An apology and a congratulations!

First of all, I'm sorry to Nick Piper for alleging in error that he had been bested by the efforts of one Dale Domnick. I was going off of memory, and I didn't see the entire finish. My apologies, and I'll try not to make such a grievous error in the future.

Second of all, I said that I believed the girls race was fast and I was right! I just got the results from Joel, and Caitlin Pribble, Ashley Pribble, and Grace Jankowski all ran under 20 minutes, with times of 19:33, 19:55, and 19:57 respectively.  As I understand that this course is a full 3.0 miles, I believe that means we have some new entries to the ladies 19 Minute Club! Way to go ladies!

Men, you're next. Who wants to be on the 15 Minute Club? I think it's fair to say that Detweiller is a much faster course than Northwoods, so there's no reason for some of you not to be thinking about it, with the times that were run today.

-Steve

Now THIS is cross country weather!

Morton vs. Metamora vs. Pekin

Let's see, it was about 57.56163 degrees of the Fahrenheit variety, the sun was shining every now and then, the leaves were starting to fall, the wind was faintly detectable, and the Potters were ready to run some races and eat some cupcakes.  Cross country season is officially rolling along now.

The girls race: a strong early attempt up front

The girls race was exciting as the Potters made a strong early bid to take the Redbirds down up front.  Ashley Pribble led much of the first mile, with Metamora's top two runners in tow.  The duo of Caitlyn Pribble and Grace Jankowski had a slight lead on Metamora's third runner. Following them, Metamora rounded out their varsity scoring, with Pekin getting in one or two runners before Morton's second pack of Ashley Coon, Brooke Carius, Lauren Wirth and Jenna Zbinden. Ashley Mcollum looked strong early on as well, running near the top 7.

Midway through the race, Metamora cranked up the pace, and their top two runners separated from the field. Their third runner started making up ground on Ashley Pribble, with Caitlyn and Grace following.  After sorting themselves out in the middle of the race, Metamora took the top three spots, followed by Caitlyn and Ashley, then Grace.  I didn't see the full results, but I know the Potters split the meet, falling to Metamora, but decisively beating Pekin.  The race appeared to be fast, but I haven't yet seen the girls times.

The girls ran an excellent race and were handed their first loss, by a team that is consistently one of the best in the area, and one of the best AA teams in the state. Next week they face East Peoria, which is arguably the best women's team in AA in the state.  The Potters will look to solidify their ranking as third in Mid-Illini over the coming weeks.  I have seen no such official ranking, but after the races I've seen, and the record they've compiled, one would have to be a fool to not rank the Lady Potters in the top 3.

The boys race: Morton runs their best race of the year...unfortunately so does Metamora

The boys race started off fast and aggresive. Early on there was a Metamora lead group that consisted of 5 Metamoralonians, 2 Pekinlings, and 2 Mortonites, followed by a slightly strung out group consisting of Metamoras 6th and 7th, Pekins 3rd and 4th, and the rest of the Morton Varsity.  For much of the first half of the race, Pekin's 2nd pair was leading Morton's 3rd runner, causing alarm in the team scoring.

This group started to string out, and coming up the hill the second time just after halfway it was 1 Metamoralonian out front, followed by Jared Marks, who was followed closely by Metamora's 2nd, 3rd, and 4th, who were in turn followed by Pekins front duo, followed closely by Joe Zeller and Metamora #5.  Eric Meyer started to carve out a solid place for himself between packs, followed by Dale Domnick, Austin Bradford and Nick Piper. Nathan Smith trailed just a few meters back.

Somewhere between the second mountain ascent, and the entrance to the plains (the prairie grass section), Metamora switched into super hero mode. I'm told, they were heard saying things like 'Metamora, UP!!'  'It's morphing time!!' and one confused Redbird was seen showing off his ring and yelling 'Heart!!'  Captain Planet never appeared, but whatever magic was unleashed, it worked for Metamora as they entered the plains blanketing the top 4 positions, running in two spread out pairs.  They were followed by Pekin's front duo, then Joe Zeller and Jared Marks, then Metamora's 5th man.  A little ways back, there was a battle between Morton's pack and Pekin's final scorers to ensure the Potters split this meet.

The race continued in similar fashion most the way to the finish. The Redbirds showed why they are favored to win the Mid-Illini and Pekin's front duo finished strong. Zeller led the Potters, followed closely by Marks. Meyer was 3rd Potter in followed by Domnick, then Pipes. Smitty showed his sprinting prowess to nip Bradford at the line to close out the Potter's scoring effort.

The superhero efforts of Metamora were too much to overcome today. I'd previously said that if the Redbirds ran equal to, or worse than, the way they've been running all season, Morton had a chance. However, the Redbirds looked significantly better than they have previously this fall, boosted by a resurgent Van Fossen.  Morton's pack efforts defeated Pekin's front running team though, to give the Potter's a split decision, just as the ladies had.

Now before anyone thinks that the Potters had a bad race today by suffering their first defeat, let me point out a few facts. 

• Most of, if not all of, the Potters ran faster today than they had all season over a full 3.0 mile course. Remember that, though the weather may have been near perfect, Northwoods is not an easy course, and times are usually slow.  This bodes well for the fast course to come at Detweiller this weekend.
  
• Last years leading time from a Morton athlete on the Northwoods course would not have even made the varsity top 7 today.  Take a moment and let that sink in to realize how far you guys have come. Two of the founders have been humbled today. I'm glad I never raced that course or I probably would have been humbled as well.

The Potters raced very well today, indeed, and I would call it their best race yet this season. 

Steve does not endorse gambling

I promised Joe I'd get all Metamorical.....er, metaphorical on the site tonight, so here goes. Running a tactical race is like playing a game of poker. Now I don't really know anything about poker, but I've been lead to believe that it's a game where some combinations of cards are better than others, and people make wagers that their array of cards is better than someone elses unknown array of cards. These people have the option of wagering a lot, wagering a little, or quitting. To stay in the game, people are required to match other peoples wagers, however.

Racing can be the same way. When you're halfway through a race, you don't know for sure what the opposition has, but you have a good idea of what you have. You can decide to go all out, and make a move to break the competition, taking the risk that in the end their strength will last longer than yours.  You can decide to wager just a little, match other peoples moves, and hope that the strength you have in the end will outrun your opponents. Or you can quit, put nothing on the line, and simply decide the race isn't worth it.

The difference between poker and racing is that quitting, or folding, is a perfectly acceptable option in poker.  In racing, where the fight is as much against yourself as it is the other team, bagging a race is never an acceptable alternative.  You either race or you don't. If you're hurt and won't try during the race, then don't enter.  Either of the other two options are perfectly good racing strategies and, as in poker, the key is analyzing your strengths, guessing your opponents, and making the right decision.

I saw no Potters quitting today. I saw some points where Potters took some risky moves. I saw some Potters who raced within their abilities to finish well at the end. But I saw no quitters. I simply saw teams that were up against an opponent with a stronger hand.

Now, not to beat a dead horse here, but the other difference between poker and racing is this: in poker your hand is completely random, and in running your hand is in large part determined by you.  So if you want to show up at this race next year with the stronger hand, the key lies in offseason work. I guarantee that's how Metamora gained the hand they had.  Both Morton's boys and girls teams are young teams and have lots of potential to come into next season with the Royal Flush. I've been lead to believe that is the best array of cards to have when playing poker.

MHS Runners Recognition of Achievement

I apologize that I'm not prepared to give out a full array of awards (array is my word of the day!).  I was cheering the girls near the pavilion at the top of the hill and missed their finish, as well as part of the boys.  Too bad, because the final finish is the best place to catch Photo Finish Awards and Jack-o-Lanterns as well.  I also am going completely off of my memory here, as I don't have results in front of me, and man, it's hard to keep track of 39 of you!  So here's a few, and I'll try to do a better job in the next few races.

• The Photo Finish Award - This goes to Nathan Smith, who narrowly nipped Austin Bradford in the last five meters of the race to claim bragging rights.  He was cranking down that hill, and closed a pretty sizeable gap in the last quarter mile.
• The Punisher Award - This goes to Dale Domnick, for his valiant efforts against Pekin. Going into the finish, I knew it was tight with Pekin for team scoring, and Dale had just been passed by one Dragon, with another close behind. I yelled for him that he had to beat those guys, and I have no idea if he heard me, but I like to think he did, and he put those Pekinlings away solidly, to give the Pottes a few more points in their 25-30 defeat over Pekin. There was also a rumor that he was seen beating up one of his teammates during the race. While beating up your teammates is not encouraged, 'throwing vicious elbows' is an official criteria for this award, and it does make for a good story.
• The Punisher Award - This also goes to Grace Jankowski. I mentioned the other night that there is no way in a dual-scored race to overcome a 1-2-3 finish. While sadly, Metamora used this against the Potters, Grace followed the Pribbles to ensure that Morton used this tactic to deny Pekin any chance of victory. She may or may not have elbowed other runners as well. I honestly have no idea, but saying things like that is how rumors get started and legends get made.
• The Morale Rooster Award - This goes to "PIPES", who, of all the followers of this blog, has the funniest profile picture.  Special recognition goes to any Potter who becomes a follower of the blog.  Smitty needs to get a picture, and the girls need to become followers.
• The Morale Rooster Award - This goes to the girls team, who were seen making their way to the far reaches of the course cheering for the guys, even after an exhausting race of their own. Way to support the team, ladies!
  

That's all for tonight. Awesome job, and let's tear it up on Saturday.  Remember, if there's one lesson to learn from Metamora today, it's that their is strength in running together.

H.E.A.R.T.

…is the desire to achieve GREATNESS. I’m not going to give you guys a funny story about a cartoon character today, I’m not going to tell you anything you already know, that’s not what you need today. Today…you need the truth. Tomorrow all of you will step up to the line at Northwoods and as you look next to you, you’ll see Metamora and Pekin. Then you’ll look up the hill at what is about to come. You know that Metamora hasn’t trained on that hill…but you have. You know that Metamora hasn’t run this course as many times as you have. You know that every step you take on that course you’ve taken before. Now it comes down to that moment before the gun goes off. You will prepare, you’ll blank your mind of everything except what you have to do in the next 3 miles.

Get out….get going…get in front of your man. The rest is all secondary. You WON’T measure yourself by what the clock says at the end, you CAN’T measure yourself by the sum of your places, but you WILL make it the race you wanted to run. You do that…if you really do it, give it everything that you’ve asked of yourself...it will no longer be Morton that’s the underdogs but Metamora scrambling to make the cut. You have already shown that you are one team, that every race is the projection of your desire to improve yourself. Now it’s all a matter of making sure everyone else sees the team that is MORTON CROSS COUNTRY is a team not to be reckoned with.

Tomorrow you run for your team….and everyone is cheering for you. Be that at the course, in Bloomington, in Champaign, or anywhere else. All that distance means is how loud we have to cheer.

I now quote Pre- “To give anything less than your best is to sacrifice the Gift”

Nathan

Cross Country 101:

Strategy at the Battle of the Mid-Illini

Today's lesson will go in depth into the strategy that took down the Redbirds many moons ago, okay everyone take notes as you will be tested on this tomorrow. The final scoring at this epic battle was :
Morton - 2,4,5,7,9
Metamora - 1,3,6,8,10

For all you math geniuses that was a final score of 27-28. But what really happened only becomes apparent when you break it down.

One man in Morton was obviously down......................................... 2-1
2nd man they still were down............................................................6-4
3rd getting closer but still down.........................................................11-10
4th they'd tied it up thanks to the efforts of man 4..............................18-18
If everyone remembers you still have to get in man 5
which was make or break but he did it. ..............................................27-28

So what is the point of this example? Well it shows that it ain't over until it's over but it also shows that you can't give up and in one pair the tide can change. Morton although an epic team that year was not without fears of loss. However they were led by Coach E, whom i directly consulted before this lecture today and i am good friends with, and knew what they needed to get done. The same is true with all the great fighting powers. So i will now reveal the topic of tomorrow's exam: the Clash of Zehr vs Jones, a comparison of modern coaching styles and the effects of the Homefield advantage.

This will be a lab practical will have two questions:
1) How does the drive to win by the Morton Cross Country team affect the outcome of the meet?
2) How is the use of strategic running affect the final scores of the meet? Please include the style used and the reasons why Morton won.

I hope you have all seen the use of strategy in running. Good luck tomorrow ladies and gentlemen. Remember to not stress before the test and know that you know the material you just have to apply it. Get a good night's sleep beforehand, drink lots of water so you don't pass out during the practical, and remember since Red starts with R, it means turn left.

I won't see you all tomorrow as i have a conference in Champaign but you will have many professors watching over you tomorrow.

Cross Country 101:

Strategy in Ancient Times

Metamora…the team to beat on Tuesday but what will it take? Dr. Gifford has given a strategy to get it done, and I know that Coach Zehr will give you one too. They may even line up with one another, you never know. But I want to give you something else, something that isn’t theoretical, and isn’t based on what could happen but did.

I want to start off by saying this is not me bragging about what a team I was on did, but just telling you what Morton has DONE. (I will tell it in the first person though, because it’s easier) We like you guys (this will be said a lot) were undefeated in the conference up to the race against Metamora. It was at home and it was our senior night. We had a good team overall and thought that we could beat Metamora (though at the time I didn’t know how big a deal this was because you get your picture on the wall if you go undefeated conference). We went into the week knowing we had one goal, beat the Redbirds. Coach E gave us our man to beat, we had to know their name and what they looked like, and we knew what had to be done during the race. We all went out and tried our best to beat our guy, though I was in my mind inconsequential (we’ll get to that later). We did it though, with a 27-28 win we did it. The question though is how?

I will give you the exact place to place break down when I get a response from my collegue Mr. Zehr, but I can tell you what Dr. Giffy got right for sure off the top of my head:

1. Our course is OUR course…our fortress and fighting ground. It should feel like your home and you know it just as well. Metamora, though they walk it every year trying to figure it out has never quite gotten a handle on it. You however know it for every bump, hole, stick, and underground gopher track. Gene Jones know his guys don’t know the course, all the coaches know you can’t learn Northwoods in a half hour before the race. Now time for a more recent example: East Peoria last year didn’t know the course and their coach knew this. They also knew something else, the top Morton guy besides not being able to kick well in a finish is also an idiot. They took their top five guys and formed a pack, then they went realllly sloooow. Stupid Morton runner (let’s call him Nathan, to keep the writing personal and to keep the identity of this poor guy secret) doesn’t know what to do so he passes them, and begins to run his race. E.P. just sits on Nathan’s shoulder the whole first lap just watching and taking a breather. When they get to the shelter during the first lap, they know the whole thing and as group pass Nathan and begin to actually run. The point of the story? You don’t have to run all out the whole time to run smart. They didn’t let the fact that they didn’t know the course hurt them.

2. You can all take any of the spots and in the race Tuesday must take the highest spot available to you, this is one of the only ways to win. You need to run fast, run hard, and help your teammates. I agree with Dr. Gifford when he said that if one man falls another must take his spot and run his goal. Northwoods eats runners for breakfast, be ready to help your fellow runner.

We are still looking for an answer to yesterday’s E.C question, I will accept the answer until 6:30 tonight. Thank you and everyone rest up for the Exam tomorrow. Wednesday we will be talking about the differences between Invite and Dual Strategies, please don’t forget to come.

Ladies Potters vs. Redbirds

So the ladies want to beat Metamora too?

Good. I'm glad. I'll be honest with you. It's going to be tougher for the ladies than for the boys. There are two reasons for this.

• they have 3 consistent frontrunners instead of two.
• the margins to catch those frontrunners is larger

So is it possible? Sure, it's just going to take one heck of a race.

In dual scoring, there is no way to beat a team that goes 1-2-3 in a race. In an invite, it can work, but head to head, it's mathematically impossible. Either that, or I'm bad at math.

So the strategy is essentially the same as the boys. You have to break up that front running. You need to get at least one of your top runners in between Metamora's top 3.  And the way The Law Firm of Pribble, Pribble and Jankowski (thanks go to Joe Zeller, who has a very mhsrunners.blogspot.com-ish sense of humor) has been running, if you get one up there, you'll likely get 2 or 3 up there.  

But that's only one part of two things required to win. The other lies with the pack. You've got to get as many runners as possible in front of their 4th and 5th. It'll be tight, because their 4, 5, and 6 runners are often close.  But you guys have managed to have your 4th and 5th competitive with theirs before, at Galesburg.  And you've also managed to swap positions from 4-7 before.  If you can manage to get several runners in front of their 4th, you can do well.

What exactly will it take place-wise to succeed? I can't say, because there's a lot of potential things that could happen.  If you can get 1 runner to break up Metamora's top 3,  it's tough. If you can get 2 in there, a big wave of Potters before Metamora's 4th could do it. And if you can get 3 up there, it becomes more reasonable.

So that's what it comes down to, the more people who have their best race so far of the season, the better the chance you have.  Just like the boys, running together helps. There's no point having several people finish near each other, and sometimes run near each other, but not use each other and help each other. So use each other, and use the course.  The course is tough, and the competition doesn't know it as well as you do. Resist the temptation to give them a tour the first lap. And if you decide to make a big push, try using a corner where you're out of sight for a second.

Some good racing Saturday!

Thanks Joe for the report on the Porta Invite. It sounds like it was an awesome race, and I'm glad to hear Morton ran well, putting up some quick times, and is running in packs.  I wish I could have been there, but hey, moving boxes was fun too, right?

Scouting reports on Pekin

Pekin raced this weekend at EP.  We haven't seen a lot of Pekin this year, so I'll tell you some quick impressions. Remember, these are quick impressions based on skimming results of only one of their races.

In the guys race, they will be tougher than I expected.  They have a strong front two, but a large gap to the rest of the scorers. If you run the type of race that competes with Metamora, you should beat Pekin handily, unless they've been hiding something. If you don't run that well, you'll likely still beat them, but it'll be kind of close. A bad race for Morton could lose to them. They beat, but didn't destroy, Canton and EP on Saturday. Both of those are teams that you have also beaten, but not destroyed.

In the girls race, Pekin looks a little weaker, but just a little. They narrowly beat Richwoods, who Morton's beaten handily, and they didn't put a lot of points on Washington, who were annihilated by the Potters on Tuesday. They don't look like slouches though, and an off race for Morton could fall to the Dragons, so be careful.

So tear it up on Tuesday, and remember that the strength of winning these races lies in the pack!

A few clarifications

Just in case the girls felt slighted that my post tonight was shorter than what I wrote for the guys, I'll offer up two excuses and a reason:

• Much of what I would have said to the girls was covered in the guys post.  It applies to both, but I didn't feel like typing it twice, and I'm too lazy to copy/paste. This is because....
• I'm exhausted from a long week and weekend.
• I realize that I have a tendency to write way too long, and I'm trying not to make everything as long as what I wrote for the guys (basically it's not that yours was too short, but that the guys' was too long)

So there it is.  I'll let you figure out which of those was the reason, and which were excuses.

A few last minute tips

• Nathan Young related a story to me that confirmed that some visiting teams do try what I have christened the 'tour guide approach' to racing at Northwoods. Don't let them!  This confirmation makes me feel smart, as I came up with that idea all by myself, and find out experienced coaches use it too. Yeah for me!
• Use the course, Luke! Use the course!  Let go of your feelings... (do you all even know the original Star Wars?)
• You have traded spots before, so don't anyone settle for their usual spot. I'll share a story from a similar situation. I was on a team that had to win against Richwoods to complete an undefeated season. I had to beat their third man, but I felt crappy and was fading in the middle of the race. But our normal fourth man came up, took my spot, and beat Richwoods third, allowing me to beat Richwoods fourth and we won the meet 27-28.  It wouldn't have happened if our usual fourth man had settled for his usual fourth position. Anyone of you could finish in any position and many are rapidly improving. Who's it going to be this time?
• The strength is in the pack and running together.  Not much more to say there.  If you don't get it by now, come talk to us and we'll give you another lesson.
• Have fun. What could be more fun than making yourself hurt really bad for 15-20, and then hanging out with good friends?  May not sound like as much fun when I say it like that, but it really is a blast.  I have a feeling you all know what I mean. If you didn't, why on earth are you on the cross country team?

-Steve

Cross Country 101: Intro to Strategic Running

Professor: Dr. Young
TA: Dave Getz; currently in his 2nd year working on his BR in Titanic Running
TA: Ben Getz; currently in his 2nd year working on his BR in Greek Strategy, specializing in the story of Marathon

Welcome class to Day One of Intro to Strategic Running, I’ll be your professor leading lectures and your TA’s this semester will be Dave Getz and Ben Getz. Also if we’re lucky we may have a few guest lectures from Dr. Gifford, who has his doctorate in Strategic Running and Running with Injuries, and is working on his Masters in Greek Strategy which he will complete this October. He is also an accomplished writer including his works: Coaching the Modern Runner and Proper Forums for Advising the New Age Teen.

Today’s lesson is on the basics of cross country scoring. I know it sounds easy but in order to move into deeper topics we must cover the basics. Also keep in mind that the first exam is this Tuesday and will be closed book. The exam is made to be hard, but I know all of you can pass with flying colors if you listen carefully in lecture and get a good night’s sleep the night before.

Now then…Cross Country is based on lowest score wins. The score is the sum of the places of the first five runners from a team to cross the finish line. The sixth and seventh runners are there to try to get in before the fifth runner from the other team. I think that everyone knows that this appears simple but we will still give an example. Say a team gets 1, 5, 7, 8, 11, 12, and 34; while your team gets 2,3,4,6, 9,10, and 13 . The scores would be: 32 for the other team and 24 for you so easy enough to say you won. This would be if the first guy finished one second faster than your man (or person) or a minute faster. So you wonder though where is the strategy in that then. Relax I’m getting there, the key is the Pack.

This is a very secret strategy that is rarely heard of but when mastered is quite powerful. Simply put it plays off the math involved in cross country. Numbers that are close together add up to a smaller number than nonconsectutive numbers (not together). An example: the sum of 1 + 2 + 3 + 4 + 5 is 15 whereas the sum of 2 + 4 + 6 + 8 + 10 is 30. And in this second case would even be beaten in a dual format by the 1 + 3 + 5 + 7 + 9 which is only 25. So we have learned so far what? That a pack is good, low score wins, and strategy is important.

Now I know that you will get addition studying and go into further details on this with your TA’s, but one final topic to think about before your discussion sections. How can one sixth man in front of a fifth change anything?

First person to post the correct answer will receive extra credit. Remember the exam is coming up and…okay there’s the bell have a good afternoon everyone. Class will be again tomorrow, we’ll be talking about Strategy in Ancient Times.

Joe Zeller's Porta Invite Summary

Originally Posted by Joe:

I wasn’t sure exactly what to do with this. So I am leaving here for one of the founders to deal with. This is my very limited summary of the race.

First the girl’s race:
At 10:00 in the AM, started the battle for top dog of some randomly scattered cross country teams from Illinois. Leading the Morton girls was of course the Pribble twins and Jankowski in the mid-teens. They lead the first mile in (time unknown) while Carius, Coon, and Zbinden followed behind in (also unknown). They were also followed by Nace, Ogden, and Reins. Keeping strong all the way to the end of the race was the front pack of Pribble, Pribble, and Jankowski (kinda sounds like a law firm, doesn’t it?) in times of 19:33, 19:34, and 19:34 respectively. The rest of the Morton squad was filled by Carius (22:02), Zbinden (22:31), Coon (22:47), Nace (25:03), Ogden, Rachel (26:31), and Reins (27:02). All girls contributed to the scoring of a 6th place finish. Good job girls!

Then the guy’s race:
When the race started it was hot! It then soon cooled off upon entering the woods which was heavily shaded. This helped make the race quite enjoyable from some perspectives. To start the race, the lead Morton runner came through the mile at 5:30 and was closely followed by Bradford, Domnick, Meyer, Piper, and Smith. A key part to Morton’s success was the tightness of their 2nd through 6th men which finished only 20 seconds apart. Morton’s men are starting to run with each other rather than just happening to be in the same race together. They had about 4 or 5 close groups that worked off of each other, but back to the race. After the final part of the trails up the large hill (which didn’t really compare to big bertha, but was nicely complemented by a large group of lady potters), all that was left was a small straight away and the final hundred yard dash. First for the guys in ninth place over all was Zeller in a time of 16:30. He was closely followed by Bradford (17:18) and Domnick (17:15) who got out kicked by Meyer (17:10) in the final straight away. Very close behind were Piper (17:25) and Smith (17:30) which rounds out the first group of runners. To round out the normal varsity 7 was Hohulin at 18:10. Then in came Blunier (18:33) which started the announcer in my head saying “the 30, the 20, the 10, touchdown!” as he barreled down the football field for the finish. Next was Ivins (18:40) and Getz (19:00) which rounded out the scoring which I will explain later. The next pack of guys was Ackerman (19:03), Young(19:12), Hanser(19:20), Goodyear, Justin(19:33), and Smith, Chase(19:40). These guys are worked well together to finish the race strong. The rest of the Morton Potters were Lyons(20:35), Zimniek(21:09), Baer(21:14), Doan(21:54), and Goodyear, Jordan(25:56). The Guys ended up in 4th overall, good job guys!

Scoring:
The people in charge of the meet had an interesting way of scoring it. They took the number of students in school (in our case about a thousand), divided it by 100 (10), then took that many finishers from the team and averaged their scores, and then took that and multiplied it by 5 for the final team score. This kind of evens it out, but in some cases can be very unfair to some teams. But who am I to judge?

And yes Dave, aren't I fast for a 49 year old?

Who wants beat Metamora?

This summary is for how the men can beat Metemora. I'll get my thoughts up on the girls Tuesday competition  before I go to bed Sunday night. I promise.  I won't be able to make it to tomorrow's race in PORTA, so I wish you all the best of luck and enjoy your first road trip this season.

Let's do it

So, men, I say "you can beat Metamora". You look at me and say "they beat us all 3 times we've seen them this year. Are you crazy?" And I respond, "Yes, I am a little crazy. But that doesn't mean I'm not right!" So let's have a look at some of those different races, shall we, and what we can do to change them.

First of all, Metamora's got 2 strong front runners. Their top 2 have beaten our top 2 in every race so far, usually by margins of greater than 30 seconds. So while anything is possible, I don't suggest formulating a strategy based on beating them man for man, because beating their top 2 guys is unlikely on Tuesday.

Your strength lies in your depth.  Now in those later spots, Metamora's deep too. Your depth is very comparable as you guys have traded spots with them in many races. At Galesburg, for instance, you had 6 in before their 6th. Where they beat you was having 4 guys in front of your 2nd.

But then at Woodruff, you had four guys in before their 4th, and 6 in before their 5th. That's right, 6 in before their 5th (that's the key to beating them, but I'll get to that later). And your 7th was only 2 seconds away from putting 7 in before their 5th.  They only beat you guys 26-30 in dual scoring. And you know what? For whatever reason, that was probably Jared's worst race so far this year. 

If you place Jared up near Joe's placing, where he's been in the more recent races (and should be on Tuesday), you would have tied them 28-28. And in a tie, you go to the 6th man, which means you would have beat them.  Don't believe me? Check the results and run the numbers yourself. Jared Marks has shown in the past two weeks that he can run at the front of the team, so I basically just proved that it's possible to beat Metamora.  That proof might not hold up in geometry class, but it's true nonetheless

Now, at the Dunlap Invite, things were a bit worse, for two reasons. First of all, Metamora's 3rd and 4th men had great races, beating Joe and Jared by a few spots. Another team putting 4 in front of your 1st is impossible to overcome. To make matters worse, Morton was running a man down, as Eric Meyer is normally one of your scorers, and was absent that day.  Metamora creamed you.  I mention this so that you realize how tight it can be, and how things can swing one way or another really easily.

So how do you make sure this is one of the days where you run well against them? Well, here's a few suggestions.  Hopefully none of them go against what Coach Zehr is telling you. If they do, listen to him, he's your coach.

• You need to put your top 2 in front of their 3rd. It HAS to be done. Joe has beaten their 3rd man 2 of the 3 times you've faced them (and was not far behind him the 3rd time), and Jared has shown he can run with Joe.  You have to do this to have a chance. If they put 3 or 4 guys at the front of the race, you're not going to beat them. If Joe or Jared (or anyone who wants to step up) can break up their top two, all the better, but they've both got to beat Metamora's #3 at the very least.
• You have to get at least 3 more guys in front of their 4th. You were close it at Woodruff, where Eric, Dale and Nick all beat their 4th man, and Jared almost did. Dale beat their 4th man by 4 seconds. And you know what? Dale's been beaten by Austin this season. And Nathan has finished within 1 second of Dale.  You guys are all close.  So that means you have 7 guys, including Jared and Joe, who could potentially beat their 4th man on the right day. It is crucial to get your 5th man in front of their 4th. If they take the top 2 spots, it's basically the only way you can win. Remember, if you manage to win this, it'll likely only be by a point or two, so every spot counts.
• You have to get your 6th man in front of their 5th. This will inflate their score, and is the only way to counteract the low sticks their front runners will likely provide.  7 is better, but you HAVE to get 6 in front of their 5th.  Once again, I've shown that's possible. Not easy, but it's possible. You've done it before. You had a 7th guy within 2 seconds of their 5th at Woodruff. 2 seconds is possible.
  

That's it. If you can manage those things, you'll beat them. Let's look at 3 likely best case scenarios.

1. Metamora gets 1, 2, 5, 9, 11, 13, and 14. This gets them 28 points. Morton gets 3, 4, 6, 7, 8, 10, and 12. This gets them 28 points. Morton's 6th man (10th), beats theirs (13th). Morton wins the tie.
2. Metamora gets 1, 2, 5, 9, 12, 13, and 14. This gets them 29 points. Morton gets 3, 4, 6, 7, 8, 10, and 11. This gets them 28 points. Morton takes Metamora by 1 point.
3. Metamora gets 1, 2, 5, 8, 12, 13, and 14. This gets them 28 points. Morton gets 3, 4, 6, 7, 9, 10, and 11. This gets them 29. Metamora takes you by 1 point.

So you see, you have to get that 5th man in front of their 4th again. Any other way likely just won't work. You also notice the key to victory is in the pack. Joe and Jared can't win the race for you, but your 5th and 6th man can.  Everyone needs to do their part, and everyone is as important to a team effort as everyone else. Many people often say that the 5th man is the most important on the team, but in a super close race, like we hope this will be, all 7 are important.

Now you may be saying "wait a minute, Woodruff was a nasty day, maybe they were just off that day or whatever." 

I respond in two ways "first of all, Woodruff was just as nasty for you as it was for them. Second of all, you don't think you have an advantage on Tuesday???!! 'Cause you do. You've got three that I can think of right now!"

• Metamora knows they've beat you all 3 times. They probably don't realize how close things can be. They'll come in overconfident and expecting that a B-level effort could win the race. You have surpise on your hands.
• You're a better team than you were before. You guys are showing improvement every time out. Your positions are constantly changing and you never know who's going to have a breakout race.  Especially if you learn to run as a pack and use each other, you'll be extra formidable in ways you weren't earlier.
• You have a homecourse advantage.  USE IT!!

Let's break down those last two points, in reverse order. You guys have a rough course. No doubt about it. It's constantly changing direction, the terrain changes, there's a nasty hill you do twice, and a few smaller ones, you have several turns where you can't see very far ahead, and IT'S EASY FOR VISITORS TO GET LOST.

Now I'm not suggesting we have volunteers misdirect the other teams. That's dirty pool and I don't roll that way.  But approaching every corner, at least the first time around, Metamora's guys are going to be thinking "ok...I think I go right here...but I'm not sure...what's that Morton guy doing? Is that volunteer pointing me to the right or talking on her cell phone?"  You guys will be going around that course with the confidence that you know exactly where every corner is. What's more, you know which hill's hurt the most, how long that hill on the trail lasts (coming out of the prairie grass section), and you should know the best line around all the corners. Use these things, because the opposition won't know the course as well as you, especially on the first lap.

You have corners where if you have a small lead, you're out of sight for a few seconds. Surge on those corners. It'll help to 'break' someone who's chasing you if they regain sight of you and find you've put another 10 meters on them.  Know where to position yourself; when you want to be on the right side of the path to get ready for the next corner, and when you want to be on the left. Run the tangents as well, which means running the straightest path that follows the course. I noticed at Washington that many of you guys were running kind of wider paths than necessary, while Limestone's guys were not. Every second counts.

There's a good chance that Metamora will hang back a little and not force the pace the first lap. They've started conservatively in several of their races so far, and they might try to have you 'give them a tour' the first lap. Don't let them. If they hang back and run slowly, run just off their shoulder, but don't show them where to go, unless you think you're ready to take a big lead. Running 5 meters in front is just showing them around. We should have volunteers to point at the corners, but it's not your job to show them. It's your job to beat them.  If they do run this way, be ready because when the second lap comes, or maybe late in the first lap, they're going to ratchet up the pace. Be ready for it.

The second thing is to RUN TOGETHER. The best teams always have guys running together, and if you've had a chance to watch Metamora, you'd notice that they often pair up for the first 2 miles or so.  You guys have often finished near each other, but are not quite running as a team yet.  

Joe and Jared, you keep finishing close, but I've never seen you run side by side for more than a few meters. It's too bad because you've got running styles that could complement each other. Joe is very good at managing pace and effort over the first 2 miles and ratcheting it up over the last 1/2 to 3/4 while Jared's very good at being aggressive and closing the last quarter mile, but is often not as strong in the middle. Run together and use each other. Use Joe's pacing the first two miles, and use Jared's late aggressiveness.  It's much easier to run hard with a teammate by your side, and it's much harder for an opponent to try and run down 2 Potters than 1.  I know you guys may have a bit of a rivalry going and you each want to be top Potter on Tuesday, but who are you trying to beat? Each other? Or Metamora? When it comes time to separate over that last 3/4 or so of a mile, then go as hard as you can, but make sure your teammate's with you and as ready as possible when you get to that 2 mile mark.

The next 5 guys, the same thing goes for you.  You guys have changed your order up more frequently than a game of musicial ibexii (thanks Dave).  If you work together, you'll have a greater chance of putting that 5th man in front of Metamora's 4th, and getting your 6th in front of their 7th.  Nick, Dale, Eric, Nathan and Austin, you guys can all do this if you work together. Get together as a group, and take turns leading and setting the pace. Don't count on one teammate to lead you through all the way. Protect each other. Don't let Metamora or Pekin steal those good lines around the corners, or whatever other dirty pool they might try to pull (back in my day, Pekin guys always raced dirty). Do what you can to ensure you arrive at that 2 mile mark together and ready to rumble with their guys.  In the latter half of the race, if your group splinters, try to pair off. Don't fall back for someone else in the last half mile of a race, but if 2 of you are faltering, use each other, and make sure to beat their 5th man.

Nathan posted a week or so ago about running so that you know that you have raced.  This is that opportunity. This isn't a big invite with some strangers where your goal is simply to finish as far up the field as possible. This is a direct, man-to-man competition between the top 2 teams in the Mid-Illini!  This is cross-country! Don't walk away from that race knowing that you could have done something more than you did.  You'll kick yourself for it....especially if the team loses by one or two points.

Now, who knows, Metamora may have a better race than they've had all year an seal the deal no matter how well you race. They're a good team for a reason, and they have a savvy, experienced coach.  They've been a better team than you all season and their best race may beat your best race. But you're getting better and if you run your best race on Tuesday, it might beat the race they run on Tuesday. If you don't triump, you want to be able to go home that night knowing that you - and your teammates - gave your all against a team that's beat you 3 times this season.  You'll be a stronger person for it, you'll have learned more about your sport, and you'll be more prepared next year.

That's right, next year. We're thinking that far ahead and it's one of the things we're excited about with this team. You guys have only one senior in your top 10.  If you guys put in the work over next summer, you could come back next fall stronger than ever. Wouldn't it be nice if this time next year, Metamora is sitting around trying to figurie out how to eke out every single point they can against you? So who wants to be on that top 7 next year?

Winning won't be easy, but the best goals to set are the hard ones that you think you might be able to reach, but you just don't know for sure. Who wants to try for something they already know they can do?  You already know you can lose to Metamora, let's see if you can beat them!

H.E.A.R.T.

…is the reason that we run and the desire to do it. It means that every time we step out onto the course we can say we gave the all that we have and will to do it to the team. I now ask you to envision the reason why you run, and then take that desire to fulfill that need and channel it. Let’s do a comparison to the our past: shall we talk of the legendary Johnny Quest?

Why though you ask Mr. Quest…why a cartoon of old? I challenge you to realize the reason why Johnny was oh so cool. His legacy lays in the Questworld, the place where the mind is unleashed. I challenge you to find your Questworld in your mind where the only limit is the extent that you can bend your abilities to your will. So if we must run in the Questworld, then you need a mentor someone to lead the way. Is it the voice of Dr. Quest (Coach Zehr) teaching you to train so that every movement is second nature and the computer pathways become the race course. I wish all of you to understand that I want all of you to realize that you have no limits except that which you set upon yourself, and you can only measure yourself on the scale that you set and define yourself not by the clock but my the effort you are willing to put in.

So who shall be Johnny…the master of the Questworld? Who shall be "Race" Bannon…the stoic leader standing behind supporting the team and coming in at the time of direst need? Who shall be Jessie Bannon…the projection of female empowerment and trustworthiness? And never forget the people who will be Bandit, always there to support…the parents on the wings never judging but always expecting improvement.

You are the embodiment of the strength and power that Morton can produce. You are the best that Morton High School has, you can achieve more than Morton has achieved before. But you must do it together…the characters of Johnny Quest were a team and that was why they achieved so much. The mind is your limit, but it is expandable and flexible. Take the time make the team one enitity that runs together and works together.

You are the Men and Women of Morton Cross Country and you have been chosen to achieve so much more.

Nathan

Attention All Readers: Are you there?

This is Dave writing, but I speak for all 4 creators when i say.....

We want to hear from you! We started this blog to let you see our commentary, but what we really wanted was a way to get first-hand feedback from you: the runners and parents of the Morton Cross Country team. If you felt you had a great finishing kick at Washington, tell us about it! If you set a P.R. at Dunlap, we'd love to hear your story! If you had a bug fly in your eye during practice the other day, we'd love to hear about that too! To the parents who read this, if your little "Joe" or "Jenna" (possibly Zeller or Zbinden, but we can use Smith for this example) had a great race, feel free to brag for him/her on this website. Runners, only you can provide us with the details from "the trenches." Also, if Steve can't make a meet, one of you may be called upon to write up the race report (anyone planning to major in Journalism?).

If you don't feel comfortable writing such things, still click the "Followers" button on the right hand side of the screen if read this thing regularly. Thank you very much, and BEAT THE REDBIRDS!

What a nice park this is....

Limestone & Washington Dual Meet - 9-23-08: We've got pictures, whether you want them or not.

Today the Potters faced Mid-Illini challengers Washington and Limestone.  I decided to put up my summary right away, and so it'll have a little less detail than normal, since I don't have full results. I was also busy taking pictures, so my eye may not have been as finely attuned to the nuances of the race as normal.

However, the pictures should all be in order and can be used to 'tell the story' of the race in a way I never could. Now there's a whole lot of these pictures, and if you were in the meet today, you should be in at least one. I grabbed at least one or two of every Morton athlete every time they went by my position. Unless you're invisible. If you're invisible, you won't be in my pictures. Sorry. But it's not my fault.

Girls Race

This was a race where Morton's front trio went to the front and dominated. The Pribble sisters like to push hard and push early, and Grace is more than happy to oblige and go with them. They quickly asserted a lead over Washington's front pack, which was closely followed by Ashley Coon and Brooke Carius.  Limestone only had a handful of runners in the race, so going in, we knew they would not be a factor in the team scoring.

It turned out, neither was the Washington team, as Morton's front running, combined with closing the door with a 5th runner in before Washington's, sealed the deal for another Morton victory. Caitlin and Ashley Pribble, along with Grace Jankowski, went 1-2-3 in the meet, and set the rest of the team up for amazing runs.  Ashley Coon and Brooke Carius completed the scoring. After the top 5, Morton was paced by Jenna Zbinden, Lauren Wirth, Ashley Mcollum, Emily Ogden, Lydia Nace, Katherina Rains, and Rachel Ogden. Check the pictures to see everyone in the finishing stretch. That makes the Potter's 6-0 for the season in duals and undefeated in Mid-Illini action. The toughest challenge still awaits them, however, as they still have to face Metamora and East Peoria, two of the top teams in the area.

Morton faces Metamora next Tuesday at home, and even though they've lost to them several times this season, the home course advantage and the dual scoring format give Morton a good opportunity to challenge the Redbirds.  Metamora has some front runners, but that advantage can be neutralized in a dual scored meet.  Stay tuned over the next few days as I'll share my thoughts on how Morton can pull off this upset.

Boys Race

This race had a lot more drama. It started out with Marks and Zeller in the front coming out of the first little 'stupid loop', as I call it.  They were followed closely by Limestone's front group, then Nick Piper.  Dale and Austin rounded out the top 5 early on, followed by Eric Meyer and Nathan Smith.  In the middle of the race, however, Limestone made a push, and looked dangerous. Their top 3 were up in front, and even though Morton's 5th was comfortably in front of Limestone's, if the Rockets could go 1-2-3, it could still be close. Around the two mile mark, Limestone had the first two spots, followed closely by Zeller, Marks, and then Limestone's 3rd man, with Piper right with him.

Joe and Jared made up ground and caught all but Limestone's top man by the finish. They finished second and third in quick times around 17:04 and 17:07.  Eric Meyer and Nick Piper came in together moments later, followed by Austin Bradford, closing out the scoring. Dale and Smitty ran 6th and 7th for the Potters, and I believe all of the top 7 dipped under 18 minutes on the course today.  Eric Meyer ran a smart, controlled race to move up the field, as he was running 6th for the Potters early in the race, and moved up to 3rd. The solid running by Morton's pack, along with the late charges of Zeller and Marks, ensured victory for the Potters.

The top 7 were followed very closely by Andrew Young, Tate Hohulin, and Dan Getz.  I will have more details on the rest of the Potters later, once the results get straightened out. Apparently the host had trouble keeping track of all times and so there is some correcting to do for many of the runners times.  We did have a spirited battle into the finish as Adam Geier and Ryan Fitzgerald ran one of the most exciting final 50 meters of the season. I'm glad no one got 'posted.' It was close.

This puts the Potters 6-0 in duals for the season and undefeated in Mid-Illini action, just like the ladies.  Next up, they face Metamora and Pekin. Metamora is the only team in the Mid-Illini that should beat Morton 'on paper' and the Potters have lost to the Rebirds in a few larger invitationals this season. However, all hope is not lost and the Potters have a few aces up their sleeves: 

• They're a much better team than they were three weeks ago
• They'll have a home course advantage
• Metamora knows they should win on paper, and will not be expecting Morton to challenge

So I think it can be done. Morton can throw down Metamora, and make next Tuesday the most exciting race yet of this season.  Will it be easy? Not at all. Can I guarantee it will be done? No. But is it possible? Yes. Is it worth attemping? Most definitely.

So tune in later in the week. I'll share exactly what I think it will take to bring down the Redbirds and set the Potters up for an undefeated regular season.  I'll break down how the Potters have compared to the Redbirds and what needs to be done. Keep in mind that winning this meet will likely be a sign of greater things to come. Next Tuesday is Morton's chance to stake a claim this year at the Mid-Illini title, a prize that many might be ready to hand to Metamora at this point. Morton's quietly amassed an excellent record, and had some good placings, but this is a chance to announce to the area that you've arrived and that you're here to compete. 

And remember that Metamora is a team that was top 7 in the state last year.  They may have lost a few runners, but they're still considered one of the top 15 teams in AA.  Competing with them puts you in good company. Let's take them down. And if you don't quite get there this year, then you're one step closer to taking them next year.

How do you like them apples?

MHS Runners Recognition of Achievement

Because we dont' have full results yet, and because I'm tired and need to get up early tomorrow, there will not be a full compliment of awards tonight.  Maybe later in the week. We'll see.

However, we do need to give special recognition to an awesome picture.

Jack-O-Lantern - Joe Zeller, is he making funny faces at the camera? Look at this picture. 'Nuff said.

-Steve Gifford

I like to think of myself as your #1 fan

When a message in the inbox of my email alerted me that Nathan had posted his pre-race motivational speech (H.E.A.R.T.), I quickly hearkened to read it with great joy and anticipation. (As I'm sure all of you did as well). As I read, I couldn't help but feel motivation and desire welling up inside me, even though I wasn't the one doing the racing tomorrow. I'm excited for you guys, I'm motivated for you guys, and I can't wait to follow your running careers as you reach for the stars and follow your dreams.

I'm Ben Getz, the fourth and final creator to post on this cite. Many of you know me and many of you probably don't. I'm Dan's older brother (who I hope all of you know, him being your teammate and all). I'm also a brother to Dave (who most of you know, but some of you may not), who is another one of the creators. I'm also a brother to Amy, Sara, Leah, Josiah and Joel, but that's an entirely different matter all together.

I, like the three other creators, am an avid runner and closely follow the sport of cross country and track. However, I am unique in the regard that I never experienced high school running for myself. This is my story:

I was born in Indianapolis, Indiana in 1988. Jumping ahead several years so as to not bore you with the details, my running career probably started in late grade school or junior high when my brothers (Dave and Dan) and myself started running the Libby's 2 mile walk/run on Pumpkin Festival weekend. We used to train by running 2 miles a couple days a week (which I thought was REALLY hard at the time). When I entered high school, the thought of running cross country or track wasn't even in the back of my mind. I played football, basketball, and baseball my freshman year, and football and baseball the year after that. When I gave up football the fall of my junior year I still didn't consider running cross country. At that time I thought of running as something you did to train for "real" sports, not as a sport in itself. The summer in between my junior and senior year of high school my cousin, Grant Zimmerman, decided that he was going to run cross country that fall. I thought that it might be fun to run my senior year and be on the team with Grant as well as my friends Tim Owdom and Scott Sheller (former Morton greats). My mind was made up, I was going to experience my first taste of high school cross country. But then, something terrible happened; as I was playing soccer, barefoot in a hall way at an end of summer church retreat, I completely severed one of the tendons in my right foot. I was on crutches for six weeks and wasn't able to walk normally for about eight. My senior year cross country dreams had all gone up in smoke.

You may think this story is somewhat depressing right now, but this is the part where it starts to pick up and get better. Coming off of my injury I was determined to get back into shape and gain back the fitness and muscle that I had lost in my leg. I decided to challenge myself with some hard physical challenge. What I came up with was registering for an olympic distance triathlon the following summer. I started training right away. I ran after school everyday, I started biking on the weekends, and I got a membership with my dad at the Riverplex in Peoria in order to use their pool. Although the whole triathlon thing was a lot of fun and I've done 4 since, I found my real joy in running. I started entering different road races and gauging my improvement as I progressed as a runner. Today, I'm a sophomore at the University of Illinois and run for the U of I cross country club team (along with Nathan). I will be running my first marathon (along with Steve) in Chicago this October.

So that's a little bit about me, what my connection is to your team and to this great sport of cross country. I like to think that I'm living vicariously through Dan, as through him I can run the high school cross country season I never had. I've gotten to know and run with many of you and it's obvious to me that you can accomplish great things as a team if you stick together and continue to feed off each other and make each other better. As Nathan so eloquently put it, "It's not the strength of the wolf in the pack, but the strength of the pack in the wolf".

I would like nothing more than for you all to give me an excuse to come home the first two weekends of November.

H.E.A.R.T

…is the when the race is done and the dust settles who is left standing….and who is out doing a cool down with their fellow runners. Cross country is a team sport that requires a lot of individual work, but it is DEFINITELY a team sport. I can’t watch you all as you run in the race tomorrow, but I can watch the course in my mind. Can you do that, look at how you know the race will go? If you don’t know the course I’ll do a quick “run through” of the parts that matter: As you step to the line there is a tuba playing in the background and then drums…the starter raises his arms and the music is gone, it’s time to RACE! You go down a slight incline and then over a little bridge into a little square in the middle of an open field, around and around you go where do you stop? You better know. Then Morton parents cheer, cause you’re in front sir or dear. Then later…it’s a race to show all you’ve got.

But I ask you to question now what you’ll have left right there…it’s no secret you’ll be tired, but so is everyone else. It’s no secret you may want to just stop now…but you won’t. It was never a question of if you had the guts…but the guts to say I CAN do this…I CAN run faster…my limit is not in my legs but in the reach of my will. And then you might look up and to the side, and there they’ll be …the Team…YOUR team. And will they be cheering? Better they will be…and you’ll push a little harder for a little longer, because as a friend of mine once told me: The strength of the wolf is in the pack…and the strength of the PACK is in the wolf. You are the wolf…THEY are your pack. They will NEVER abandon you, they will NEVER ask you to give more than you can handle, but they will ALWAYS ask more of you than THINK can.

Lest anyone now believes that running is a super serious sport for only pain and soreness, I leave you with this: Think about what you know will happen tomorrow again but this time forget the actual race…just for a moment. Think about how you know someone is going to tell a joke on the bus, how JAZ is your coach and he is simply just a sweet dude. Guys you know you’re going to say something stupid and the girls are going to laugh at you. Girls the same to you…the guys will say something stupid and then you’ll laugh at them. Guys I’ve got good news though, the girls may not be around to hear every one of the stupid things you do…so your fellow guys will make sure to keep the whole team posted lest you feel that you miss out on public humiliation.
Good luck Men and Women of Morton…run so that you KNOW you RACED.

Nathan

*note from me. Seeing as how Steve and Dave have each submitted a novel I want to take this moment to say hi. I thank you all for letting us report and live the cross country a little longer through your races. I don’t know all of you as well as I would like so I take this moment to say a few things. First if you didn’t know, I was the Guy’s Captain last year and carrier of the burden of the mean captain (ask anyone on the team last year if you don’t believe me and if you want the real scoop ask the varsity guys from last year ). I proudly ran for Morton for 4 years and loved every second of every run (except when I didn’t… then I hated it). I hope you don’t view me as the super serious Creator, but I do want you to know that cross country is a sport that is fun but also a highly strategic competition of the mind. I hope as you all become more experience runners you learn that, a race is won or lost in the mind. Now that we got through who I am and what I believe in terms of running I feel like you have a little better understanding of who I am. But feel free to comment here about anything and I’ll be sure to respond.*

Recognition of Achievement - aka the awesome awards

MHS Runners Recognition of Achievement
To make the MHS Runner Chronicles even better than the excellence that already eminates from its essence, we have decided to include an awards section at the end of each report. There is no limit to the number of racers who can win an award per week, and not every award will be given each week, but, hopefully, these lighthearted (some more than others) awards will inspire the team and make the racing season more fun. Thus, the possible awards are as follows:

• Photo Finish- This award goes to Potters who showed the most guts in the final stretch. This award could be called, "The Best Kick award", but we decided not to do that.
• Metronome Award- This award goes to Potters who show even pacing throughout the entire race.
• The "Rocky" Award- This award goes to Potters who raced above and beyond expectations.
• Jack-o-Lantern Award- This award goes to the Potter who shows the best facial expression during a race in reaction to cheers or self-induced exhaustion.
• The Punisher- This award goes to Potters who make the biggest difference in team scoring. It could also go to any runner that is witnessed throwing vicious elbows.
• The Morale Rooster- This award goes to Potters who show great enthusiasm, encouragment, and love for the sport of cross country. They are always making the team a better place to be.

We do reserve the right to add new awards at any time, as well as the right to completely redefine the awards as we see fit.

Coach, are we really at Dunlap again???

Exacting revenge on the Dunlap course
The potters showed up at Dunlap High School for the second time in 5 days in hopes of setting some PR's and gaining valuable racing experience. The weather was hot, the air was dry, and Morton's camp was situated on the track under the blazing sun. Why? Don't ask us, we were just there watching.

Girls Varsity
The girls varsity was a big success. The Lady Potters took second in the Invite behind five solid performances. Caitlin Pribble, Ashley Pribble, and Grace Jankowski all placed in the Top 10 to earn individual medals. Teammates Ashley Coon and Lauren Wirth rounded out the varsity scoring, with Jenna Zbinden and Brooke Carius also running swell. Wirth and Zbinden both had excellent races, reducing their times significantly, and moving up the Potter's chart.

The girls scored 2nd in a field of 11 teams, second only to Mid-Illini power Metamora. The lady Potters narrowly defeated Mid-Illini rival Dunlap. Also, all of the varsity Potters equaled or beat their times on the same course from Tuesday's race. We wish we could write more about the girls' race, but we didn't make it in time.


Boys Varsity
This race was very interesting. Our boys went out strong with Jared Marks even leading the pack after the first forest loop. "Marksy" led the Potters through the first mile at 5:20 with Joe [Zeller] right on his heels. Behind them, Nick [Piper] and Dale [Domnick] were running together; they were pursued by Austin [Bradford], Nathan [Smitty], and Andrew [Young]. During the two mile, things changed up a bit. Joe took the lead for the Potters and gave chase to Metamora's pack, followed closely by Marksy. Dale continued running without once stopping for water. Nick, Smitty, and Austin formed a pack and gradually began moving up the field, with Andrew, in his first varsity appearance, keeping a steady pace.

As the pack entered the jungle for the final time (about 727.84 meters to go), Joe had a slim lead on a Richwoods runner and Marksy. However, Marsky made a daring move to "disarm" the Knight, and began picking it up for the final kick. Dale came through looking strong, and the other pack was still together. Coming down the final stretch, Marksy's kick carried him to a 16:36 to lead the Potters, with Joe right behind at 16:38. Both the two top Potters placed in the top 15 and earned medals. Dale came through 25 seconds later, and the trio of Potters (Piper, Smitty, and Bradford) fought it out in dramatic fashion to finish Bang! Bang!! Bang!!! Andrew finished strong to round out the Potter's varisty team. Five of the seven Potter runners improved on their times from Tuesday.

The men scored 4th of 14 teams in the Invitational, maintaining their Mid-Illini position behind Metamora, and ahead of Dunlap.

Girls Open Race
The Lady Potters rounded out their day at Dunlap with a good showing in the open race. The lady's got the hottest weather of the day, as the sun beat down on the course (and the Potters camp in the middle of the track) like a drummer that beats mercilessly upon something. Sorry, that's the best simile I could come up with. Ashley McCollum paced the girls with a time of 24:55. During the hottest part of the day, these girls showed tremendous effort in the stamina department. The other Potter finishers included Lydia Nace, Emily Ogden, Jannika Paulamaki, Rachael Ogden and Katherina Raines. 4 of the 6 Potters showed improvement from Tuesday's race.

Boys Open Race
As a breeze descended upon the Dunlap wilderness, the gun was fired to start the boys' open race. The boys charged across the plain like a majestic herd of bison (or, possible even, a group of ibex). Tate Hohulin led the Potters through the first mile and continued to hold his spot for the remaining two miles. Behind Tate, the Potters traded spots more often than a game of musical ibexes (or, possibly, "ibexen" or "ibexii"). When the dust cleared, Dan [Getz] took 2nd for the Potters; he was followed by Ryland [Ivins] and Tim [Lucthefeld].

Weekly MHS Runners Recognition of Achievement
To make the MHS Runner Chronicles even better than the excellence that already eminates from its essence, we have decided to include an awards section at the end of each report. There is no limit to the number of racers who can win an award per week, and not every award will be given each week, but, hopefully, these lighthearted (some more than others) awards will inspire the team and make the racing season more fun. Thus, the possible awards are as follows:

• Photo Finish- This award goes to Potters who showed the most guts in the final stretch. This award could be called, "The Best Kick award", but we decided not to do that.
• Metronome Award- This award goes to Potters who show even pacing throughout the entire race.
• The "Rocky" Award- This award goes to Potters who raced above and beyond expectations.
• Jack-o-Lantern Award- This award goes to the Potter who shows the best facial expression during a race in reaction to cheers or self-induced exhaustion.
• The Punisher- This award goes to Potters who make the biggest difference in team scoring. It could also go to any runner that is witnessed throwing vicious elbows.
• The Morale Rooster- This award goes to Potters who show great enthusiasm, encouragment, and love for the sport of cross country. They are always making the team a better place to be.

Today's Awards:
Photo Finish
For the boys, it's a tie between Alex Blunier and Russell Hansard. Both guys covered the last 100 meters in what seemed like 8.5 seconds! For the girls, Emily Ogden finished her race with a sprint that would make DeeDee Trotter jealous.

Metronome Award
Dan Getz takes this award today. With a first mile of 6:31, and a finish time of 18:41, Dan averaged 6:33 pace for the day!

Rocky Award
Following a 19:45 at Woodruff, Tate Hohulin has significinatly dropped time over the last two meets. His 18:01 today is comparable to a 18:58 over a similar 3.0 mile course! Lauren Wirth knocked almost two minutes off of her time from Tuesday and ran her best race of the season to move into the scoring top 5!

Jack-O-Lantern
For the girls, Ashley McCollulm's alternating expressions of joy/pain at the end of the race were classic! Great job, Ashley. We could tell you were working hard. As for the guys, Adam Geier's reaction at being yelled at from above (Dunlap's top row of bleachers) was priceless.

The Punisher
Marksy passed the Richwoods runner in the jungle so fast it looked like he grabbed him from behind and threw him down! For the girls, this award could go to any one of the varsity members, as every spot was crucial in the narrow 1 point margin over Dunlap.

The Morale Rooster
This award goes to Dave Getz who traversed all the way from Bloomington, Illinois simply to attend the Dunlap Invitational Cross Country Meet.

With Limestone and Washington next on the schedule, uncertainty lies ahead (if we're certain that uncertainty lies ahead, is it really uncertain?). The Potters have yet to race the Rockets and the Panthers. The course will be run at Washington Park - on grass, no less! - so be sure to head out north this Tuesday to support our Potters!

Official Results

Boys Open Teams Varsity Teams

Girls Open Teams Varsity Teams

Today's reporters: Dave Getz and Steve Gifford

Let's talk about hard work and feeding off of each other...

Ok guys & gals, first of all, we apologize that we haven't updated about Saturday's Dunlap Invitational yet. Nevertheless, we were doing more than getting sunburnt Saturday morning. Dave and I were paying attention to some rockin' races, and we will get our report up as soon as we see the final results to fill in some details.

Respect your elders: a look at the history books
But tonight, I'm going to talk a little bit about the Morton XC team's history, and what you can do to change it's future. If you haven't done so yet, click the links on the right for the 'Men's 14 & 15 Minute Clubs' and the 'Women's 19 Minute Club.' I just added the women's list tonight, so if you've checked before, check again, 'cause it's there now. Note that the women have changed distances several times, so they have several different lists.

Ladies, I apologize that this post may seem a little guy oriented. It is still directed at you, but unfortunately, at this point my knowledge of the guys team is more complete, since that's what I ran for, and those are the guys I coached last spring. I mean for my message to apply to both the guys and girls teams, and have tried to write it as so.

Now after looking at those lists, what do you notice?? The first thing I notice (besides the fact that Annie Wetterhus, Trent Hoerr, Curt Carius, and Mark Oberle were ridiculously fast) was that fast runners often came along at the same time. If you notice on the girls 12 minute club list, there was a group of sub 13 minute young ladies from 1981-83, and then no more until 1994. And then all of a sudden over three years, we had 3 more sub 13 young women.

Let's look at the men's list, where the differences aren't quite so dramatic. However, there were quite a few sub16 men from about 1977 until about 1988 or so, at which point the list starts to look a little dry. Then in 1994, BAM!! Three guys on the list in one year, something that hadn't been done in 12 year or so. Then in 2000, we have another two guys, followed by Trent Hoerr's escapades in '01 and '02.

Now look at the two lists together. The men were very strong in the late '70s and early '80s. The women were very strong in the early '80s. The men were strong in '94 and the women were strong from '94 to '96. The men were strong '00 to '02 and Beth Schmidt in '01 is the only woman on the list for 6 years.

So why are they together? Is it some weird genetic anomaly that people with the genes to run fast, and the desire to do so, all happen to be born around the same time, despite different families? And this only applies to Morton, and no surrounding communities? Or do fast runners make other runners faster? Well, I can't speak about the teams in the '70s and '80s, but I can tell you about some of the later ones. And I'll tell you this: hard-working runners make other runners faster.

Tooting my own horn because it's the story I know the best
I'm proud to be on the men's 15 Minute Club List, but I also count myself lucky, because I had that elusive near-perfect race on a pancake flat near-perfect course. David Elliott, listed with the same time as me, was a better XC runner. I wouldn't admit at the time, because I wanted to beat him, but 9 times out of 10 in an XC race, he had my number. I was consistently one of our top scorers, and one of the better runners in the Mid-Illini for a few years, but Elliott (Conference champ) almost always beat me.

But you know what my biggest contribution to Morton's team was? It wasn't any one race I ran, but it was the fact that I helped make David Elliott, Jimmy McKelvey, Trent Hoerr, and Nick Aldridge (16:17 @ Detweiller) faster. We had four guys who went into our 1999 season believing they were ready to be Morton's top man, believing that they were ready to run under 16 minutes. Each of those four guys knew the other four believed the same thing and had been working all summer to make it true. It turned out that season that Elliott was the best of us, but the fact that all four of us wanted that top spot led to some great things as a team that season including a Mid-Illini team title and being undefeated in dual and tri meets.

Why did this happen? Because Aldridge wanted to be top dog. And I did too. And McKelvey also did. And Elliott too. And none of us wanted to let another take that spot. And we happened to luck out and get superstar in the making Trent Hoerr contributing as usual 5th man as a freshman. He later went on to be way faster than any of us (which I don't claim credit for).

Beth Schmidt was the same way, as she was the product of several young women (most a class or two ahead of her) working together to have a strong team. She continued to work hard, as she had learned from others she ran with, and had a superb senior campaign.

Fast Forward to spring '08: Tooting the horns of some of the other MHSRunners creators.
Now lest you think I'm suggesting that your team should all be a bunch of jerks just waiting to beat on their teammates, let me tell you about this past spring. I had the opportunity of coaching the young distance running men of the track team. Nathan Young and Dave Getz were two of our few seniors and were the swiftest young men on the team that year. Nathan and Dave had been the top two runners in XC the previous fall and they each came into the season with the same goal of a sub 5 minute mile(and I promptly made them set a more difficult one, but that's a different story), and they worked together to achieve it.

They ran almost every step of every interval together and ran as best friends. They each wanted to beat the other, but they were also ready to rejoice in each other's success, and they even had the opportunity to work together for a sweet relay victory. They didn't want to beat each other for the sake of beating each other, but for the sake of running as fast as they could. When Sectionals came and they found out they were assigned to different heats, I believe 'angered to the point of rage and bitterness' was left on someone's voicemail. They were mad that they didn't get to run together. They had run every step that season together, and wanted to close their season on a similar note. Talk about friends making each other faster! I can't think of a better example. And you know what? Working together, they exceeded the goals they had set for themselves by far.

It was great to see the younger athletes working together throughout the season as well, but more importantly, seeing the fire lit in their eyes as they saw how they were improving, and saw how Nathan and Dave improved and succeeded.

So what do we learn from this?
I'll answer this question with some other questions.

• Who wants to be top dog the rest of the year?
• Who wants to be top dog next year?
• Do you want to do it working together or against each other?

Don't for one minute think that the way you're running now is the way you have to continue to run. The guys team has been led by 3 different runners this year, and two of them have had races where they were 6th on the team!! So don't think you can't move up, and don't think that others can't catch you. Just because you've been beaten by someone 4 or 5 times this season doesn't mean you can't catch them, this season or the next. And if you don't quite get that position you wanted, you made your team better for it by trying. The closer your 4th and 5th runners are to your 1st, the more successful your team will be.

You guys are lucky to have very young teams. The fact that you are doing so well with only one senior scoring between the guys and girls teams bodes well for the future. But you know what? Metamora is running well with a lot of underclassmen as well. So is EP. I believe Morton can improve and succeed against those teams, but it's going to take several athletes who all desire to lead that charge. And don't think that you can't do it if you're not among that top 5. I've seen guys who weren't varsity one year lead a team the following year. Nick Aldridge ran 16:17 as a senior, and contributed to a strong team, but was a 24 minute runner as a freshman. I haven't seen a runner on your team who I don't believe could do the same thing. All it takes is hard work.

I can only tell the stories I know
Talk to others who can tell you more. Mr. Hurst, the health teacher at the high school, coached the team for 10 years or so, and can tell you all sorts of stories. He can tell you about Annie Wetterhus and the girls from '94 to '96, he can tell you about the guys team of '94, he can tell you about Trent Hoerr and Beth Schmidt, and he can probably spill some dirt on my guys from '99 and '00.

Curt Carius makes it to most the meets and could probably tell you loads of stories from the stronger teams of the late '70s. He may be there to watch Brooke run and not to tell stories...but corner him and make him talk. Josh Stubbs, Charley Hanson and Mike Getz are on the 15 Minute Club, still live in Morton, and go to the same churches as some of you. Many of you know Tim Owdom, and he ran some with Trent and Beth. There may be others I don't know, or you may know people who ran well at other schools. I think you'll find a common theme about hard work, though you may find some guys with freakish talent. Trent Hoerr might have ran under 16 minutes before graduation whether he put in heavy preseason mileage or not. But it was hard work that got him into the 14s and then made him NCAA All-American.

So what's the point of all these stories?
The point is simply to make you realize that you can add to those lists if you want to. With a few exceptions, most of the men and women on those lists were guys and gals just like you, who worked hard, often together, to make a strong team. So let's make '08, '09 and '10 years with a lot of new entries on those lists! 25 years from now, let's have young Morton runners looking over those lists and wondering how so many people in '08, '09 and '10 made it onto the lists.

-Steve Gifford

Early season summary

Since this site started in mid-September, 2008, the season was already well underway. This post will serve to catch us up.

Boys Team
Going into the season, there were high expectations for the boys. Even though they had graduated their top two runners from last season, they returned several talented young men, and several of the younger runners were looking ready to show serious improvements. In this writer's estimation, these men were ready to claim a spot as one of the best teams in the Mid-Illini and the Central Illinois area, with a squad of few seniors. As the team improves over the next few years, this young squad could certainly top the area.

The first meet against Richwoods and Olympia did not let down, as the boys swept the meet, defeating both teams in the double-dual scored format. On a very hot and humid day, Morton's top runners in Eric Meyer, Joe Zeller, and Dale Domnick showed a willingness to run with the fast early pace, and that they are ready to pick up right where last season left off. Nick Piper and Jared Marks completed the scoring for Morton, nailing the final points needed to ensure the team victory. Marks made a strong dash for the finish, passing several Richwoods runners in the final half mile, a move that may have made all the difference in team scoring. Freshman Austin Bradford, and junior Nathan Smith rounded out the top 7.

Going into the Galesburg Invitational, the athletes were lucky to have a day that was 15-20 degrees cooler than the previous meet. This race was a good preview of things to come, as it was their first chance to face some of the other top Mid-Illini teams. The Potters raced well, and ran times similar to (or in some cases even faster than) what they had run at Richwoods, despite the course being slightly longer. The top 7 showed consistency as they finished in a similar order. Joe Zeller led for Morton and Nathan Smith made an improvement from 7th to 6th, closing the gap significantly to the top 5. Freshman Austin Bradford ran in the F/S race this week and ran strong, earning a medal. The Potters established a good position as a team. They beat East Peoria and Dunlap, probably two of the stronger teams in the Mid-Illini, and fell only to Metamora (of Mid-Illini teams), which looks to be one of the stronger class AA teams in the state this year.

The Pekin F/S Invitational having been canceled, the next race up was the muddy Woodruff Invitational at Detweiller Park. Normally a fast race, this year the contests were muddy and completed in slower times than usual because of several days of consistent rain - and the fact that over 3000 racers took to tearing up the course in a period of less than 24 hours. Despite the slow times, the Potters raced well against the competition. Zeller entrenched himself in his position as front runner while the next 4 of Meyer, Domnick, Piper and Bradford finished well, with a spread of only 34 seconds between them. Jared Marks and Nathan Smith rounded out the top 7, while the Potters solidified their positions, beating East Peoria and Dunlap, and falling to Metamora again. In this writer's opinion, Morton should be seeded 2nd only to Metamora in the Mid-Illini at this point, but needs to continue to have excellent races to hold off East Peoria, Dunlap, and other challengers.

The next race was at Dunlap, against Dunlap and Canton, and this was the race of Jared Marks! Marks, who had not even scored for the Potters at Woodruff, took a commanding lead in the first half of the race, and never relinquished it. He was followed 12 seconds later by Zeller, who put away Dunlaps top runner about a half mile from the finish to place 2nd. Zeller was followed by Piper, who had an excellent race, moving up to 3rd on the team. Domnick scored as Morton's 4th runner, while Nathan Smith moved into the top 5, followed by Meyer and Bradford. This race completely shook up the order of the Potter's scoring runners, and showed that no spot can be taken for granted. Times were fast at this course, but it was shorter than the standard 3.0 miles. However, the course is not a walk in the park and should not be considered easy or 'blazin' fast'. Morton defeated both Dunlap and Canton, as this is the first official meet of the Mid-Illini Series.

While it is hard to compare times because of the various temperatures, course conditions, and course lengths that Morton has experienced in the first half of the season, these races have shown a pattern of continued improvement. For example, comparing the two 3.0 mile courses raced, Richwoods and Detweiller, all but 4 of the 27-strong team showed improvement, despite the muddy conditions slowing the runners significantly. Several runners who showed significant improvements, taking several minutes off of their time are: Kyle Baer, Ryan Fitzgerald, Jordan Goodyear, Justin Goodyear, and Caleb Wright. The rest of the team has shown smaller, though very consistent improvments. Freshman Austin Bradford has impressed, running as a scoring varsity member in several meets, despite youth and limited summer training. Other young members are also looking strong and should show improvement. Hopefully, they see the work that many of the top runners have put in, and realize that they can be there too, should they choose to dedicate themselves to off-season training.

Girls Team
The girls team was a team of youth, with only 1 senior among the roster of 14. Junior Brooke Carius was the top returner from the 2007 squad, while Freshmen Caitlin and Ashley Pribble, and Sophomore Ashley Coon had looked strong in the preseason summer training, and had shown a commitment to high mileage and hard efforts.

In the first meet at Richwoods, the Pribble sisters were off to the front, and shook off challenges from the top runners of the other teams to finish 1-2 in the race, Caitlin leading. Brooke Carius finished 3rd on the team, while Grace Jankowski was 4th, and Ashley Coon, running her first XC race, scored in the top 5. Lauren Wirth and Jenna Zbinden rounded out the top 7. Though the Potters swept the meet, defeating both Richwoods and Olympia, it was obvious that the heat had taken it's toll on many and that better performances would come with cooler weather.

The Galesburg Invitational brought that cooler weather and the women didn't disappoint. Again, Caitlin Pribble led the team, earning a medal, followed by sister Ashley. Grace Jankowski and Ashley Coon showed signifcant improvement, closing the gap to the top two, while Carius scored as 5th for the team. Wirth and Zbindend rounded out the top 7 again. The lady Potters finished well as a team, placing farther up the field than the men did, and falling to traditional Mid-Illini powerhouses East Peoria and Metamora, often two of the best teams in the state.

Moving to the Woodruff Invitatational, (with Pekin F/S being cancelled) the ladies got their first taste this year of true Cross Country as they battled mud, rain and several hundred other runners. Again Caitlin Pribble led the way for the Potters, followed by her sister Ashley, and a fast-improving Grace Jankowski. Brooke Carius scored in 4th for the team, while Ashley Coon closed the door as 5th runner, followed closely by Wirth, then Zbinden.

Moving to the smaller field at Dunlap against just host Dunlap and Canton, the girls asserted themselves well. Caitlin Pribble was second in the race to Canton's #1 runner, dipping under 20 minutes on the 2.85 mile course. She was followed closedly by Ashley Pribble, who was in turn followed closely by Grace Jankowski, who is closing that gap more and more every week. Ashley Coon followed roughly a minute later, followed by Brooke Carius, then Jenna Zbinden and Lauren Wirth. The Potters swept the team competition again, defeating both the host and travelling Canton.

The lady Potters have looked good all season and are establishing an excellent front trio. Should the next 2-4 runners be able to close that gap, the women could compete with all but the very best teams in the area this year. As this is a young team with no seniors scoring, they could move significantly farther up the Mid-Illini list in the following years. All the young women have showed steady running and improvement despite the rough Detweiller conditions. Rachel Ogden, Jannika Paulamaki, and Katherina Rains have all cut several minutes off of their times from earlier in the season.

H.E.A.R.T.

Heroic Efforts Against Rational Trammels- this will be the pre-race motivational section for the team written by yours truly, Nathan.

…is the desire to what is needed and the fortitude to do it though you don’t know how. It’s the chance to cross the line and say to yourself, “that was it and it was all that I could have done”. Running isn’t really the completely physical trials that everyone makes it out to be. It is the mental struggle to overcome the body’s natural response to give up when it starts to hurt. It is training the mind to never know what the body is capable of…for it is when you KNOW that you can run no faster that you begin to stop improving. Everyone can say that they gave a little bit, but everyone is capable of giving all of IT.

Start to finish, beginning to end, back to front … it’s all about doing all you can in a three mile span. I can’t tell you guys the way to run…well I could but that’s a different story and I can’t do it over a computer… but I can tell you HOW to run. Run with it all on the line the whole way. This doesn’t mean all out sprint the whole time that just tires you out. I mean run smart…run with a goal…run to psychologically win the race. Always know that you haven’t reached a limit in your potential but just a new stopping point on the climb.

Never give up on yourself, you’re better than you know…never give up on your team, they’re happy as long as they know you gave it your all…never give up on a spot, no matter the distance or how inconsequential it may seem it matters.

Good Luck Men and Women of Morton…run so that you KNOW you RACED