Conference Recap

Conference Recap

Saturday was a historic day for the LWN cross country team. It was a last for a lot of our runners, last race of the season, and also last race as a Phoenix.  But it was also a first, our first conference championship.

The day started with the frosh/soph boys’ race. The guys came into the day with their sights squarely set on a frosh/soph conference title.  We heard before the start of the race that Central would be running their #1 and #3 runners down in the frosh/soph race.  This certainly fired up the boys, they had a chance to run against a very good frosh/soph team from Central.  The guys did a great job of running as a pack.  The top 4 passed through the mile all within 5 seconds of each other (5:27-5:32), with Sam Chomiak 9 seconds back of that pack.  I like to watch the races at Turtlehead from the back loop, as it is quiet back there with not many spectators.  As the pack headed out towards me, Central was in control with 5 in front of our 3.  At that point my mental math had the score 24-39.  But you could tell the Phoenix weren’t done yet.  As they circled the back lake and reappeared off the trail the gap had closed significantly with our 4 with their 4 and Sam closing hard on Central’s 5.  As Sam emerged from the trail with about half way left in the race, I witnessed one of my favorite moments of the season.  Sam caught a glimpse of Central’s 5 and threw down an instant surge to close that gap.  Sam went on to catch and pass Central’s 5^th runner.  Sam ran his best race of the season when it mattered most, he exemplified the frosh/soph work ethic and mentality not only in this race but for the entire season.  The last mile of the race proved to close the gap even more, but it was still not quite enough to beat Central.  Their 1-2 punch did us in, a DQ of Jung (watch your language at the finish line) made the final score not an accurate reflection of how close this race really was.  But as I told the guys after the race, it was a great effort against a great foe.  I couldn’t have been prouder of the way they ran.  All in all 5 of 7 ran season bests, Stajkowski 16:47, Jung 16:55*, Chomiak 17:38, Magee 18:30, Belavich 18:41 (Iozzo had been sick all week and gutted great race on less than ideal health).  A little heads up to the SWSC Blue, this group is coming for you in the next couple of years!  They are tough, hard-working, grinders who are just going to continue to rise.

The varsity race was the first time since First to the Finish that our top 7 would be running together in the same race, a chance to shake some rust off for some and chance to compete for a conference title for others. We had a very specific plan going into the race, stay together and very controlled through the mile.  If someone (see Evan Mitchell from West) were to go, let them.  We were going to move the second half of the race.  The guys executed perfectly coming through the mile as a pack of 6 separated by 1 second with Ryan Belavich 3 seconds back.  As they ran towards the entrance to the woods they started to move up, our pack was in 6^th through 12^th place at the 1.5 mile mark, by the 2 mile mark we had 4 in the top 6.  Hats off to Evan from West who ran a great race and never let the gap close between him and Noah.  Noah (15:32) ran well to a clear 2^nd place finish, our pack of 3 with Demetri (15:45), Kyle (15:50), and John (15:52) came through within 7 seconds with the difference being Demetri’s closing speed opening a small gap on John and Kyle.  Mark (16:06), Mike (16:15), and Ryan (16:25) were all able to finish in the top 16 to receive all-conference accolades.  A great accomplishment for Mark who was one spot away last year, and for Ryan who just missed all-conference last year as well.

Here are some numbers from the varsity for the last two years. Last year was the best team in North history, this year’s team is on a whole other level.

Top 5 average: 2014 (16:28), 2015 (15:49)

Top 7 average: 2014 (16:31), 2015 (15:57)

The open race marked a great end to the day for the Phoenix. It was a long line of black and gold.  Our group of 7 all wanted to win that race.  Chris Curtin ran his best race of the year to finish second, but it wasn’t good enough to defend his open race title, as David Nino ran away with a huge victory running 16:50 all by himself for the second half of the race.  The Phoenix had the first 4 and 7 of the first 8 in the race.  Of the guys who finished their season on Saturday 22 guys ran their season best time.  There were so many highlights in the open race.  JD’s tough effort to hang with Nino for the victory to battle to a close 3^rd place finish.  James Sullivan finishing his year with his best race after a tough season.  Will Newman running 18 flat.  Sean Kilpatrick running a 2 mile and 3 mile PR to end his year.  Steady Eddy Zach Purcell continued improvement with a great race to end the year.  Cam White preparing the track-world for a name they are going to know this spring with a great race and a massive PR.  Luke Fitzgerald continuing to improve and end his year with yet another PR.  Ryan Trost hanging with Cam as long as possible to a great race.  Not to be out down by his brothers Ted Trost running sub 21 for the first time in his life.  Alex Witkowski ending the year with a PR.  Matt Ketchen putting himself in the hurtlocker early to hang on and run a massive PR and also most break 21 minutes.  Nathanial Zamabrano right on Matt’s heels running a great race as well.  Jack Major finishing the year the way he has run all year with a PR, Jack Pr’d in 6 of 7 races this year and improved from 29 minute down to 22:14 by the end of the year!  Alex gale and Ty Styrsky working together to end the year with season best races.  Derek Milosovic running within 1 second of his PR after sitting out all last week with a PE class concussion.  Chris Fabian’s finish as he powered for home trying to break 26 minutes, as he ran 26:00.  And Sean Farmer with yet another huge PR.

This summer you could tell there was a different level of commitment on the team, guys put in their best summer’s yet. And what is great is you can see those results in the massive improvement from last year to this year at conference. 

What I love about this chart is it covers the entire team, frosh/soph, varsity, open, 15 minute guys 18 minute guys 27 minute guys. There is a commitment to excellence in our training and work ethic at North.

The conference meet was a great finish to the season for some and a great start the post season for our top 12 as they continue to move towards the state series.