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

Cross Country Banquet November 5th!

A little note to let you all know when the cross country banquet is. It will be on Wednesday Nov. 5th at 6:00pm in the SIS commons. Mark your calendars!

Shorewood Boys Pound PRs...7 Kids Under 18 Minutes!

Click on headline for pictures....more to follow.http://picasaweb.google.com/dontyler22/ShorewoodInvite1008#

Click on link below for race results:http://www.pttiming.com/raceresults.php

Placing second behind a very competitive D1 team, Rufus King, Shorewood boys acted like this was the final meet of the season by pounding out one PR after another, after another, after another. Based on their times, one would conclude that coach tapered the boys. Not the case as evidenced by another week of punishing practices. However, the kids did not let that get in the way. Bottomline: these kids have focus, big hearts and are determined to make a statement.

How good is this team at this meet? Better than last year, beating 6 of our 8 times from last year, eight PRs and 7 runners under 18 minutes. Not bad.

2008
1. Ben Tyler - 16:02 - Course & Indi PR by 6 seconds; course record
2. Peter Drews - 16:40 - Course & Indi PR by 3 seconds
10. Aidan Mazur - 17:26 - Course & Indi PR by 8 seconds
11. John Taylor - 17:27 - Course & Indi PR by 24 seconds
16. Sam Dupuis - 17:46 - Course & Indi PR by 14 seconds (from what I recall)
24. Brendan Vorpahl - 17:59 - Course & Indi PR by 5 seconds
25. Joe Pendleton - 17:59 - Course & Indi PR by 3 seconds
33. Keith Dodd - 18:14 - Course & Indi PR by about 15 seconds I believe

2007
2. Kevin McCollow - 16:07
5. Andrew Erickson - 16:30
9. Peter Drews - 17:07
16. Brian Valusek - 17:38
19. Ben Tyler - 18:09
26. Aidan Mazur - 18:27

The point is, we had a really solid team last year; comparing this past meet's performance with last year's, you can see two things: the team is running faster as a whole; and it shows how much improvement has been possible with lots of effort and "can do" attitude. Great approach going into Sectionals in a couple of weeks.

Varsity Recap
The meet began with D1 state contender, David Stilin leading the pack out of the shoot with Ben Tyler riding on his shoulder. The two started relatively fast as they hung together at the mile mark at about 5:05. Peter Drews was part of the pack directly behind Stilin/Tyler at a pace of about 5:10-15. Aidan Mazur, Brendan Vorpahl and John Taylor were together in the middle of the maze as Joe Pendleton, Sam Dupuis and Keith Dodd were testing their legs.

Tyler decided to test Stilin at the base of Big Bertha and found that, for some reason, Stilin didn't have much in his tank. By the two mile mark Tyler held a commanding lead with Stilin a distant second and dying fast. Meanwhile, Drews worked his way up through the crowd and surpassed Stilin at about the 2.25 mile mark while fighting off Rufus King's #2 man. By now Taylor and Mazur broke away from Vorpahl as Dupuis decided to make this his race, surging through the pack to catch up with Vorpahl.

As the race worked it's way into the final mile Tyler continued to stretch his lead out while Drews was battling for second place. Mazur and Taylor continued to work their way to the top while Dupuis, Vorpahl, Joe Pendleton and Keith Dodd continued to make their move. By the time it was all done, Tyler set a new meet record, placing 1st, Drews powered to the finish to place second, Mazur medaled, placing 10th with Taylor right behind him. Dupuis is back in the game with a major PR, Pendleton ran with confidence and Freshman Dodd had a great race and PR.

JV Boys Recap
Wanting to make a point, Gavin Schroeder was the man of the hour breaking out of the crowd early on and keeping pace behind the leader by about 20 yards. He maintained his pace and tried to make a surge to take the leader but could not take him. Schroeder medaled, placing 2nd with a huge PR (he was quite the sportsman at the award ceremony). Speaking of PRs, by my account, virtually every JV boy had an individual PR. This is what I know:

Gavin Schroeder - 18:40 - PR by about 35 seconds
John (aka Ben P.) Johnson - 19:25 - PR by 52 seconds
Nat Froiland - 19:30 - PR?
Oliver Heywood - 19:36 - PR by 12 seconds
David Stern - 20:03 - PR by 1 minute 1 second
Devin Holling - 21:00 - PR by 49 seconds
Ian Phillips - 21:51 - PR by 27 seconds

Not sure about the others, but overall, a very nice job by our JV team!

Girls Rock With a Ton of PRs

Girls JV
Sunny, 60’s and sixteen teams made the invite a memorable one this year. The girl’s JV team was all about closing gaps and pack running. Jenny Hillard broke the top ten with a time of 18:17 and a rank of 7th, the amazing freshman, Racheal Berg, continues to impress with a time of 19:49 and a rank of 29th. Heidi Erickson, Hannah Fergal and Holly Garrett ran as a block finishing 37th, 38th and 39th overall with times of 20.56, 21.06 and 21.12. Megan Cole and Olivia D. rounded out the JV race for Shorewood with times of 21.43 and 21.47

Girls Varsity
For the varsity girls, Emily Bachhuber had to make a tough decision and stayed out of the Invite due to a nagging Achilles tendonitis. Hoping to be at her best for next week’s Conference Meet at Kern she rested her legs. Jenny Vrobel ran with determination and grit and finished 13th overall with a time of 16.34 besting her previous mark set last year at the Shorewood invite by 33 seconds. Her coach, Sarah Kopplin noted,” She ran with the confidence of a winner!” Morgan Baker ran a 16.51 race, only 3 seconds off last years in 18th place overall. Laura Schroeder ran a 17.21 improving from last year’s mark by almost a whole minute (55 seconds). Chloe Staub ran a 17.27 race. Nora Waters, having set a personal goal of 17.30 for the race, came close, finishing in 17.37. She improved by 33 seconds from last years time! Elana Lubka and Ai Chun finished off the varsity girls with times of 18.40 and 19.11. As a team, the varsity girls came in a respectable 3rd place with an average time of 17.10. The second place average time was 16.04 and the first place time was 15.56. Even if Emily Bachhuber had ran, there would have been little chance that they could have taken 2nd place.

Shorewood Parents Excel Too!
On the parent side of the meet, 1st place went to Carolyn Tyler for her incredible organization and hard work putting together the concessions. Thanks to all 20 parent volunteers for your hard work. With the money collected, they were able to break even on the concessions bought. Next weeks conference meet will be 100% profit!

Click on headline for pictures....more to follow.
http://picasaweb.google.com/dontyler22/ShorewoodInvite1008#

Click on link below for race results:
http://www.pttiming.com/raceresults.php

Click on Headline for More Kimberly Photos from Tom B.

http://picasaweb.google.com/DemmersDad/PapermakerInvite2#slideshow

Try This Link for More Pictures from Griak

Click on headline to link to more Griak pictures...mostly of the girls. I believe this is brought to you by Tom Bachhuber but I am not positive.

Boys Cheat Chilton of 3rd Place at Papermaker

Click on Headline for results or on PT Results link on the right side of the page.

Click on this link for great pictures of the meet brought to us by David Drews:
http://www.kodakgallery.com/ShareLandingSignin.jsp?Uc=benxbof.51ijylrv&Uy=-mc4io1&Upost_signin=Slideshow.jsp%3Fmode%3Dfromshare&Ux=0&UV=305826848696_269523621211&localeid=en_US

The boys varsity powered past Chilton, beating them by two points, to place 3rd behind Division I teams Brookfield East and Green Bay Preble. This meet confirmed why Shorewood and Chilton have been trading 6th and 7th state rankings from week to week and could be an early indicator of the tough competition if both teams make it to state.

This is the first time the boys and girls have made the journey to the Fox Valley, getting up bright and early for a two hour drive to meet up with some new competitors. The weather was cold but perfect for running...as one can see by David Drews great shots.

While details are unclear, unconfirmed reports suggest that the pace was relatively slow going out. Michael Brice, a Division 1 state contender from Kaukauna and Ben Tyler led the way throughout the 5K, trading places along the way. Tyler hung on to the shoulder of this highly ranked D1 state contender but the 12th grader had a strong kick at the end to take first place.

Peter Drews and Alex Steiner, a state contender and 800 champion from Chilton, had a big shootout as well, with Peter working his way through the pack on his way to battle with Steiner. At the 3 mile mark Steiner had Drews by about 15-20 yards and Drews poured it on with a great kick at the end but Steiner beat him out by a size 10 shoe. Drews had a very competitive meet, posting one of his fastest times of the year. Other varsity runners filled in the gaps with Aidan Mazur finishing 19th at a solid sub-18 minute run, John Taylor and Brendan Vorpahl below 18:15; Joe Pendleton continues to come back, Sam Dupuis and Gavin Schroeder brought up the pack.

Boys JV Place 8th
Keith Dodd led the way for the JV team, taking a 10th place finish for a medal, coming close to breaking 19 minutes (19:05). Dodd was followed by Oliver Heywood, placing 29th with a time of 19:47. It looks like John Johnson continues to be a rising star and is taking a shot at the 7th man position for varsity with a meet time of 20:16.

Emily Dominates Girls Meet
Continuing to strengthen throughout the season, Emily Bacchuber absolutely dominated the girls varsity meet by finishing in first place, more than 19 seconds ahead of second place finisher from Katelyn Stine of Wausau East.

Musekgo JV Results at PT Timing

Click on the PT Timing link on the right side of this page for results of the Musekgo JV Meet...our JV boys and girls had a great meet.

Link to Muskego times:
http://www.pttiming.com/raceresults/100697-boysjvcomplete.pdf

http://www.pttiming.com/raceresults/100697-girlsjvcomplete.pdf

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

Shorewood Invite Pictures

Click on the headline above to go to the photo album. David Drews took some great shots. The other album is mine....a "work in progress". Note that you can speed up the show by clicking the "-" at the bottom. Enjoy....

Boys Take 2nd; Girls Take 5th at Season's Opener

The first annual Shorewood Invite was a great way to get the legs warmed up and for coaches to get a good sense of how the teams are going to develop throughout the course of the season. As an "early bird" meet, varsity and junior varisty ran together. Seven teams participated in the boys meet, with Division 1 team Marquette dominating the competition, taking 2, 3, 5, 6 and 7th place. Shorewood boys held their own though, coming in second overall. Conference rival Whitnall placed third.


Several returning Shorewood runners had PRs including John Taylor, Brendan Vorpahl, Peter Drews(at Kern) and Ben Tyler. Peter and Ben paced the field for the first mile when Ben broke away from the pack, finishing with a time of 16:17, 40 seconds ahead of the second place Marquette runner. Peter made it an exciting battle for third place by coming on very strong in the last half mile, nearly holding off highly ranked Will Casey of Marquette. Peter posted a Kern Park PR with a time of 16:58. John Taylor was 19th with a time of 18:12 and Brendan Vorphal was 20th with a time of 18:33. Aiden Mazur rounded out the top 5 Shorewood runners, placing 27th with a time of 19:04.

Several of the freshman and sophmores looked strong given the season just got underway. Eric Alfvin was recorded in the results but is injured so Keith Dodd took the 6th and Oliver Heywood the 7th varsity spots contributing to the effort. Joe Pendleton, a sophmore varsity contributor of last year did not finish due to an injury. There is great potential talent in the Shorewood ranks which will be critical to develop if Shorewood is going to be a contender this year. There is no doubt that the potential is there.

The girls had a great race as well, finishing 5th overall. Divine Savior took it all but four teams were in contention for the trophy. There was a five point spread between first and fourth! Divine Savior squeaked past Muskego by one point, Whitnall third and Wauwatosa West fourth.

Morgan Baker was the first Shorewood runner, placing tenth and medaling, followed closely behind 11th place Jenny Vrobel. I believe Jenny had a significant PR. Nora Waters had a great race, coming in 14th. Chloe Staub came in 30th and Laura Schroeaer rounded out the top 5 Shorewood girls by placing 38th.

I am hoping Paul Erickson can add more color to the girls results since I am not as up-to-speed on the girls so I apologize if I did not get this right.

Click on the headline at the top to get specific results from PT Timing.

Cross Country Meet Schedule

Here is the schedule for the Boys Cross Country season. I believe it is the same for the girls.

Friday, August 29 Shorewood Invite @ Kern Park. Meet starts at 4:00pm

Saturday, September 6 Rebel Invite @ Parkside. Meet Starts at 9:30am

Thursday, September 11 Arrowhead Invite @ Arrowhead HS. Meet Starts at 4:15pm

Saturday, September 20 Marquette Invite @ Washington Park. Meet Starts at 10:00am

Friday, September 26 Leave for Griak meet in the Morning. Top 10 runners from season average will go or coaches discretion.

Saturday, September 27 Griak Meet @ U Of M Golf Course.

Saturday, September 27 Muskego Invite @ Muskego Middle School. (More info coming)

Saturday, October 4 Kimberly Invite

Saturday, October 11 Shorewood Invite @ Kern

Friday, October 19 Woodlands Conference Meet @ Kern Park

Saturday, October 25 Sectional Meet @ Tendick Park. Only the top 7 runners will get the chance to compete here. Plus one alternate.

Saturday, November 1 STATE MEET

Early Predictions for the Boys Cross Country Team

Message from Dom last week regarding one's view of the season:

Here is an interesting write up on the Division II teams. Remember that Port Washington and Wisconsin Lutheran will be in our Sectionals. They give us a better rating then what I would give our team. Sorry but that is how I feel. The person who wrote this piece really knows his stuff. It makes me look at things from a different perspective. Remember this is just for fun reading. Do not take to much stalk into it.

http://wisconsinxc.com/D2/D2FrontPage.php

Dominic

The 2008 Shorewood Invite

The first race of the season will be this Friday at 4:00 at Kern Park.

The coaches are asking the runners to arrive by 2:30 in order to warm up.

Boys 5K will start at 4:00
Girls 4K will start at 4:45
and an unscored open race will start at 5:30

There will be no JV or Varsity distinctions. Everyone will run together for this one.

New season starts on Friday

The season will officially kick off on Friday August 29th at 4:00 p.m. In the past we have trekked out to west bend for the grade level challenge. The course was basically a cow pasture and the weather tended to be on the beastly side, so it is nice to see it drop off of the schedule. The meet will be on our home course ( Kern Park) instead so at least the commute will be better although the kids may not appreciate getting up close and personal with "Big Bertha" this early in the campaign.

I understand that volunteers are needed and motivated parents should report to the field by 2:30.

Finally, Don Tyler has graciously offered to help out with the writing and updating of this site. Hopefully between the two of us we will be able to keep it more current then I was able to manage last year. We might even attempt twitter or rss feeds or something depending on how motivated we get. Without Andrew this year I will probably focus more on the girl's team and leave the guys to Don but we haven't actually worked out the details yet. It's not too late if anyone else is interested in getting involved there is plenty of work to go around. As always it is nice to have good pictures right after a race to post. Feel free to e-mail us jpeg files of your best shots and we will do our best to get them up. I am thinking that we might just create a group site on Winkflash to make it easy to order prints. We'll see. any other suggestions are also welcome.

See you all on Friday!

Dash