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.