2017 XC Coach's Comments

The Varsity race led off and we had nine entries. Ailee Hogan elected to race this week and we challenged her to be aggressive and start to test her racing mettle for the coming weeks. Unfortunately she, along with her teammates, didn’t put themselves in a great spot at the first turn and got funnelled to the back. She was about 30th at the opening quarter mile. Behind her was the trio of Abby Hosek, Caitlin McGarry, and Sofia Moreno. At the first-mile position, Hogan had moved up to 14th place and was looking strong. Hosek, McGarry, and Moreno continued their strong start and they were closely followed by Calie Svoboda who looked to be in her best racing form this year. At the mile 2 spot, Hogan had moved up to tenth place where she would finish up posting a career best time. Then came Hosek, McGarry, Moreno separated by only 32 seconds. Then came another Naz wave with Svoboda followed by our number 6-8 runners of Sabina Llerenas, Gigi Kinsella, and Megan Henehan separated by a mere ten seconds. This just shows how badly all these runners want to be part of the Top 12. Kayla Salerno rounded out the team by posting a season best time, dropping nearly four minutes from her previous best three mile run.

The Open race was the second and final race for our day. Alexandra Hyman was our top finisher and is hitting a great stride at this point in the season. Then was team talk giver, Gwyn Katsibubas who posted a career best time. A couple of other notable bests were from Abby MacKinnon who had her best time despite missing a few weeks with injury. Personal bests also were obtained for the second consecutive week by Fiona Roach, Emily Rodriguez, and belt holder Nancy Martinez. The growth from our Navy and White groups this season has been inspiring and what our team is all about. We return to Melas Park next week as St. Viator hosts the conference meet. A final shout out to Naz XC Alum and Parents who ran in this weekend’s marathon. Maybe some of our current runners will accomplish this feat that only 1% of runners are able to complete.

Coach Wejman

Every team that we’ve had has created a new tradition or have put their own spin on an existing one. Several years ago we moved to doing a 6 AM practice the day of the walk. At first, we thought no one would show up, but nearly all did. Every year we propose this option to the group and overwhelmingly they say yes and, this year, they even took it upon themselves to incorporate glow sticks and make it their own. It always is great to see the personalities emerge when it comes to moments like this. Our week began with more heat and we made this a point of emphasis in our training. Much has been researched on heat training and its benefits. While we said this about a dozen times all week, getting the athletes to actually buy in was no guarantee. The momentum gained from the Leyden races did carry over and we had an amazing week of practice. Between the wear and tear of this point in the season, the heat and with all the drama homecoming week can bring, things couldn’t have gone much better.

The heat broke in time for the Mane Event at Lisle. A good week of practice and more favorable temps set up high expectations for our racers and the frosh/soph led things off. For whatever reason, the frosh/soph run a 4K at this meet. Our scoring team would only consist of 5, and they were rolling from the opening gun. Caitlin McGarry and Sofia Moreno were connected at the hip for the majority of the race and kept a pace that surpassed their personal bests from any point this season. Sabina Llerenas grabbed the next spot as she continues to grow and learn as a racer. Megan Henehan and Kayla Salerno rounded out the team, it was Salerno’s debut in a scoring realm. She earned this spot by hard work and focus and she didn’t disappoint in this competitive race.

Varsity was up next and we told Ailee Hogan that this is the time to see what is capable of so she was challenged to get out. We had a couple of racers out with injuries and we would need some to step up and fill this gap. Hogan did get out and put up a 36 second personal best. After this week, she was banged up but buckled down and had her best race to date. Solid races were put in by Mia Longo and Erin Degnan, who will be key scorers for us as we head into October. Our next finisher was Abby Hosek who ripped off a 40 second personal best. Following Hosek was Monse Morales and Gigi Kinsella who both put up personal bests as well. There’s not much better as a coach than to tell a runner a race time and to have them learn how much they’ve improved in terms of time improvement.

The open race was up last and the seasonal bests continued to roll in. The race is combined with boys which makes for a chaotic start. As the race thinned out our racers were holding great positions and were running at great paces. Alexandra Hyman was our top finisher and she was one of 14 or 17 racers that posted a seasonal best for the race. Special shout out to the super-soph trio of Emily Rodriguez (2 minutes improvement), Kimberly Gonzalez (2 and a half minute improvement) and Nancy Martinez (3-minute improvement). It was great to see these three make a jump as they have worked hard since their first days as freshmen.

Our last regular season invite is this coming Saturday at the Elmwood Park Invite. This is a notoriously fast course and the conditions are looking favorable again, we are setting expectations high again and I don’t think we’ll be let down.

Coach Wejman

Legendary track coach Bill Bowerman once remarked: “a runner runs how they feel.” I think this can be spun to incorporate the conditions. A big difference is that all runners don’t feel the same on race day, but the conditions are all the same. Hot temperatures aren’t new to us. We spent all summer training in the heat. The first three weeks of the season are in August, followed by early September which often is warm as well. But in my recollection, we haven’t had heat this late in September in my ten years. We were working hard all week to acclimate our bodies, but also mentally prepare for these elements.

The Frosh/Soph race was first and these six young ladies set the tone for the rest of the team. We kept varsity runners Ailee Hogan and Melissa Harris down to mix it up a bit. We told them to be aggressive and compete for top spots. We weren’t sure what the competition would be like, but winning the race could be in play. Hogan and Harris got out hard and hung with the top 10 through mile one. Not far behind them was the trio of Sofia Moreno, Caitlin McGarry, and Sabina Llerenas. These three seldom got more than 10 seconds apart and this would matter. Sarah Martin got her team scoring debut as the sixth runner and although she wasn’t going to factor in scoring, she earned this spot.

At mile two, Hogan was looking strong but was 7-8 seconds behind the 3-4 runner. Harris was in no man's land in 7th place, but she had to stay focused with no one around. The trio was not far behind keeping this tight. With about a half mile to go, I urged Hogan to make a push and give 3-4 something to think about. She then disappeared to the back grove and we wouldn’t see her again until the final stretch. She had overtaken both runners and was clear by a good 10 seconds. She attacked and made the aggressive move that we need to see more of from a girl who put in serious miles this summer. Harris held her 7th spot and we figured we were in 3rd place as a team after Morton grabbed spots 12-17. Our trio emerged to the final straight away and we challenged them to grab the next two spots. All three runners hit the next gear and took off. It was really fun to watch and they got two vital spots. In the end, we beat Morton by 3 places for 2nd place. Had they not made those passes, we would’ve taken 3rd place. You never can tell when a pass will matter. I am proud of how hard these girls worked, how positive these girls were post-race, and loved seeing maturity from the youngsters.

As temps rose, the varsity was next. It was going to be a different experience for this group as pacesetter Hogan was cooling off after her 3rd place finish. I was expecting a tight bunch from Mia Longo, Maggie Degnan, and Erin Degnan. Then it would be up in the air how the next four came in, especially with the conditions. After mile two things were as expected as Maggie had pushed hard and was starting to feel that take a toll on her as Mia was able to make a pass on her in the final stretch. Erin started to look like her old self after an illness over the last week. Abby Hosek grabbed the 4th spot for us and has grown immensely as a racer over the last four weeks. Monse Morales rounded out the scoring squad after ‘going blind’ during the race. Her toughness is something we’ve seen before, but as a coach, you wish every athlete had. Calie Svoboda pushed really hard in the first two miles and had a hard time holding this over the final leg. I would rather have that as opposed to someone who holds back and finishes like a sprinter. Captain Gigi Kinsella rounded out the team, and this race probably wouldn't be her personal best on a three-mile course, but in my opinion, it was her best race.

The open race was last, and obviously would be the hottest. I will not single out any racers on this one, but instead just praise the efforts for all that went out. It would’ve been easy to say they didn’t feel well or make up a last minute injury, but to their credit, these ladies toed the line and raced in tough conditions. It was also a great moment to see the varsity/fr-soph/walking-wounded/managers draping cold towels over our racers as they finished. This day brought our team together, our team camp was vacant during the open race. It was uncomfortable, but as I always like to say; we have to be comfortable with being uncomfortable.

Things are looking to cool off this week and we start to ratchet up our training for the next couple of weeks before we move into October when the labors of summer (or even the first days of autumn) start to pay off.

Coach Wejman

While much of this past week was focused on the upcoming Peoria trip, our week began at Wesmont for a quad meet at a course that is notoriously slow due to many tight turns. I love to look at the numbers and compare them with past results/past seasons, but before I get a chance to do that, I employ ‘the eye test’. It was apparent that we were racing well and racing hard. Seeing certain girls group up and hang together shows commitment to racing, not just running. Coach Gonzalez and I were rather pleased as our runners came through regardless of their final times. When it came time to check in with the managers and their recorded times, our feelings were justified and I was beginning wonder if Westmont had shortened their course. Last year’s Westmont meet was rather warm (I believe in the high 80s vs mid-60s this year), but our times were much improved from last year. Every athlete that ran last year saw an improvement from last season. Seven girls improved their time by over 6 minutes, two of them (Sarah Martin and Anastacia Perez) improved by over TEN minutes. It was a great team performance and a great momentum builder into our trip to Detweiller.