Shorewood Dazzles Crowd with Sizzling Performance!

Click on link below for results....more to follow.
http://www.pttiming.com/raceresults.php

Click here for a ton of slightly above average pictures from Don Tyler....maybe Mr. Drews will share some of his great shots!

://picasaweb.google.com/dontyler22/WoodlandConferenceKernPark#
Click here for another ton of great pictures from Tom B.
http://picasaweb.google.com/DemmersDad/WoodlandConferenceMeetKernPark101708#

It Was That Kind of Day for Shorewood....
Start with perfect running conditions with cool temperatures and a slight breeze; add a good dose of home field advantage where the kids no when to pull back and where to press; and sprinkle with lots of guts, heart, belief in themselves and enthusiasm. What do you get? A very special day for Shorewood Cross Country kids and the fans watching.

JV Boys Set the Table
JV boys kicked things off by making clear that this last meet of the season was going to be one for the memory books. The big dog of this race was Gavin Schroeder but it seems like everyone had a big day in their own right. Gavin let the rabbits go out fast at the gun and gradually worked his way to the front of the pack with a couple of competitors running close behind. At first blush it looked like Gavin was going to command the lead the entire race but the Whitnall competitor, Beal, hung tough and inched his way up to Gavin and running side by side at the top of Big Bertha. I suspect that at that point Beal thought he broke Gavin; not so; this was Gavin’s race and his course. He knew when to surge and by the second track of Big Bertha he had a commanding 30 yard lead as he went on to dominate the rest of the race, finishing with an impressive PR of 18:09, 12 seconds ahead of the second place runner.

However, this wasn’t just Gavin’s race. Up toward the front of the pack Shorewood had Oliver Heywood, David Stern, Nat Froiland running together with John Johnson trailing slightly behind. Oliver and David ran out together virtually the entire race while Nat hung out with John through the first mile. Oliver and David made their move at the half way point gaining significant ground and runners that were well ahead of them at the first mile. At the finish line Oliver had the stronger kick and beat out David by three seconds, placing 14th and 15th respectively. David said that “it was great to run with Oliver because he had such a great pace and a really strong kick at the end.” Meanwhile, Nat made his move up the pack during the last mile, placing 17th and John placed 26th.

A little further back was Devin Holling, Ian Phillips and Erik Alvin sprinkled throughout the middle of the pack. All had significant PRs. Finally, Colin Brushnahan, Ethan Holling and Ben Pagenkopf closed the door with their own PRs.

Quick Stats on JV Boys:
1 Gavin Schroeder 18:09.65 - 31 second PR
14 Oliver Heywood 18:59.65 - 37 second PR
15 David Stern 19:02.80 - 1 minute, 1 second PR
17 Nat Froiland 19:08.12 - 32 second PR
26 John Johnson 19:44.44
38 Devin Holling 20:12.14 - 48 second PR
43 Ian Phillips 20:22.92 - 1 minute 13 second PR
49 Erik Alfvin 20:45.94 - Not sure
78 Colin Brusnahan 22:35.75 - PR
81 Ethan Holling 22:46.23 - Not sure
92 Ben Pagenkopf 28:19.95 - PR by over 90 seconds!

Varsity Boys Chow Down
JV boys set the table but the varsity boys set the table stakes, going "all in" at this Woodland Conference meet. Coach Dom set the tone earlier in the week letting the boys know they have another good 10 seconds in them on their home course. Too bad for Dom, the boys didn't listen to him. They had much more in them and made sure everyone experienced the result first hand.

The race started fast with a rabbit quickly out in the lead as the two top contenders, Bobby Laabs from Greendale and Ben Tyler from Shorewood kept chomping on his tail. As they approached the 3/4 mile mark Laabs surged down the hill taking Tyler by surprise; he decided to follow. The three were out at a sub-5 minute mile. Tyler decided to take command and surged shortly after the mile mark; it was all over for Bobby.

Meanwhile, Co-Captain Peter Drews maintained his strategy of remaining in the first pack back and began to make his move shortly after the mile mark as well. By the two mile mark Peter was all alone with his sights on the Cuday's top runner, Alec Holguin and Laabs. Peter quickly broke Laabs and began to see Holguin just ahead and surged after him. The two of them fought it out the last 200 yards in true grit fashion; unfortunately, the timing device had Holguin beating Peter by .17 seconds, but by all appearances from objective Shorewood observers, Peter had him at the tape.

Back a bit was the powerhouse that has become the critical backbone of this Shorewood team. This foursome, made up of Aidan Mazur, John Taylor, Brendan Vorpahl and Joe Pendleton, score the critical points that make this such a solid team. Each leaped forward with huge PRs. As typical of their strategy, Mazur, Taylor and Vorpahl ran together as a pack during the first half of the race. As the race progressed it was clear that they had something special to prove. That they did. By the time it was all over, Mazur and Taylor were within shouting distance of breaking 17 minutes while Vorpahl back pedaled and Pendleton surged, meeting halfway with big PRs. Freshman Keith Dodd had a spectacular PR, breaking the 18 minute milestone in a big way, while Co-Captain Sam Dupuis was fighting a tough cold.

I suspect Sam wanted to have his last conference race finish a bit better. But our hat's off to our true senior leader, Sam Dupuis. It's been great to watch Sam lead this team through the years. I personally remember Ben's first race at West Bend, when he didn't have a clue and was a twitchy Freshman. Sam brought him in under his wing. Running together, Sam was there for him, waved him up to run together and then encouraged him to surge forward. What a classy guy.

When it was all said and done, Shorewood dominated the meet, taking 1st, 3rd, 8th, 9th, 12th, 13th and 27th. Headlines? Conference Champions; three Conference champions (Gavin, Emily and Ben) three runners named First Team All Conference; three runners named Second Team All Conference; Course record shattered by 18 seconds; school record broken by 14 seconds; six runners below 17:25, two of which are ranked in top ten fastest D2 times. And they haven't even tapered yet! As coach Dom told the team after the meet, "this is the most impressive race in the ten years I have been here". Enough said. On to the tough stuff now.

Quick Stats on Varsity Boys:
1 - Ben Tyler - 15:44 - PR by 18 seconds
3 - Peter Drews - 16:12 - PR by 38 seconds
8 - Aidan Mazur - 17:04 - PR by 22 seconds
9 - John Taylor - 17:08 - PR by about 19 seconds
12 - Brendan Vorphal - 17:21 - PR by 38 seconds
13 - Joseph Pendleton - 17:24 - PR by about 25 seconds
27 - Keith Dodd - 17:48 - PR by about 26 seconds
42 - Sam Dupuis - 18:22

Shorewood Girls Post PRs All Around!
brought to you by Tom B.

The Greyhound girls saved their best for last in the most recent installment of their winning season. Taking 5th overall in conference this year, they did it with the consistency of their top runners; Emily Bachhuber, Jenny Vrobel and Morgan Baker with the surprise surge of Nora Waters coming in a close 4th place. Every single runner, both in JV and Varsity turned in at least course PRs, while all but 3 turned lifetime PRs! Surprising to their coach Sara Kopplin, was the speed that they showed in this race. “They haven’t even started tapering yet and they’re putting in these times”

There were many subplots in each and every PR and each story deserves more than the few lines given in this article. Erin Hagen, battling a condition known as vocal cord dysfunction has been unable to finish most of her races this year. She’s gone through a litany of tests and has been retraining her vocal cords to prevent the shortness of breath hallmark of this condition. She had a course PR of 21.42. The Erickson sisters, Heidi and Emily, ran across the finish line together in a story of sacrifice and family support. Emily has had problems with a viral infection ever since the Griak Invitational. Missing school and practice, her times had suffered dramatically. Recognizing that she wasn’t going to get her own PR, she focused on getting her sister her PR. Heidi, who started out her freshman year posting a course time >30 minutes finished just ahead of her sister with a a PR of 19.40. and over 1:16 sec better than last week’s performance at the Shorewood Invite.

Freshman Ai Csuka, is a foreign exchange student from Japan who is staying with her aunt and uncle in Shorewood is new to running and loves it. In Japan she attends a high school that specializes in art and music and where there is no opportunity to run. Her father was a runner as a high school student and cheers her on from across the Pacific Ocean. Ai, a name which means love in Japanese, became quite emotional at the end of last race she will run for the Greyhounds. She will be returning to Japan in February.

Hannah Fergal had an inspired run for the JV girls, taking over 2:16 sec off last weeks run with a PR of 18:50. Her coach summed it up well when she said that Hannah runs with an “animal determination”. Having watched Hannah play soccer for many years I can agree with the grit and determination and instinct that she brings to both.

Nora Waters was fighting the PR curse. Over her freshman and up until now her sophomore year she had established her PR on the first race of the year and has been unable to break through during the season up until yesterday’s conference meet. Finally, senior Margo Davis who stepped out of the race due to crohn’s disease acts as an example to the other kids to choose their battles and gracefully accept the limitations that life puts in front of you. She is making lemonade with the lemons life has given her and is actively fundraising for the Crohn’s and Colitis Foundation. If you haven’t please visit her link to the crohn’s web site. Oh, did I forget to mention that Margo is training for a half marathon in the near future! Go MARGO!

Girl’s JV/Varsity Times Shorewood Invite times ()

JV Girls
Hannah Fergal 16th place, 18:50 (2106)
Ai Csuka 19th place, 18:55 (19:34)
Rachael Berg 22nd place 19:03 (19:49)
Heidi Erickson 25th place 19:40 (20:56)
Emily Erickson 26th place 19:41
Holly Garrett 33rd place 20:21 (21:12)
Megan Cole 36th place 20:46 (21:43)
Olivia Doucas 20:50 (21:46)
Erin Hagen 21:26
Maddie Reed 21:33 (23:17)

Varsity Girls
Emily Bachhuber 1st place 14:41
Jenny Vrobel 20th place, 16:16 (16:34)
Morgan Baker 21st place 16:16 (16:51)
Nora Waters 22nd place 16:21 (17:37)
Laura Schroeder 28th place 16:46 (17:21)
Chloe Staub 34th place 16:56 (17:27)
Elana Lubka 53rd place 17:58 (18:40)
Jenny Hillard 57th place 18:07 (18:17)

PR The Personal Record.
by Tom Bachhuber

I was first introduced to the PR when my daughter joined CC in 2005 as a 7th grader at Shorewood Middle School. Being brought up in team sports such as basketball, baseball, football and individual sports like wrestling, I understood that there were winners and losers. Winning felt great and losing didn’t feel so great. That all changed as I got into the first season with Emily. I couldn’t help but ask one of the runners “What is this PR that you all are talking about?” It was a new concept to me that someone could be a loser and still be a winner. The cynic part of me felt it was something created for those who couldn’t compete. I guess I’ve had a change of heart.
Life is rife with analogies to sports. The simplicity, clarity, unpretensiveness and honesty of a hard fought competition inspires us to see the same in the more complicated, confusing, grey world in which we live.

The idea that we live in this black and white world of winners and losers is just plain false. Life is many shades of gray without even considering the introduction of color. As adults where would we be if not for our ability to know ourselves, set our own goals and take responsibility for carrying them out?

This is why the PR intrigues me so. What could be better than a measuring stick that you create for yourself? Don’t tell any of the kids that as adults, for the most part, we set our own rules and standards based upon our own experiences of ourselves.

The PR is literally running a race against yourself. The challenge is to beat your time from the previous meet. Some don’t, some do. For those that don’t there are many reasons; maybe you reached your pinnacle, which is a good thing to know. Maybe your PR was at the easiest course with the best conditions. Maybe you gave up because it hurt your lungs too much or because you are afraid to fail. Perhaps you have a nagging injury that won’t heal. Maybe you dog it in practice and despite running your “best” in the meet; it won’t be your PR.

If you strive to do your best in every practice and meet -win lose or draw- you leave a winner. You learn about yourself in every meet you run. There are no excuses when you run against yourself. There are reasons; decisions maybe, but not excuses.

But if you do get your personal best, it’s magic, it’s the top of the world. You’ve won and it’s real. As real as it gets in this world!

TB