Boys & Girls Have Strong Performances at Griak Invite

Link for Griak Pictures....starts with College Meets....
http://picasaweb.google.com/dontyler22/GriakInvitePictures#

The weather was perfect for running....temps in the 60s and overcast skies....and the kids came through quite nicely. I don't know whether it was last week's performance at the Marquette Invite, the determination of these kids, the perfect weather, the coaches getting the message across or a combination of all of the above, but the kids seemed to be in the zone at this meet. The proof was in the number of Course PRs. This is one of the toughest courses they will run and is a great precursor to both the sectionals and state. The competition is unbelievable...with more than 48 top teams and 450 runners from around the midwest competing.

Here is a comparison of the results over the past two years. Note that last year's conditions were brutal but regardless it was clear that the kids came to run at this year's meet.

2008 Results:
22nd Place - 669 points ( 17:34) (1:27:48)
========================================
1 - 15th Place: Ben Tyler 16:25 Course PR by 125 seconds
2 - 63rd Place: Peter Drews 17:07 Course PR by 54 seconds
3 - 189th Place: John Taylor 17:58 Course PR by 135 seconds
4 - 190th Place: Aidan Mazur 17:59 Course PR by 57 seconds
5 - 257th Place: Brendan Vorpahl 18:19 Did Not Qualify to Run Last Year
6 - 323th Place: Sam Dupuis 18:44 Recovering from injury
7 - 341st Place: Gavin Schroeder - 18:53 Course PR by 46 seconds
8 - 367th Place: Joe Pendleton - 19:03 Recovering from injury
9 - 395th Place: Keith Dodd - 19:36 New Course PR
10 - 432th Place: Oliver Heywood - 20:13 New Course PR
========================================

2007 Results:
25th Place - 706 points ( 18:06) (1:30:30)
========================================
1 - 11th Place: Andrew Erickson - 16:48
2 - 122th Place: Peter Drews - 18:01
3 - 195th Place: Ben Tyler - 18:30
4 - 197th Place: Brian Valusek - 18:31
5 - 220th Place: Brian Lee - 18:40
6 - 241st Place: Joe Pendleton - 18:51
7 - 250th Place: Aidan Mazur - 18:56

Fierce Competition, Tough Course, Perfect Running Weather!
As you can see, the competition was fierce and the conditions perfect. The lead pack went out fast, several of them under 5:00 minutes at the one mile mark. The two top guns from Port Washington were part of that pack, with Ben and Peter not far behind. Ben decided to breakout at the 1.5 mile mark again and passed the PW runners and held them at bay with about 600 yards to go. The PW kids took command with a strong kick and finished a strong 8th and 11th with Ben behind them in 15th. Tees up the potential for a very interesting race at state among 6 or seven runners.

Peter improved his time by over 50 seconds and placed a very strong 63rd place with a time of 17:07. Our 3to5 pack ran together and finished together...John Taylor inching out Aidan Mazur by one second, both having huge course PRs. Brendan Vorpahl had a very strong finish as he was determined to take out a PW runner out in the last 200 yards. That attitude will be essential for us at Sectionals.

Bottomline:
We had four runners under 18 minutes on a very tough course. This team is coming together.

Emily Finishes in a Virtual Tie for 4th Place

Emily, along with the rest of the girls had a great meet at Griak this year. Will try to fill in some of the blanks or please someone from the girl's team send me comments I can plug in!

Check Out a Cool Video of the Race:
Interested in seeing the action on video? Go to http://www.flotrack.org/! More to follow, including pictures.

Griak Invite Results:
https://www.nmnathletics.com/ViewArticle.dbml?DB_OEM_ID=8400&ATCLID=1589844

Great Shot of Peter in the Sunday Sports Section Today

Take a look at the great shot of Peter Drews finishing strong at the Marquette Invite. It's in the Sunday Sports Section!

It's also posted online....here is the link:
http://www.jsonline.com/index/index.aspx?id=34

Punishing Practices Causes Marquette Melt Down?

Click on Headline Above for Link to Pictures

Perhaps Coach Dom decided to look past the Marquette Invitational as expressed by a very tough week of workouts and then the meet results. Only Coach knows for sure, but it seems like our boys, while disappointed, are focused on the road ahead and quickly put this meet behind them. In some respects, this seems to be classic for the team...takes the limelight off and now the team can focus on their long-term goal.

Whatever the cause, the team seemed to be fraught with challenges: Peter testing a pre-meet strategy of up-chucking five times, to Brendan's shin splits, to Ben not bothering to let coach know that he is working through a tough chest cold. Anyway, the boys had a long discussion with Dom after the meet and were upbeat enough to raid Culvers by mid-afternoon...knowing that they have a solid foundation to build off of for the second half of the season.


At least one huge PR I heard about - John Johnson improved his time by seveal minutes. Don't know exactly, but the boys were talking about it. Congrats to John!

Girls Have Tough Meet as Well....

Don't have the details, but believe the Marquette Invite was just about as punishing on the girls. Emily had another solid race placing third, followed by Morgan, Jenny, Chloe and Laura. That's the best I can do; if someone wants to send a summary, am happy to include in the blog.

Marquette Invite Results:
http://wisconsinrunner.com/meetresults.htm

Boys & Girls Hit Bulls Eye at Arrowhead Invite

Click on Headline Above for Arrowhead Pictures (Not Great!)

PRs were the name of the game at Arrowhead this year! The girls and boys had a ton of PRs on a windy, humid and overcast afternoon. The competition was tough - made up of mostly D1 schools - but the girls and boys delivered.

Boys Varsity Place 5th Out of 13 Teams
Despite a faster aggregate time (1:26:28 vs. 1:27:38 last year) Shorewood placed 5th this year vs 3rd last year - just to give you an idea of the competition. Our top three runners ran faster than our top three runners last year and runners 4 and 5 were a touch slower. In some respects this year's team is shaping up to be at least as strong as last year's team (keep your fingers crossed that Kevin comes off "injured reserve" at some point!). Arrowhead dominated with 73 points, with four of their top runners breaking 17 minutes. Waukesha West was close behind at 87 points with their top three boys placing 4, 5 & 6th respectively.

A pack of five runners led the way with a very fast first mile at about 5:05-08. At the 1.5 mile mark the pack broke out with a Stilin slipping behind and Simons of Arrowhead, Agnew of Ft. Atkinson and Shorewood's Tyler fighting it out. Tyler broke out of the trio by the 2 mile mark and sustained the lead until about the 2.5 mile mark when Simons commanded control of the race. With about 1/4 mile to go, Agnew, a very fast miler, turned up the heat and blew by Tyler and closed in at the very end to finish of Simons.



Our Peter Drews was in the second pack battling it out with about 5-7 boys jockeying for position stride for stride. Peter finished strong with a 13th place finish and a course PR. Brendan Vorpahl made a vow that runners 3-5 would break 18:00 soon and they virtually did. At one point, Mazur, Taylor and Vorpahl were running side by side swallowing the competition as they passed them. All three finished strong with big PRs. Mazur came in 33rd with a time of 17:35. That PR would have placed 18th last year, squarely in the medals. Competition was tough this year. Gavin Schroeder, Keith Dodd and Oliver Heywound rounded out the varisty crew.

Some Course PRs for Boys Varsity:

• Oliver Heywood - 20:26 vs 23:44 last year
• Keith Dodd - 19:26 first time
• Gavin Schroeder - 19:15 vs 20:57 last year
• Brendan Vorpahl - 18:05 vs 20:16 last year
• John Taylor - 17:52 vs 19:41 last year
• Aidan Mazur - 17;35 vs 19:27 last year
• Peter Drews - 16:48 vs 17:21 last year
• Ben Tyler - 16:08 vs 17:41 last year

Boys JV....Joe's Back in the Saddle
JV boys had some solid runs as well, particularly Joe Pendleton, coming off an injury that he can now put behind him. Joe was in front of the pack the entire time, looking very strong and finished a rock solid second place with a course PR. After Joe, there was a whole pack of boys including Henry Sanders, Nat Froiland and Sam Dupuis (as he is recovering from an injury). Here are some PR stats as I understand them:

• Colin Brusnahan - 25:23 vs 26:13 last year
• John Johnson - 23:16 - first time on course
• Ethan Hollings - 25:04 - first time on course
• Devin Hollings - 21:59 vs 24:55 last year
• Ian Phillips - 21:51 vs 23:55 last year
• Erik Alfvin - 21:06 vs 22:39 last year
• Nat Froiland - 20:22 vs 24:35 last year
• Henry Sanders - 20:20 - first time on course

Big thought? Both our varsity and JV boys are making great strides over last year and through the course of the season. Things are shaping up nicely for the Greyhounds!

Emily Bacchuber Breaks 15 minutes and Places a Huge 2nd Place!

In her 2nd place finish, Emily bested her course time by over 2 minutes, finishing the race at 14:56 compared to 17:08 last year. Here are some other great stats:

• Laura Schroeder - 17:33 vs 18:09 last year
• Nora Waters - 17:26 vs 18:01 last year
• Chloe Staub - 17:23 vs 17:26 last year
• Morgan Baker - 16:44 vs 17:23 last year
• Jenny Vrobel - 16:39

Girls JV had 4 PRs!

I was not at the race so can't help much. This is what I know:

• Heidi Erickson - 19:44 vs 20:59 last year
• Jenny Hillard - 19:10 vs 21:34 last year
• Maro Davis - 19:06 vs 19:44 last year
• Elana Lubka - 19:20

Here is link for results: http://www.pttiming.com/raceresults.php

Congrats kids....I know your parents and coaches are proud!

More Great Pictures from Rebel Invite Meet...

Click on the headline or link below to access some great shots brought to you by David Drews. Thanks David. Also, click on the link at the bottom of the Rebel Invite summary for a look at additional pictures.
http://www.kodakgallery.com/ShareLandingSignin.jsp?Uc=benxbof.6fme42oj&Uy=zi46c5&Upost_signin=Slideshow.jsp%3Fmode%3Dfromshare&Ux=0&UV=536985011709_615303780211&localeid=en_US

Shorewood Boys & Girls Place 6th in Competitive Rebel Invite

Both the boys and girls team placed 6th overall at this weekends 21st annual Rebel Invite held at UW-Parkside. One of the most competitive venues, the Rebel Invite draws 20 of the top Division 1 and 2 teams from both WI and IL. The course is tough (starting with a long one-mile uphill climb) and the competition deep and broad.

The Boys.....
All things considered the boys fared well. While they have placed higher in recent history (third and second the past two years), given the competition and injuries the team is showing some determination. Comparing times of the top five runners from this year to last year, I believe we can become quite competitive:
Last Year to This Year Times:
16:45 to 16:37
17:26 to 16:53
17:27 to 18:12
18:07 to 18:14
18:28 to 18:25
Last Year to This Year Places:
3 to 2
15 to 5
16 to 44
45 to 45
60 to 49
Three of our top five boys had faster times than our boys posted last year; additionally. four of our top five boys placed better or equal to last year's placing; finally, 139 points got us third last year - our 145 points this year would have done the same. Simply put, the competition was stiff in the middle of the pack this year.
Race Starts Slow....but Finishes Strong for Shorewood Pack
Jockeying for position was a struggle for our top Shorewood runners early on as the traditional finesse to the left of the oak tree was cutoff by enthusiastic fans (rumor has it that our runners counseled the fans with some choice words) .... and their perhaps-misguided-notion that they should take out their first mile at a slow 5:40+ pace. Ben and Peter more than made up the difference in the second mile with a split of at or below 5:00. The two kept their momentum during the last leg but by then the Warren runner (an IL state qualifier in the 800M) cranked it up and there was no catching him. Our "twin towers" came in a very respectable 2nd and 5th overall. Just think what they could have done had they listened to coach on that first mile!
A Commitment to Improve.
Importantly, our boys are committed. As Brendan said, "we will all be under 18 minutes", refering to the 3rd-5th runners - plus Joe, Sam and some of the other boys as they improve. That's the kind of dedication this team has this year. We're going to see some heroic runs by our boys this year, you can count on that.

Speaking of heroic, the boys had a ton of PRs - both course and overall. Here is my best efforts to capture some of them:

Boys Varsity:
Nat Froiland - Course PR at 20:18 compared to 23:35 last year (wow!);
Oliver Heywood - Course PR at 20:17;
Keith Dodd - Overall PR at 19:50;
Brendan Vorphal - Course PR at 18:25 compared to 19:40 last year; believe it is a overall PR;
John Taylor - Course PR at 18:14;
Aidan Mazur - Course PR at 18:12 compared to 19:47 last year;
Peter Drews - Course PR at 16:53 compared to 17:26 last year;
Ben Tyler - Course PR at 16:37 compared to 17:27 last year;
Boys JV:
Colin Brusnahan - Course PR at 24:56 compared to 26:13 last year;
Ian Phillips - Course PR at 22:28 compared to 24:02 last year;
Devin Hollings - Course PR at 22:08 compared to 24:42 last year;
Gavin Schraeder - Course PR at 19:35 compared to 19:38 last year;

The Girls...
The New Team Motto (apparently found on the inside of a dove wrapper) adorning their green warm up t-shirts says “When two hearts race, both win!” Sophomore Emily Bachhuber took 5th place with a time of 15min 30 seconds. “It was the toughest course I’ve ever ran- lots of hills”. Claire Medusa has the course record of 14 min and 21 seconds. Jenny Vrobel ran a great race and had a PR of 16:47 compared to last year's time of 17:55.

On the JV team, Elana Lubka, a junior at SHS who returned to the team after sitting out her sophomore year ran a personal best and was top JV runner for SHS. Rachael Berg, a new freshman runner was the next fastest. The Iron Woman award goes to freshman runner, Maddie Reed, who battled through painful blisters on both her feet. “I’m buying new running shoes this weekend!”
Other Course PRs:

Girls Varsity:
Morgan Baker - Course PR of 16:51 compared to 17:20 last year;
Nora Waters - Course PR of 17:49 compared to 17:51 last year;
Laura Schroeder - Course PR of 18:01 compared to 18:04 last year;
Jenny Hilliard - Course PR of 19:56 compared to 21:39 last year;














We've Got Pictures!
Click on the following link for a quick look at some pictures from the Rebel Invite. More to follow. http://picasaweb.google.com/dontyler22/RebelInvitePictures#
And Results.....
Also, here are the results from meet....
http://wisconsinrunner.com/results/2008rebel_invite/index.htm

Shorewood CC in the News

Ben Tyler's run last Friday got noticed by a few in the news. Here are a couple of links if your are interested. Shorewood is off to a great start....watch out Port Washington!

Milwaukee Journal Sentinel Athlete of the Week (click headline above if link below doesn't work)
http://www.jsonline.com/story/index.aspx?id=789647

Wisconsinxc.com - a website that follows high school cross country
http://wisconsinxc.com/PRoftheWEEK.php

http://wisconsinxc.com/D2/D2FrontPageWeek2_files/ShorewoodsBenTylerKeepsPushingthePace.php