By Michael Newman

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I was going through my notes from the past few weeks. Here are a few of the things that I wanted to share with all of you.

 

 

Friday before state

 

I always have viewed state meet weekend as a celebration of the end of the cross country season. It is a culmination of more than three months of training and racing that brings you to Friday afternoon at Detweiller Park. That day for me is a time to catch up with coaches and old teammates that I have not seen in a while.

 

The latest thing to sweep Detweiller Park on that Friday is that teams will run their alternates in a time trial on the state meet course. It actually started in the eighties by York High School. The purpose of the time trial was to get younger runners a chance to run on the course to prepare them for the next season. It was a motivational tool used towards the varsity runners that would be competing the next day.

 

It is something that most every team does. For some of the teams, it is a chance to see how much their runners have improved from earlier in the years. The majority of Illinois schools get a chance to run at the park in three major invitational meets in September and the beginning of October.

 

What ramped up the Friday before at this year’s state meet was a calibration of some of the teams at the park to run the time trial together. It had happened in prior years where a couple of schools would run against each other. What made it bigger this year was that one of the schools announced over Twitter that they would be running their team time trial at 2:20 in the afternoon. Anyone could join them they stated. As the time neared on that Friday, there were more people than I imagined that were on the line. It was not just teams getting ready for Saturday. One of the coaches that organized it state afterwards when the time trial started, he could not believe how many people had started. His thought was “Uh-oh”.

 

The tweets had caught the attention of the IHSA. There were two coaches meetings that are customary on that Friday. In both meetings, it was mentioned that no time trials would be allowed. The first meeting was at 2:00 PM. The second was at 3:00 PM.

 

The comments that I heard from people near the starting line was this was like Pre when he rebelled against the AAU in the 70’s against their view of “amateurism”. This had the same kind of feel. When I watched the beginning of this, the main thing that I saw was the joy on the faces of the kids that were competing. They were not getting the chance to run in the official state races the next day. They were getting one more chance to run at the Det.

 

One of the IHSA officials had set up barriers to the right of the finish line so that I would stop the runners from running their time trial. “There will be no racing on this course today,” he yelled.

 

There was an opening on the far right side of the course where the barricades did not reach. There were some kids that stopped. Everyone else found their way to the right and continued on their merry way. By the time this group came around the second time, the barricades came down. The runners continued and finished to the right of the finish line.

 

I am sure that when we get to the Cross Country Advisory meeting at the beginning of December, there will be some serious discussion of the time trial. I hope that this does not end this tradition on the Friday before state. It should not stop. There have no complaints that I have heard from coaches preparing for the state race. It is a matter of a multitude of runners getting ready for Saturday that they do not suffer any kind of injury that prevents them from running because of the time trial. No harm. No foul. Let’s not overthink this issue and prohibit it. The time trials on Friday promote running in Peoria and Detweiller Park. It more so promotes cross country in this state. When people ask me about running in Illinois, I tell them to come to Detweiller on Saturday and see the crowds that are there. The Friday before is just impressive.

 

One solution could be something similar to what happens at the state track meet with the “EIU Meet Under the Lights” that takes place the Friday night before the state finals. What can’t something similar to that be done at Detweiller?

 

Charge $5 on runner to take part in the time trail so that runners can get official times. The finish line could be set up on the course to the right of the finish line so not to disturb the IHSA preparation for the Saturday meet. You could have the time trial run at 1 PM before most of the schools get to the course. All proceeds of the time trial could go into an IHSA scholarship program for Cross Country runners. The big thing would be finding a timing company to do this free of charge.

 

Weather would play a big part. If the course is soaked, then of course you could not have the time trial. The main focus for Detweiller is Saturday.

 

I just hope the IHSA does not take some of the fun out of Friday. This is supposed to be for the kids.

 

~~~

 

Cooldown

 

Roxana’s Girls team was doing their cooldown after their run in the 1A race when they received an extra runner in their group. It was St. Anthony’s Anna Sophia Keller who had just won her third straight 1A individual state championship.

 

“We were in the back loop cooling down and she just came up behind us and asked if she could run with us. It was a huge inspiration for my girls,” Roxana Coach Scott Edwards said. “She even joined in our prayer circle after our cool down.  It was a memorable experience for my kids.”

 

Keller was supposed to run the following week at the NXN Midwest Regionals in Terre Haute. She came down with the flu forcing her to withdraw from the race leaving her hotel with her dad early Sunday morning. She is not planning on racing anymore this cross country season. Her last run of the year was a memorable one for a few people but for different reasons.

 

~~~

 

NXN At-large bids

 

Naperville North finished third at the NXN Midwest Regionals missing second by one point behind Northville MI. It could have been an auto-bid for Naperville North if the Michigan High School Athletic Association (MHSAA) had not changed their mind. They had originally were going to prohibit Northville from competing in Portland. Thank goodness that Northville now gets the opportunity to run in Portland. For those that compete in Illinois, you should think how glad you should be with the IHSA and how much more progressive they are compared to the MHSAA!

 

Naperville North is almost a certainty to go to Portland. They were ranked in the top ten most of the year. Finishing 1 point behind Northville at Terre Haute should make that a certainty. That would push Judy Pendergast from an individual qualifier to a team qualifier. It would also allow Glenbard West’s Lindsey Payne, who finished sixth at NXN Midwest, the opportunity to run at Portland. Carmel IN finished a close fourth behind Naperville North at the regional meet. They could also be selected as an “at-large” team. If that happens, then Carmel’s Sarah Leinheiser will be running as a team runner allowing Barrington’s Jocelyn Long to run.

 

Lyons Township’s Boys team should go as an at-large team. They have deserved it especially with the way they have run at the end of the season. They did finish third at Terre Haute behind Neuqua Valley.  They did not run a bad race. Neuqua Valley just is peaking at the right time. If you want to compare splits for Lyons Township for their last two races, they were closed to the same (48 seconds at their state meet, 47 seconds at NXN MW). What LT has going for them is that they were in perhaps the toughest NXN Regional in the nation and defeated two schools (Lafayette MO and St. Ignatius OH) that were ranked ahead of them.

 

One thing that could hurt them was their neglect in the national rankings most of this season. They should have been ranked since the beginning of October when they finished second behind Sandburg at the Peoria Central Invitational. They did finish ahead of Neuqua Valley in that race. They entered at #17 in the DyeStat National Rankings the week after state. They are currently ranked 13^th in the Flotrack National rankings.

 

If there are any teams to will challenge for an at-large bid, they should come from the Heartland Regional and the Southwest Regional. Even though the California State Meet and NXN Regional Meets at New York, Northeast, and Southeast will be run on Saturday, I am doubting that there will be any third place teams that will come out. The strength of the Midwest Regional gives Lyons Township a little better argument. You never know what could happen with California. There have been teams from that state that have been invited to Portland that have not deserved it. It will just be a hold your breath a little into the bids come out.

 

Wayzata MN finished third only four points behind Edina MN at the Heartland Regional. They could sneak into Portland. Jaret Carpenter is one of the top runners nationally and leads this squad. There were a couple of things that popped out at me. They finished third in their conference behind Edina and Hopkins. Wayzata finished fourth at their state qualifying sectional meet not qualifying for state. Even though they only finished four points behind Edina, their seasonal resume is not that strong. Let’s not use that their conference is strong because they have qualified multiple numbers to Portland. The depth of strength in the Heartland Regional is not as strong as the Midwest. It is just a fact, not an opinion.

 

There is a good possibility that we could see two teams coming from the Southwest Regional. Lone Peak UT should go after finishing third (on a tie-breaker) last Sunday. They scored 109 points along with second place finisher Utah 4A State Champion Timpanogos. Ignore Lone Peak’s fourth place finish in their 5A state meet. The Regional finish should get them to Portland.

 

American Fork UT finished fourth at the Southwest Regional only 13 points behind Lone Peak UT. If they get to Portland, it could be because of their past history in the national meet. Looking at their performances from this season, I could not see putting them in. They have run most of the year without last year’s #3 runner MacKay Johns who was out with an injury. Johns had a great sophomore track season running 4:12 & 9:05. He ran in their state race and then at NXN SW. He was their 5^th runner and then 2^nd runner in both of those races. His presence in the top five made a little difference in their top 5 split. It was 77 seconds at state. It was 76 seconds at the regional. Their third place finish at state along finishing fourth behind Lone Peak (that finished behind them at state) at the regional race should be acknowledged. Even though Casey Clinger will be in the top five at NXN, the team being in the race with him would have me scratching my head especially with their seasonal results.

 

Here is to crossing my fingers on Saturday night that Lyons Township gets the Portland trip that they justly deserved. I just hope they are not hoodwinked by previous years past performances by other teams.

 

~~~

 

And finally…

 

I was thinking about writing about the season in this portion of the blog. I think I will wait a little. With the number of runners that will be in Portland and San Diego from Illinois, it would be wise not to wrap a bow on this Illinois season just yet. It is hard to determine how great a season this has been. The story of this season has not been written or finished just yet.

 

I think we sometimes take for granted the things that are at the tip of our nose. We just are too busy to realize that. This year has been pretty incredible. There have been so many comments that I have received while covering races for DyeStat. It is humbling to say the least.

 

It comes from some help I receive.

 

It comes from kids that are tired after a race but allow me to talk to them. It comes from coaches giving me insight about their team making me more educated on what I write for all of you.

 

It comes from the coaches that take time out to send me results so that they can be up on our site.

 

So you can thank me all you want for what I do…and I do appreciate that. The thanks should go to you for helping me on this crazy endeavor that I am on right now.

 

Thank you.

 

We live right now in a turbulent world where unrest in our lives now seems to be normal. Every news report starts out with sights that we though t we would never see or actions that are too hard to believe. It is hard to believe that things can get any worse. It could…

 

Even though it is tough to find things that we can be thankful for in our society, this is the season that we should be searching for such things.

 

Even though we feel bad about things that are happening, be thankful that you have friends that surround you that can make those bad things better. Be thankful that we live in a country that we can voice our opinions on what is wrong in the area that we live in. 2016 is an election year in our country. The direction that we are heading is not good. Let us be thankful that it is better than other parts of the world. Let us be thankful that we have a choice in what direction we want to head towards.

 

Be thankful that you can run personal bests. Be thankful that you are developing good work habits to get you to those personal bests. Be thankful that those good work habits will pay off after your days or running are over.

 

Be thankful for who and what you have in your life.

 

Happy Thanksgiving!