughly every 12 minutes from 9:15am until 3:49pm and never got off schedule. Our JV boys went first and lined up at the start line with 600 other athletes along with the JV team from the school that has the #1 ranked team in the country! David and Javier were the guinea pigs, but their excitement and attitude about the course showed that it would be a fun day. The course was tough, but everyone ran hard and well. The course was only 2.5miles, but I have a calculation that gives estimated times based on what you actually ran. To our excitement everyone ran just about what they have been running or better. Our top finisher was Layna who ran 16:51, 21:12 5k estimate, and finished in 41st place. Emily ran 18:48, 23:29 5k estimate, and finished in the top 150 of her race. Rounding out the top 150 was Kara who ran 19:34, 24:46 5k estimate. The guys were led by Christian who ran 15:28, 19:27 5k estimate, Teddy who ran 16:24, 20:38 5k estimate and Remmy who had an outstanding day to run 16:39, 20:57 5k estimate. After the race you knew we were from Florida as the cold air turned out to be too much for our lungs and gave everyone some sore throats and a chorus of coughs.
Later that night we stayed in NJ and had a great team celebration eating outside in 50 degree weather at Cheesecake Factory. Thank goodness for space heaters! The manager really thought we were crazy being from Florida and asking to bypass the 90 minute wait to sit outside that night.
Saturday morning we got off to a slow start, some slower than others due to oversleeping, but quickly got some energy thanks to breakfast from the NJ staple, The B & W Bakery. You've never had crumb cake until you've had their "heavy" crumb cake. All those calories and fat were definitely worth it. Driving back to La Guardia turned out to be a piece of cake and we were all checked in by the fastest ticket agent in the world. No lie she got all of us checked in, with bags, in less than 8 minutes! After that it was back to Florida and some rest.
I want to say that it was truly an honor to travel with the best students and people in our school. We had such a great time and NY turned out to be everything we were looking forward to. Thanks also to our chaperones who did a great job helping herd 20 kids through NY. I have to say that I am really looking forward to doing this type of trip again. Everyone is already asking where are we going next year. I will think about it, but Chicago sounds good to me!
Friday morning we got up and headed to a nearby track complex in Palisades Park. The rain had stopped and the cold weather had moved in. It was a great morning getting that day of travel and our cramped Broadway seat soreness out of our legs. A great thanks to Kara for finding my wedding ring after it fell off while we were throwing the football during our run. That afternoon everyone got the chance to do what we were all looking forward to, shopping on Canal Street for the ladies and sightseeing for the guys and Kara. We were quite happy to have Kara hangout with us due to the fact she had just been to NY and was all shopped out. My wife and all the ladies had a great time getting some amazing deals on name brand purses while the guys saw some of NY's most famous landmarks. Being guys we could not just ride the subway we had to make it a game. We tried to see who could keep their balance while not holding on to anything. Michael got a little ambitious and tried to keep his feet together only to go tumbling head over heels on the "clean" subway floor. After that we saw the World Trade Center cite and to our dismay they were still taking debris out of the site. What an awful reminder of what happened on 9-11. After that we walked to Battery park to get a look of the Statue of Liberty and Ellis Island. We then walked to Wall St. to the New York Stock Exchange and then went to the tallest point in NY, The Empire State Building. What an awesome view despite the cold and wind. After that the guys felt we didn't stand out enough as tourists and we should really make a statement. We got a great deal on "I love NY" t-shirts and all put them on as we continued to walk the streets. I never felt like I stood out as much as I did that day, but was it hilarious! That night we had dinner at the ESPN Zone in Times Square and later visited Toys-R-Us before heading home.
Saturday we got up and finally headed to the race. From the minute we got off the Major Deegan Expressway we knew how nuts the meet would be. Parking was not even an option. Nothing within 1.5 miles! And we thought we participated in some big meets. How about 419 schools and over 12,000 athletes. They started a race roughly every 12 minutes from 9:15am until 3:49pm and never got off schedule. Our JV boys went first and lined up at the start line with 600 other athletes along with the JV team from the school that has the #1 ranked team in the country! David and Javier were the guinea pigs, but their excitement and attitude about the course showed that it would be a fun day. The course was tough, but everyone ran hard and well. The course was only 2.5miles, but I have a calculation that gives estimated times based on what you actually ran. To our excitement everyone ran just about what they have been running or better. Our top finisher was Layna who ran 16:51, 21:12 5k estimate, and finished in 41st place. Emily ran 18:48, 23:29 5k estimate, and finished in the top 150 of her race. Rounding out the top 150 was Kara who ran 19:34, 24:46 5k estimate. The guys were led by Christian who ran 15:28, 19:27 5k estimate, Teddy who ran 16:24, 20:38 5k estimate and Remmy who had an outstanding day to run 16:39, 20:57 5k estimate. After the race you knew we were from Florida as the cold air turned out to be too much for our lungs and gave everyone some sore throats and a chorus of coughs.
Later that night we stayed in NJ and had a great team celebration eating outside in 50 degree weather at Cheesecake Factory. Thank goodness for space heaters! The manager really thought we were crazy being from Florida and asking to bypass the 90 minute wait to sit outside that night.
Saturday morning we got off to a slow start, some slower than others due to oversleeping, but quickly got some energy thanks to breakfast from the NJ staple, The B & W Bakery. You've never had crumb cake until you've had their "heavy" crumb cake. All those calories and fat were definitely worth it. Driving back to La Guardia turned out to be a piece of cake and we were all checked in by the fastest ticket agent in the world. No lie she got all of us checked in, with bags, in less than 8 minutes! After that it was back to Florida and some rest.
I want to say that it was truly an honor to travel with the best students and people in our school. We had such a great time and NY turned out to be everything we were looking forward to. Thanks also to our chaperones who did a great job helping herd 20 kids through NY. I have to say that I am really looking forward to doing this type of trip again. Everyone is already asking where are we going next year. I will think about it, but Chicago sounds good to me!
Monday, October 8, 2007
WA HOME MEET #2
It was a great day to race and enjoy everyone accomplishments and it was exciting for me to share the great blessing that God has given to Ashley and I. We are so excited that we are going to have a baby and were very encouraged by everyone's excitement.
Congratulations to the girls for winning the meet. Overall (boys and girls combined) we had 9 Personal Best times, 5 Season Bests and 3 people ran their fastest times for our home course. Outstanding performances were recorded by Layna Roycraft who won her 2nd meet of the season with a time of 21:37 and Kayla Cochran who ran down a competitor with about 20 meters to go running a Personal best of 25:13 and finishing as the #5 runner. Also running well were Brittany Carey who ran a PB by 1:30 and Katie Auld who knocked off :50 off her time.
The boys continue to get better and are starting to come on. They finished 4th and were only 15 points away from the 3rd place team. They were led by Christian Wackes who finished 4th overall, 19:20. Outstanding performances went to Josh Longerbeam who ran a PB by :49, Thomas Carrie who ran a PB by :28 and Dylan Burns who ran a PB by :13. Also running well were Ryan Sharpe who ran a PB by :53 and David Luzinski who ran a PB by :30.
Congratulations to the girls for winning the meet. Overall (boys and girls combined) we had 9 Personal Best times, 5 Season Bests and 3 people ran their fastest times for our home course. Outstanding performances were recorded by Layna Roycraft who won her 2nd meet of the season with a time of 21:37 and Kayla Cochran who ran down a competitor with about 20 meters to go running a Personal best of 25:13 and finishing as the #5 runner. Also running well were Brittany Carey who ran a PB by 1:30 and Katie Auld who knocked off :50 off her time.
The boys continue to get better and are starting to come on. They finished 4th and were only 15 points away from the 3rd place team. They were led by Christian Wackes who finished 4th overall, 19:20. Outstanding performances went to Josh Longerbeam who ran a PB by :49, Thomas Carrie who ran a PB by :28 and Dylan Burns who ran a PB by :13. Also running well were Ryan Sharpe who ran a PB by :53 and David Luzinski who ran a PB by :30.
Sunday, September 30, 2007
25th Annual Spanish River Invitational--Girls 1A Team Runner-Up
Matt 7:7-8 says, "Keep asking, and it will be given to you. Keep searching, and you will find. Keeping knocking and the door will be opened to you. For everyone who asks receives, and the one who searches finds, and to the one who knocks, the door will be opened."
This was the verse that I shared with the team on Saturday. God is really watching over and blessing us. He has put many open doors in front of us and will continue to do so. We should not take opportunities lightly and need to realize when it's open we need to run through it, literally. Saturday was one of those days and many of our kids took advantage of some of the best training we have had and some of the best rest we have had all year on a very nice overcast day. This was the type of day that we were looking forward to all year and it proved to be one to remember.
The girls started out their day where they are not all too familiar. The Sun-Sentinel is doing an article on our teams and wanted to take some pictures of the girls. What a great opportunity, but all the pre-meet star treatment seemed to do us in as we finished 2nd to Miami Country Day, AGAIN, when we should have been taking the Championship trophy instead of the runner-up one. A tough lesson to learn, but the time of year that we can use the lesson to make us better. The girls were led by Layna who fought through to finish 2nd overall in 21:45. Following her and finishing within 35 seconds of each other were Emily, Circe, Kara and Kayla. If you could sum up their performance in one word after a not so great start it would be perseverance. Emily was knocked down at the start, which would normally result in stopping the race and starting it again, but nobody saw her go down. She got back up and was still able to have a good day. Circe had a slow start but was able to get through also to have a good day. Kara was also able to run well despite having knee problems. What also stood out to me was even though time wise it was not what everyone expected they still went out there and competed. Emily, Circe and Kara all got ahead of girls from Miami Country Day. It just turned out to be a little too late for the Championship. Congratulations to Coach Hayes from MCD and his team! Other outstanding performances went to Ali Battista who knocked 1:20 off her previous Personal Best to run 25:55. Also congratulations goes to Jessica Madhukar who ran 3:21 better to finish with a Personal Best of 30:25.
I have to say that the boys really impressed me yesterday. I told them they all should run their season best times, or at least close to it and possible their personal best times. They also knew that we won this meet for the past two years. Although we could not make it 3 in a row, we did show that we are starting to show the effects of all our hard work and what can happen with a little rest even without all our runners. The great thing is that we have many more practices ahead of us. Overall the boys finished 8th in 1A, 3rd among teams in our District and 6th among teams in our Region. They were led by Christian Wackes who finished 10th overall in a Season Best time of 19:06, Teddy Hess, 22nd overall, also with a Season Best time of 20:28. Remmy Rickel also ran a Season Best time and improved his stride to run 22:05. Personal Best times were turned in by Thomas Carrie, 22:07; Timmy Moses who knocked off 51 seconds to run 22:10 and Ryan Sharpe with just about 1 month of training to run 24:28.
Thanks to everyone who came out and supported the team. Every year we just keep getting better and better with this. I really look forward to seeing so many of you there every meet and almost take it for granted. It really makes a big difference for our kids and us coaches to see so many of you there.
This was the verse that I shared with the team on Saturday. God is really watching over and blessing us. He has put many open doors in front of us and will continue to do so. We should not take opportunities lightly and need to realize when it's open we need to run through it, literally. Saturday was one of those days and many of our kids took advantage of some of the best training we have had and some of the best rest we have had all year on a very nice overcast day. This was the type of day that we were looking forward to all year and it proved to be one to remember.
The girls started out their day where they are not all too familiar. The Sun-Sentinel is doing an article on our teams and wanted to take some pictures of the girls. What a great opportunity, but all the pre-meet star treatment seemed to do us in as we finished 2nd to Miami Country Day, AGAIN, when we should have been taking the Championship trophy instead of the runner-up one. A tough lesson to learn, but the time of year that we can use the lesson to make us better. The girls were led by Layna who fought through to finish 2nd overall in 21:45. Following her and finishing within 35 seconds of each other were Emily, Circe, Kara and Kayla. If you could sum up their performance in one word after a not so great start it would be perseverance. Emily was knocked down at the start, which would normally result in stopping the race and starting it again, but nobody saw her go down. She got back up and was still able to have a good day. Circe had a slow start but was able to get through also to have a good day. Kara was also able to run well despite having knee problems. What also stood out to me was even though time wise it was not what everyone expected they still went out there and competed. Emily, Circe and Kara all got ahead of girls from Miami Country Day. It just turned out to be a little too late for the Championship. Congratulations to Coach Hayes from MCD and his team! Other outstanding performances went to Ali Battista who knocked 1:20 off her previous Personal Best to run 25:55. Also congratulations goes to Jessica Madhukar who ran 3:21 better to finish with a Personal Best of 30:25.
I have to say that the boys really impressed me yesterday. I told them they all should run their season best times, or at least close to it and possible their personal best times. They also knew that we won this meet for the past two years. Although we could not make it 3 in a row, we did show that we are starting to show the effects of all our hard work and what can happen with a little rest even without all our runners. The great thing is that we have many more practices ahead of us. Overall the boys finished 8th in 1A, 3rd among teams in our District and 6th among teams in our Region. They were led by Christian Wackes who finished 10th overall in a Season Best time of 19:06, Teddy Hess, 22nd overall, also with a Season Best time of 20:28. Remmy Rickel also ran a Season Best time and improved his stride to run 22:05. Personal Best times were turned in by Thomas Carrie, 22:07; Timmy Moses who knocked off 51 seconds to run 22:10 and Ryan Sharpe with just about 1 month of training to run 24:28.
Thanks to everyone who came out and supported the team. Every year we just keep getting better and better with this. I really look forward to seeing so many of you there every meet and almost take it for granted. It really makes a big difference for our kids and us coaches to see so many of you there.
Monday, September 24, 2007
WA INVITATIONAL A SUCCESS--28 TEAMS, 6 RACES AND OVER 500 RUNNERS
What a great day Saturday turned out to be. We were all expecting rain, but the sun turned out to be a huge blessing with the exception of it being so hot. This past weeks practices were the toughest they have been all year so to go out and do as well as they did was really good. As good as we are doing now we look to do much better and have an even better meet this coming Saturday at Spanish River.
Thanks to everyone who did such an outstanding job making yesterday a success. We had 28 teams and over 500 athletes. There were also some good articles written in today's Sun-Sentinel and Miami-Herald. I never thought we would have more written about our parents/coaches then our athletes. Great job John Rickel, Ken Key and Layna Roycraft. Thanks also to Suzie Hess and everyone that helped make the family BBQ a great time. It was great to just be able to relax and enjoy everyone's fellowship.
The Meet
Overall the girls had a very strong showing and finished 5th out of 16 teams. Even better was that they were the 2nd 1A school to finish, 1st in our District and 2nd out of the schools in our Region. Layna had a great day running her Personal Best for our course, 21:22, and finishing 3rd, 1st among 1A runners. Running 2-4 for us were Kara, Emily and Circe who have continued to push themselves and provide the bulk of our strength. But continuing to come on strong is Kayla Cochran. For the 2nd meet in a row she ran a Personal Best time, 25:37, to run in the #5 spot. Overall she has improved 1:23 so far this season. Not only that but she also passed up 2 key girls at the end, one being a Pine Crest runner which was the difference in why we beat them 149 to 151. The other outstanding performance went to Ali Battista who ran a Personal Best by 2:31 to finish in 27:15.
The boys showed that no matter how tired they were they were still going to go out and try their hardest. They did and had to fight through to manage a 12th place finish. Not the type of finish they were looking for, but all the hard work they are putting in now is going to pay off later in the season when places count the most. The boys were led by Christian Wackes, 20:08, and followed by teammates Teddy, Michael, Josh and Dylan. Outstanding performances were turned in by Michael Luzinski who stepped into the #3 spot with a season best time of 21:53. Timmy Moses continues to get stronger and turned in another Personal Best, 23:01, dropping 1:18 off his time from Monday's meet.
Thanks to everyone who did such an outstanding job making yesterday a success. We had 28 teams and over 500 athletes. There were also some good articles written in today's Sun-Sentinel and Miami-Herald. I never thought we would have more written about our parents/coaches then our athletes. Great job John Rickel, Ken Key and Layna Roycraft. Thanks also to Suzie Hess and everyone that helped make the family BBQ a great time. It was great to just be able to relax and enjoy everyone's fellowship.
The Meet
Overall the girls had a very strong showing and finished 5th out of 16 teams. Even better was that they were the 2nd 1A school to finish, 1st in our District and 2nd out of the schools in our Region. Layna had a great day running her Personal Best for our course, 21:22, and finishing 3rd, 1st among 1A runners. Running 2-4 for us were Kara, Emily and Circe who have continued to push themselves and provide the bulk of our strength. But continuing to come on strong is Kayla Cochran. For the 2nd meet in a row she ran a Personal Best time, 25:37, to run in the #5 spot. Overall she has improved 1:23 so far this season. Not only that but she also passed up 2 key girls at the end, one being a Pine Crest runner which was the difference in why we beat them 149 to 151. The other outstanding performance went to Ali Battista who ran a Personal Best by 2:31 to finish in 27:15.
The boys showed that no matter how tired they were they were still going to go out and try their hardest. They did and had to fight through to manage a 12th place finish. Not the type of finish they were looking for, but all the hard work they are putting in now is going to pay off later in the season when places count the most. The boys were led by Christian Wackes, 20:08, and followed by teammates Teddy, Michael, Josh and Dylan. Outstanding performances were turned in by Michael Luzinski who stepped into the #3 spot with a season best time of 21:53. Timmy Moses continues to get stronger and turned in another Personal Best, 23:01, dropping 1:18 off his time from Monday's meet.
Friday, September 21, 2007
WESTMINSTER ACADEMY INVITATIONAL SATURDAY
Well, it's here! Tomorrow is the WA Cross Country Invitational. We will be hosting 28 schools at our West Campus. Coaches meeting begins at 8am and the first race goes off at 8:30am. We look forward to some new additions on our course compliments of our Head of Volunteers, John Rickel. There will be water misters set up on the course, a water mister after the race and ice baths for cooling off and muscle recovery. In addition to that we will be providing a trainer at the finishline.
Tuesday, September 18, 2007
VOTE IN THE POLL
Don't forget to vote in the poll at the bottom of the blog page. Let me know what you think!
Miami Herald Top Performers of the Week
Layna is recognized in today's Miami Herald as being one of the top performers of the week for her finishes last week. She was 2nd overall at the Palm Beach Central Meet and 1st at the Miami Country Day Invitational. (She would have also been 1st yesterday if she would have run!) She was also ranked as one of the top runners in Broward County this as of today in the Sun-Sentinel.....even though they had her time wrong. She is currently ranked in a tie for 4th with 21:01.
2nd Annual Cross Country Family BBQ
We are having our 2nd Annual CC Family BBQ Saturday after the Cross Country Invitational. It will take place at the West Campus just following the awards presentations, roughly around 12:30pm. Contact Suzie Hess to see how you can help.
WA Home Open #1
What a difference one practice makes! Yesterday we talked about intensity and how when God begins a good work in one He will carry it all the way through. Well that of course proved to be the case yesterday. It also showed that in Cross Country home field advantage makes a big difference. It was also great to see everyone run their fastest or very close to their fastest time of the year and in some cases their fastest time ever. The boys bounced back after Friday's showing to win the meet defeating the next closest team, Miami Country Day, by 25 points. Congratulations to Christian Wackes for his 1st career individual cross country win, 19:29! Other outstanding performances went to Javier Pulido, 7th overall in 21:54, and Josh Longerbeam, 8th overall in 22:03, for running their personal best times and being our #3 and #4 runners.
The girls also had a great day running without Layna and almost defeated a very good Miami Country Day team, losing by just 1 point. On Friday MCD won by 7 points with Layna finishing first. Congratulations to Kara Gahagen (pictured) who ran a season best time of 24:12 to finish 4th overall. Other outstanding performances went to Kayla Cochran, 9th overall in 26:06, Brittany Carey, 10th overall in 26:15 and Tawny Grogin, 10th overall in 27:47, for running their personal best times and being our #4, #5 and #6 runners. Tawny said before the meet she was trying to run 2 minutes faster and she was close running 1:19 faster than friday.
The girls also had a great day running without Layna and almost defeated a very good Miami Country Day team, losing by just 1 point. On Friday MCD won by 7 points with Layna finishing first. Congratulations to Kara Gahagen (pictured) who ran a season best time of 24:12 to finish 4th overall. Other outstanding performances went to Kayla Cochran, 9th overall in 26:06, Brittany Carey, 10th overall in 26:15 and Tawny Grogin, 10th overall in 27:47, for running their personal best times and being our #4, #5 and #6 runners. Tawny said before the meet she was trying to run 2 minutes faster and she was close running 1:19 faster than friday.
Saturday, September 15, 2007
MIAMI COUNTRY DAY INVITATIONAL
Yesterday proved to be a day to show us some very important points about our team. The girls stepped up and had a very good day. Almost all the girls ran their 1st mile slower but came on after that to run considerably faster than Tuesday's meet. The girls finished 2nd overall, just 7 points behind a very good Miami Country Day team. They were led by Layna Roycraft who ran her fastest 5K since 9th grade year, 21:01, to win the meet. Overall the girls had 5 Personal Bests and 4 Season Bests. The other outstanding performance for the meet went to Nathalie Grosz-Tenger who dropped 5:46 from Tuesday to finish in the #5 spot with a time of 25:42. (Pictured is 8th grader Circe Burnett.)
The boys are getting better, but we have a long way to go. The good thing is that we have more than enough time to build everyone's intensity and passion to race. The boys were led by Christian Wackes who ran a strategically sound race, consistency in the first two miles and faster in the last mile. He finished 4th overall with a time of 19:30. The other outstanding performances went to Mark Newsom and Dylan Burns. Dylan ran a great race, 22:04, just 3 seconds off his Personal Best to run in the #4 spot. Mark ran in the #7 spot and had another Personal Best time taking off 1:25 from Tuesday's meet and a total of 2:16 off his best from last year to finish with a time of 22:41.
The boys are getting better, but we have a long way to go. The good thing is that we have more than enough time to build everyone's intensity and passion to race. The boys were led by Christian Wackes who ran a strategically sound race, consistency in the first two miles and faster in the last mile. He finished 4th overall with a time of 19:30. The other outstanding performances went to Mark Newsom and Dylan Burns. Dylan ran a great race, 22:04, just 3 seconds off his Personal Best to run in the #4 spot. Mark ran in the #7 spot and had another Personal Best time taking off 1:25 from Tuesday's meet and a total of 2:16 off his best from last year to finish with a time of 22:41.
WA CC/TRACK ON BLOGSPOT
Well what else to do after Tim Tebow and Florida destroys Tennessee 59-20 then to create a blog for WA Cross Country and Track. This is the Official blog for WA CC and Track. Check back often for great stories from meets and pictures throughout the season.
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