EPGXC Excels at Peoria Heights

Those who were tapering their mileage this week excelled at Detweiler Park last Saturday, notching, four lifetime PRs and three more season PRs for a total of seven PRs amongst the fourteen tapered for this meet. In the Girls JV race, Nadia Rosenberger led the EPGXC JV ribbon reaping with her 25:34. Close on her tail was Jenn Arbuckle, whose 25:43 was a season PR by 1:13 over her previous best 2013 mark of 26:59. In addition, all three of Jenn's miles were under 9:00, a feat not accomplished all season until Saturday. That excellent effort was perhaps bittersweet as the great race as also Jenn's last in her six-year EPGXC career. The most impressive JV Girls race belonged to Senior Abbey Barhum. Abbey had yet to put a single mile under 10:00 this season, but cruised through the mile mark in 9:18, her fastest mile of the year. She followed that with her second and third fastest miles of the season: a 10:43 and 10:08, for a total time of 30:09. This is a five minute and three second PR over her previous lifetime best (a converted Heyworth time)! The boys JV race also turned out some impressive times. Marc Hartness made a bid to make the Regional Roster as he stayed close to his goal splits en route to a 17:48 season PR, only six seconds off his lifetime PR, and considering half of his training was on an elliptical due to shin problems, that is a great accomplishment. Our 2-3-4 JV runners all set lifetime PRs, which speaks well for the future of our team, as all three are mere sophomores. Shelby Heffron was the top of the trio, running an 18:35 lifetime PR. $chug was the jelly of the sophomore sandwich, running 30-seconds faster than ever and notching a 19:06 lifetime PR, agonizingly close to a sub-19. Quinn was the other bun of the sandwich, coming in with the goal of breaking 20 and accomplishing that mission by running a 19:31, 40-seconds faster than he had ever ran in his life. First-year runner Enrique Sanchez narrowly missed his PR, running a 21:43. Sam Poppen missed a season-PR by two seconds with his 23:19. Waite Uphoff had a season-PR with his 24:03. In the Varsity Races, the Girls ran a great team race, besting the 2012 and 2011 teams by over ten seconds per person. They also ran their fastest team average of the year by over 30 seconds. Leading the way was freshman Maddie Morrison, covering the course in 21:11. Vera Rosenberger had the breakout race of the day, crushing a 21:44 for a lifetime PR, and a season best by one whole minute. Karly Miller gutted through her race despite severe hip issues and helped our team average with her 22:29 season PR. Kathy Mudd was EPGXC's #4 and set a lifetime PR with her 22:46. Autumn Kridner also has a season PR (the fourth PR among the top five) with her 23:04. Sophie Steffen and Rachael Ingalsbe continued to push through injury and discomfort with their 25:09 and 25:16, respectively. The girls placed 20th of 27 with their performance, and closed their pack time to 1:52, the only time we've got it under 2:00 since FTTF when Maddie did not run. The Varsity girls will begin their taper this week for the Seneca Regional. In the Varsity Boys, the mile repeat workout loomed heavy on the legs as the Titans struggled with fatigue through miles two and three. The leaders came through in 4:50, and Senior Jacob Ludy spotted them 18 seconds as he came through in 5:08. Ludy would end up with a 16:22. Tyler DeMarb was the second Titan at the mile mark, but moved up over the last two (including a 5:16 last mile) to lead the Titans with his 15:58, one second off the course record and a lifetime PR by ten seconds. With two hilly courses coming up, DeMarb is in great shape to excel these next three weeks. The Titans #3 was freshman Andy Layden, who has been fighting congestion in addition to leg fatigue the last couple weeks and still managed to set a grass lifetime PR and narrowly missed breaking 17:00 by running 17:01. Hunter Cobbley closed the gap between him and Layden by a significant margin, finishing only four seconds back with a 17:05. Ryan Filkins was our #5 on the day, besting his lifetime grass PR by two seconds with his 17:11. Luke Barnard ran a blazing fast opening mile (5:24), but was unable to hang on to that 16:12 pace, finishing in 17:47, recovering from a 6:19 middle mile to finish with a 6:04 despite abdominal soreness. The teams 16:43 is the best ever ran by a EPGXC team on the course (and faster than four teams at state last year), and placed 5th among the 34 A and AA teams at the race. The boys have another hard week this week, starting with the tempo run today (three of whom have already completed).