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Back-to-Back-to-Back-to-Back-to-Back-to-Back State Qualifiers!
This page is updated by Coach Wejman weekly. He will address the previous week of races, workouts and our incredible runners. Enjoy, and if you have any questions or topics for discussion please
e-mail Coach Wejman at JWejman@NazarethAcademy.com
November 10, 2013
A couple of years ago a website that follows cross country asked coaches to submit their favorite courses and then listed the top 10. Naturally, Detweiller Park in Peoria was ranked #1. Personally, and I think others would agree, Detweiller is a good, but not great, course if it was just another destination on the season's schedule. Detweiller is #1 because of what it stands for. Detweiller has hosted the State Finals since 1970, pre-dating girls cross country in the state of Illinois. Detweiller is number #1 because racing there in November means something; it means that as a team or an individual, you have achieved THE goal.
Coach Joe Wejman
Coach Wejman has been the Head Girls Cross Country coach for 6 years now. His successes include many invite championships, 2012 Frosh-Soph ESCC Champions, 3 individual State Qualifiers, 2010 Regional Champions, 2010 Sectional Champions, and 2010 14th Place in State as a team.
To accompany his coaching accolades, Coach Wejman is an accomplished Social Studies Teacher and loved Theme Day participant.
This was Nazareth’s fourth straight year having representation at the State Finals. Freshman Claire Ramsey was our lone representative this year after qualifying for the grade school version as an 8th grader. Claire has had a great season and has blossomed as a runner and as a teammate. She seemed focused but relaxed all week. When saturday morning arrived, I still felt the same way about her. I laid out my goals for her and she was as receptive as she has been all year.
The gun shot and Claire got out strong, perhaps even leading for a couple of seconds; box 26 is a favorable box to be in, but a slow start could doom any racer. She was in great position at the first pass with her first mile at 5:51, looking to be about as good as possible. Given the information of the day, I would have to say that the course was running slow. Maybe it was high winds on the north loop or the rains of the past two weeks softening things up but times were a little slower than expected. We talked about finishing between 50-60 and after mile 2 I had her in 55th place. Watching her enter the ‘triangle’ the last time, it was clear that she was giving max effort; Yet, she still put in a strong finish to secure 59th place - the 4th best finish in school history.
We like to bring the full top 12 to this meet for the chance to cheer on our runner(s) and also to let the team experience what State is all about, hopefully stoking a fire in them to make it back as a team the following year. The sting of last saturday has faded a bit but our sights are now set on next year. We want 7 girls to toe that line next November. I want all the girls to enjoy their winter and spring sports, but just remember that championships are won in June, July and August; 363 days to November 8th 2014!
I want to thank Coach Gonzalez for encouraging me to do this. Not sure if many people besides him, Coach Sep and my parents read this, but it has been a great account of the season and I look forward to doing it again next year.
Coach Wejman
November 3, 2013
For about the last couple of weeks, the Wheaton Academy sectional was shaping up to be a doozy. There were a couple of teams establishing themselves as favorites, but about 4-5 others who were vying for one of those last state-qualifying spots. We knew we would be in the mix of it, and we knew it would be close. Little did we know what was in store.
We had a great week of practice capped off by our team dinner after friday’s practice. The captains addressed the team with some great words of affirmation and inspiration. This night is one of my favorite #xctraditions. Saturday morning came a little wet, but it was a nice cool fall morning. The week's rains created some wet/muddy spots, but that is what cross country is supposed to be. We knew we had to get out quick to avoid a muddy spot about 150meters in. All 7 runners answered this call and were in great position. This course was vast, which meant lots of running around to check in with the girls. It was clear they were expending themselves and running this race the way we asked them to. Given the course condidtions, times weren’t going to be a great gage, but I liked our grouping through the half way point. This was especially the case for Emily Beedie, Colleen Cavanaugh, and Meg O’Kane, our 3 final scoring racers. I tried doing the math in my head as it was going, but this was in vain, so I just resorted to just yelling at the girls; they love that. With about a half mile to go, I thought we were in bad shape. Some of our key adversaries were developing some gaps that weren’t going to be made up. I was able to get to the final straight away and see the finishes. I was pleased with the finishes as we held our spots.
As I mentioned last week, we are forced to wait for results, and wait we did. The boys race served as a distraction, but we were all getting antsy. I called the 7 runners in before the awards and tried to ease the blow by telling them that I had us on the outside by a little bit. This of course was premature, but it was what I thought and I knew they were tired of waiting; but, we waited some more. In this modern age of electronic chips and bibs, it seems that scoring would be a quick process. Granted, the officials have to watch the film to check and double check, which they should, but at this juncture in the season, no one wants to be misled about whether or not they achieved their dreams of state qualification. So we waited some more. Finally the ceremony began. The top 10 finishers were announced, then came the team results. I was expecting 7th place, or worst case 8th. 10th and 9th were announced, then, I waited for Nazareth to be said, but it was Lemont. Then I was ready for us at 7th… Wheaton Academy. Then came the pivotal moment, ‘6th place Nazareth Academy … 144 points’ I was pleasantly surprised with 6th, but being that first team out is a tough feeling. The big blow came when it was said ‘5th place Riverside Brookfield… 140 points.’ ...4 points...
I have enjoyed looking up results for this weekend ever since becoming a coach. I always tried to place myself in the shoes of the coach who got 6th by a small margin. The thought of this would always put a pit in my stomach. Experiencing it first hand was about the same thing but a hundred times worse. I really didn’t want to look at the girls at this moment, they ran hundreds of miles and worked their butts off, I just yell at them. I know this reality was devastating for these amazing ladies. I don’t think I even heard the other teams announced, but I knew we would likely have an individual or two to qualify. The biggest drama should have been over with, sadly it was not. The awards announcer began to announce the individual qualifiers and said some names that I wasn’t expecting, it became clear that something was amiss. Claire and Gianna’s names were mentioned, I knew Claire was safe, but Gianna would be close. When they neglected to mention a couple of girls that I knew were qualifiers, someone in the crowd began to tell the announcer he was wrong. It was then that they told all the girls to sit down and they tried to figure out what was going on.
Having hosted a sectional, I understand how demanding this is and how you don’t want to mess anything up at this level, but what we were headed for made me worried that one of our girls would be on the short end of this. They figured things out and re-announced the 7 individual qualifiers, Gianna’s name was not mentioned. It was a heartbreaking moment for any athlete, making it one of our own made it that much worse. We scrambled to see if anything could be done, but it was clear that it was just a mistake in the scoring system and Gianna was not a qualifier. That is a fact and a reality, but to do that to a young athlete is inexcusable. I must credit Gianna on handling this with class and dignity. She was sad and upset, she could have thrown a fit and nobody would have faulted her, but she was composed and I know that this will fuel her fire for next season.
We began to wonder if the team score was possibly off as well. This was coinciding with the boys team scores being all messed up as well, but I will not step into that debacle. The range of emotions experienced in West Chicago encapsulated what is great yet what is harsh about this sport. In lieu of everything that happened I couldn’t be happier with this season. And most of all I couldn’t have more respect for the seniors whose careers ended yesterday: Nikki Walsh, Erin Enochs, Lindsay Zasadzinski, Captain Vicky Vasquez, Captain Jacquie Skokna, and Captain Meg O’Kane. These ladies set an example of what this program stands for and what it means to be a lady runner.
Congratulations to Claire Ramsey on Qualifying for the State meet. We are Peoria bound and will do a recap of that race and the season next week.
Coach Wejman
October 27, 2013
Since the IHSA moved the classifiation system from two classes to three in 2007, there has been much disussion on the competitiveness of the regional level. Across the state, we see results from regionals that only have 2-4 full teams, where we see others that have good teams sent home because the regional is overly competitive. The last couple of years, we have been put in the former. Some of the teams have changed but in the past it has been us and RB (with Montini and JCA joining us for a year stint) along with city schools. This makes for an easy path to sectionals. One of our other sectional feeding regionals was out in West Chicago and it was brutally tough. As anticipated, yesterdays meet was a dual meet with our rival who is three miles away. The statistician in me was plugging numbers all week to see the scenarios of what we had to do to win. Had we had injuries or any of the girls needing a day off, I would have granted it due to a guaranteed path to sectionals, but sometimes these dual meets can instill a competitivess that carries over. I knew that RB had the #1 spot with the runner we call “The German.” Unless she gets lost on the course at Detweiller like she did in September, I don’t see anyone beating her on November 9th. We were hoping to grab the two spot, but their number two put in a move at the 800 meter mark and grabbed that. Watching this unfold across Lake Ida made doing the math easy. Claire Ramsey and Gianna Levato had the 3&4 spots obtaining medalist status, but we were down four right off the bat. The key was going to be having our 3,4,and 5, beat theirs. Emily Beedie came out of the woods in 6th, but I had no doubts she would take the 5th and final medalist spot for the second straight year. She might have the best finishing kick I have coached; if she is within 10 meters, she will get the spot. That got us one point back, but we were chasing three. Then, we really did our damage.
Comparing course times is dangerous when sizing up another team, but a stat that tells alot is the 1-5 split. This shows the gap between the 1st and 5th runner. Most good teams have a ‘stud’ one runner who can get a low number, but the great teams have a number 5 runner who can have the guts to hold on to spots and finish with nothing in the tank. This is where our team thrives and will be our deciding factor next weekend. Our number four of the day, Colleen Cavanaugh grabbed 7th place, but more importantly beattheir number four, earning us another point back (still chasing two). The big move came next when Meg O’Kane outkicked their number 4 runner. This meant 8th place for Meg, but it also meant that we would gain at least three points back in the process. As I was crunching the numbers, I had: 3+4+5+7+8 = 27. Twenty seven guarantees a win of 27-28. However, the final score was 27-29 because our sixth, Sophomore Brenna Fritzsche, made her career varsity debut and acted as a ‘pusher’ finishing before their number 5. Pushers will be a huge factor next weekend, rounding up or squad was senior captain Jacquie Skokna, who helped push the pack up early. This sport is more of a team effort than most realize.
When most sports end their game, the score board yields immediate results. We have to wait. I knew mathematically we won, but until it is announced I hold on to the chance of some technicality. When we have to wait next week, it will be agonizing; but for now we enjoy this victory. Once monday afternoon rolls around, we have to look forward. I am happy these girls get to enjoy this moment and cement their legacy along with the 2010 team. It was great to see many members of that team tweet at us and retweet our results. They turned the corner for our program and this current team is intent on building on that.
Of all the 2A regionals, we had the second lowest score, which means we had an easy regional. I don’t doubt this fact, but we beat a team that we hadn’t beaten at full strength all season and our racing form has never been better. A couple of weeks ago I was bracing for the reality that we had little chance of going to Peoria as a team, now, I like where we stand. It is going to be close, but as a coach all you want is a chance when that gun goes off.
Coach Wejman
October 20, 2013
This past Saturday we had our last regular season meet (although for the varsity, I consider it postseason). The quote of the day has to be credited to senior Ashley Oliver. In the starting box, a couple of minutes before her race, she said, “This is bittersweet.” This sport is tough; it is mentally and physically grueling. Race day brings out anxiety and the ‘s’ word (stress). Once that gun goes off and the finish line gets crossed, the sense of accomplishment is unrivaled by other sports. For most seniors, this was their last chance to have that feeling as part of this team,but fortunately for them, running is a sport that can last a lifetime; just last week, an 81 year old finished Chicago Marathon. I really hope these girls continue to run and pursue that feeling of accomplishment as they venture far beyond their high school running careers. It was a near perfect day for racing; cool but not cold, little to no wind, and bits of sunlight. This had me thinking that times would be good and since we ran this course back in September there was a good barometer for our progress.
The Frosh/Soph led things off and I feel like I mention it every week but Brenna Fritzsche continues to improve as an athlete and as a leader. She got off to a great start and ended up finishing in 13th place, earning medalist status. If we were not so deep at varsity she would have been up with them all season. As for the rest of the Frosh/Soph girls, I call on them to look to our juniors and seniors who were in their position when they were underclassmen and recognize that with putting in summer miles and giving max effort into every workout, they will find themselves in the mix for the varsity squad in the coming years. Special mention to Mary Claire Harrington, who dropped two minutes from her time at Midlothian Meadows last month.
The Varsity race was second and, with the sun coming out a little bit, the weather was very comfortable. Instructions were clear for our top two; stay with the top 10 group early. For our 3-7 runners it was to keep the gap as small as possible. At the first mile mark it was clear that they listened; Gianna Levato and Claire Ramsey were 12 & 13 respectively. Colleen Cavanaugh, Emily Beedie, and Meg O’Kane were not far behind and were all within 20 seconds of each other. The next sighting was a mile later after a loop in the woods when Ramsey came out in the top 10 and Levato was close behind. Cav, Beedie, and Meg were still carrying out their objectives. Cav put forth a gutsy performance, refusing to let a bit of discomfort compromise her team's goal. All of the top 5 put in great finishes and saw their times drop dramatically. Ramsey finished in 6th place, which is the second best finish for an individual in school history. Levato also earned medalist status finishing 15th. Seniors Jacquie Skokna and Vicky Vasquez rounded out the entire squad and the team finished in 4th place. This marks the best finish in school history in the ESCC. These performances give us some great momentum heading into Regionals and Sectionals.
The JV race finished up the day and while some of these girls will be part of the top 12 postseason squad, this was likely the last race of the season for all of these girls and the end of many seniors' careers. Junior Emily Eddins finished in 5th place and seems to have found her form from last season. Next up were Rebecca Letcher, Lindsay Zasadzinski, Erin Enochs and Nikki Walsh. When these girls learned their finishing time, they were beside themselves with the improvement from earlier races. These 4 should serve as role models for the current Frosh/Soph girls of what can happen with commitment and hard work. Special mention to the rest of the seniors who ran their last race; Colleen McGivney, Lauren Adduci, Ashley Oliver, and four year runner Lauren Wajda. Thank you for your contributions to this season and to this team. Alumni are always welcome to come back. Remember, summer running is free to you and you can find workouts on the website to combat the freshman 15 next year.
It has been a great season and I hope that more great things are yet to happen. Next Saturday will be like a dual meet against R-B for the regional title and then we head to Sectionals with a State berth on the line. Lastly, congratulations to Benet on winning yet another conference title. It looked like they were having a down year by their standards, but they used a strong pack to edge out Marist. Also, congratulations to Olivia Ryan of Fenwick on winning the individual title. She will be in the mix at the state final race for 3A.
Coach Wejman
October 13, 2013
On the meet sheet that Elmwood Park sends out, they always say good luck on the upcoming big meets. Depending on perspective this is the last weekend of the regular season, and the big meets begin next weekend with each conference hosting their championship meet. I offer any of our varsity girls the chance to sit this one out and rest, but if they are healthy, I prefer they run. It is a fast course and we do get to size up regional and sectional foe RB. We were able to run 9 at the varsity level, but only ran 8 due to an illness. RB didn't run their top runner, saving her for a weekend invitational. When this was realized, I figured we would have an opportunity to take first place. At mile one, our 1-2 came out a little slower than I hoped, but we're moving well. The most encouraging sign of the day was junior Emily Beedie returning to form and senior Megan O'kane keeping with her for most of the race. These two are going to be a deciding factor for us down the stretch and I like how they are progressing. Senior Jacquie Skokna also ran a great race, and despite being a non scorer, her job as a 'pusher' could mean a lot. Special mention to senior Nikki Walsh who made her varsity debut, it's amazing how far she has come since coming out her sophomore year.
Coming down the final stretch, it was clear we were going to take first place, but I wanted to see some strong finishes. Clare Ramsey put in a great closing kick to claim 3rd place, Gianna Levato took the 6th spot, right behind her in 7th was Beedie, and O'Kane grabbed the 10th spot. Skokna came in 25th to give us a total of 51 and win by 31 points.
In the open race, it is an odd distance of 2.25 miles which makes it hard to gauge times. It's still telling to watch how these girls race. At this point in the season, most girls have figured out how to compete and run a race as opposed to just run. The squad earned 3rd place and it is a good precursor to next weeks finale. Special mention to senior Lauren Wajda who continues to gut out great performances with a bad shoulder injury.
It was also great to see some alumni come out, the best college in America was on fall break and we were joined by Class of 2012 alum Maggie McKenna and Alyssa Levato as well as class of 2013 alum Dimitra Spandonidis.
We finally begin to taper things off a bit this week and we will look to run fresh next week at the ESCC conference championships. Then the road to State begins. For many, next Saturday will end their season/career. It's amazing how fast it all goes.
Coach Wejman
October 6, 2013
During my first year coaching this sport, I was forewarned about the awards ceremony at the Lisle ‘Mane Event’. Not being sure if these warnings were in jest or serious, I had no way of knowing what it was all about. Up to that point in my first season, we didn’t win too many awards, so there was a push to cut out once the races ended. I had mixed feelings about this; it was nice to get home earlier, but I also felt as if it was a slight to those teams and individuals who won awards. Also, I wanted to start getting our girls recognized during this time. In that first year for the Mane Event, I ran some of our younger girls down at the Frosh/Soph competition to see some success. Sure enough, Alyssa Levato, just a little freshman at the time, earned 9th place and was part of the awards ceremony. It was like a giant pep rally; competitors were singing and dancing with their bodies and faces painted. It was a fun event for the girls and I was happy that we were a part of it (see the pictures for proof).
For this year’s race day, the Frosh/Soph race led it off with a 2.5 mile race. The Lisle Community Park course is a tricky one with a large hill and a couple of tight turns. With some rains earlier in the week, it made for a slower course (I can’t imagine how slow that course would be today after the downpour that happened a couple hours after our races). Sophomore Brenna Fritzsche continued her medal run by placing 8th, marking her third straight invite in which she medaled in the Frosh/Soph division. Freshman Jessica Sullivan also ran another great race and is starting to understand how to get out there and compete. Her and fellow freshman Claire Svoboda continue to push each other, often finishing within seconds of each other. Freshman Mary Claire Harrington put in a great kick to steal some spots and help the team to a 4th place finish.
In the varsity race, I gave some specific orders to the girls about how to get out and attack and told them to treat this race like a post-season race. From the gun, this message was clearly received. After a weekend off visiting her sister, Sophomore Gianna Levato got out and attacked. She ran like a different person on Saturday, never seeming to let up while running the entire 5 kilometers. Her time was deceivingly slow for how she ran. I could tell that the course was slow based off of the time of race winner Mailin Struck, the R-B exchange student from Germany. She is consistently in the low 17s for 5k and Saturday she was 18:26. On better conditions and a more favorable course, I think Gianna would have come across the three mile-mark below 19minutes. In any event, she took 3rd place and beat her sister’s best time on this course by one second. Freshman Claire Ramsey ran a great race as well and gained some valuable race experience.
Aside from Gianna, the top performance of the day was the mustachioed Meg O’Kane. She is doing a great job of minimizing that gap, the most important job of a 4-5 runner. It is also important to note that Junior Emily Beedie earned the coveted black ribbon, only one of these gets passed out for the 40th place runner. We got edged out by R-B for 4th place by 7 points. This is proof of what I have been seeing for a couple of weeks now, the 5th qualifying spot at sectionals is going be earned by a razor thin margin.
In the open race, it was a crowded field being that it was combined with the boys. Junior Emily Eddins continues to put in great times and races despite dealing with injuries. The same goes for seniors Erin Enochs and Nikki Walsh, who continue to get better as a racers. Times were misleading with the conditions but it was great to see so many girls attack and race with confidence.
Hopefully all enjoyed homecoming and we look forward to cooler temps and some great hard training to gear up for the post season.
Coach Wejman
September 29, 2013
One thing that makes cross country a unique sport is the fact that we don’t judge our regular season in wins and losses. Football has to win at least 5 games to make the playoffs, other team sports want to pile up wins to enhance their post season ranking. In our sport, some teams don’t run their true ‘A’ squad until they get to sectionals or, in extreme cases, the state finals. The nice part of this is that we can ‘burn’ a meet for various reasons and not face any negative consequences. This past week at Leyden, we had some girls banged up and one of our top runners out of town. This gave us the opportunity to have some girls run up at the varsity level while others could get rest.
Before our weekend invite, we had our ESCC pre-meet. This is a meet where teams sometimes rest athletes or use it as more of a workout. I was curious to see how we stacked up, so we ran a full slate. I continue to be pleased with the pack and trying to maintain that closeness. I had no real expectations, but I was hoping to place a few in the top 17 (earning medalist status) as well as finish 4th overall as a team. Both of those were achieved, and if we can get at least 4th again on October 19th it would be a 'best ever finish' for the program.
At Leyden, the Frosh-Soph race led things off; I wasn’t sure how we would factor in for the team contest, just eager to see this group continue to grow and improve. Sophomore Brenna Fritzsche was with the front pack for the first two and a half miles. She lost contact but still finished fourth and crossed the 3 mile line (it was a 5K race) near a career best. Brenna continues to be a solid leader for this frosh soph group. She was selected to give the pre-meet speech on friday and did an amazing job encouraging all to "D.O.M.I.N.A.T.E."
Varsity came next and having only three of the usual seven meant a chance for other girls to step up and compete in the fast race. I challenged Freshman Claire Ramsey to go out and win the race. She responded to this call from the gun. By the time she emerged from the loop, the race was essentially over. She pulled Sophomore Colleen Cavanaugh with her through mile one, and the two turned themselves inside-out in doing so. Ramsey dropped Cavanaugh before mile 2 and won the race, almost setting a school record for the course. Cavanaugh held on for 2nd and Senior Megan O’Kane was also a top 10 finisher, placing 8th. Rounding out the squad were Seniors Erin Enochs, Lindsay Zasadzinski, and Junior Rebecca Letcher. When the points were counted, we finished in 3rd place. Had we run our full squad, we would have easliy taken the team trophy. Going back to earlier thoughts though, our goals are to qualify for state, not compile invite plaques even though they are nice to earn.
The Open Race finished our day and it is always great to see our team's depth and the improvements in those who may never race varsity. It was a two mile race in which there isn’t much comparison except for our debut contest at Elmwood Park. Varsity runner Emily Beedie has been getting back into shape from being a bit banged up. We told her to either go out and win the race or take it easy and use this as a workout. She chose the former and dominated the race, winning easily. We look forward to her return to the Varsity squad at Lisle. After scanning the times from Elmwood and Leyden, every girl who ran and finished both races saw a better time. Five of those saw an improvement of over a minute: Ariana Corral, Mia Grassano, Ashley Oliver, Lauren Wajda, and Nikki Walsh. (Oliver and Grassano saw their time drop over 2 minutes) This is a testament to their hard work, growing confidence and maybe a tiny bit of good coaching as well.
Dominate,
Coach Wejman
September 22, 2013
We now enter into a phase of the season that we get to have (relatively) uninterrupted weeks to step up our training; we also have a couple of meets that are a bit lighter in terms of size and competitiveness.
Last Friday was the R-B Invite. In recent years it has been become a two team meet between us and R-B. The 54th installation of this meet was more of the same. Despite having good depth at the lower levels, we have never beaten R-B for the frosh-soph team trophy. With only three teams submitting 5 or more runners, I figured we had a chance, but it would be close. Sophomore Brenna Fritzsche was the first to emerge from the forest and she pulled away to win the race . It was great seeing her smile as she coasted to the finish line with her teammates cheering her on. but there was still work to do. As I was trying to calculate scores, the margin of difference was very small. In the
last 100 meters an Evergreen Park girl was making a move on Freshman Nicole Kozak. Once she realized what was happening she dug in and held her spot. Later in the evening, we learned that we not only won the race, but it was by one point. Nicole’s determination to hold that spot was the difference between 1st and 2nd place. Proving how each member of the team can play a crucial role.
We had a couple of injuries at the varsity level, fortunately nothing serious for mid September. The one positive about this is that it gives us a chance to give some of the girls a chance to race up. Junior Captain Rebecca Letcher earned this spot for Friday’s meet. She is the embodiment of what can happen when you keep working hard and put the summer mileage in. We knew going in to the event that we were close with R-B. They have a foreign exchange student from Germany who is one of the top runners in the state, but otherwise we match up quite well with them. Although they beat us by four points, there were some great takeaways. Our 1-4 gap was under 30 seconds, which should translate to the same gap for our 1-5 runners once Emily Beedie returns from injury.
The LT meet and the Peoria meet are quite large and competitive affairs, this meet was a lot thinner of a field and a lot less pressure. This usually equates to a much better mentality from the girls in the open race. Many girls got their best time of the season, some of their careers. Senior Lindsay Zasadzinski was our top finisher in fourth place. Special mention to Ashley Oliver who posted a time 2 minutes faster than her other 3 mile races this year.
Looking ahead, we have our mid-week conference meet on Wednesday, which should show where we stand against our conference foes for that meet in mid-October. Otherwise, we will amping up our training and getting ready for the Leyden Invite on Saturday.
Coach Wejman
September 16, 2013
The Peoria trip was this past weekend. It is a great chance to spend some quality time with each other and welcome the new girls to what we lovingly refer to as the 'XC family.' While all the songs, food, and bad jokes are great, it is still an important race in which we will see some of our sectional competition. Creating that balance between fun and seriousness can be a tough one with a group of teenage girls, but this group did a nice job. It was a beautiful day for racing; cool in the morning and warming throughout the day. The girls did a great job getting themselves where they needed to be and warmed up at a non-rushed pace. It was a big field which means a lot of anxiety for all, but mainly the new runners. The girls followed all instructions well and did what was asked of them. When the race was over it was clear that we have plenty of work to do, but this team is dedicated and perhaps the most perceptive group that I have had. I have to single out Sophomore Colleen Cavanaugh who had an amazing race and is showing that hard work and commitment will yield results.
As a coach, I always hope that the best days of the program are ahead of us. As a performing team, I know this is the case. What makes this possible is what we do away from the competition arena. Trips like this solidify the bonds that keep alumni coming back, that confirm to an unsure freshman that this is the sport for her, and lead us to support each other as teammates and competitors at practices as well as meets.
UBUNTU,
Coach Wejman
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