LAKE ZURICH CROSS COUNTRY

_________________________________________________________

11/28/11 - State Meet Pics Up!

Sorry for the delay!  State Meet Pics are up!

_________________________________________________________

11/10/11 - Soto, Johnson Lead Harper College XC to National Championship

Francisco Soto ('10) and Tom Johnson ('09) recently became Junior College National Champions as members of Harper College's Cross Country Team.  Tom ran as the team's 6th man, while Francisco ran as the team's second man, and earned All-American honors as the 7th overall finisher.  Congrats to our LZXC Alums!

_________________________________________________________

11/5/11 - LZXC 12th at IHSA State Meet, Juras 7th

We placed 12th overall at the IHSA State Meet, led by a solid 7th place finish from Pat Juras.  A well-deserving Palatine squad won their first ever state championship over a great O'Fallon team, and Neuqua Valley was 3rd place for the second year in a row.

I have mixed feelings regarding our race.  We had 3 PRs out of the 7, and 12th place is the second highest finish we have ever had.  Pat Juras ran a solid race, to finish 7th in a PR 14:33.  Trevor Kuehr probably had the best race of anybody, running 15:36 to finish 106th.  Alex Milner also ran a small PR of 15:44, finishing 123rd. 

On one hand, I think about where this team was last June. Other than Pat Juras, our team consisted of a bunch of unproven runners, and just getting to the state meet looked bleak. Here is a comparison:

On the other hand, you always want to run your best race at the state meet, and we I don't think we did that.  We must be better equipped to handle a fast start, maintain our won pace in the middle of the race when the pace slows around us, and of course, stay relaxed throughout.

From here, we will compete in the NXN Regional Championship in Terre Haute, IN.  Our team will be coached by the real Coach Hanson, who will also get our team started correctly as we dive into Polar Bears. 

_________________________________________________________

10/28/11 - LZXC 3rd at Schaumburg Sectionals, State Next...

We placed 3rd at the Schaumburg Sectional behind strong races from Palatine and Prospect.  Barrington and Buffalo Grove will also join us in Peoria next Saturday, as they were not far behind.  We ran well, but more importantly, we set ourselves up for some pretty special things to come.  This marks our 4th state qualifying team in school history, all in the past 4 years.

Before I get into the Men's race, I must say that the story of the day was our LZXC Womens squad who qualified for the first time in 11 years, with a strong 4th place finish.  Many people may be surprised by the great day by our Womens' team, but those of us close to the program know better.  They have trained with a purpose this past year, and have been improving every week.  A nice combination of senior leadership and young talent has propelled this team to new heights.  Congratulations must go out to Coach Silverman and the LZXC Women, and we look forward to another great effort by them next Saturday.

Back to the Men's Race, Pat Juras ran with the lead pack the entire race, only to be outkicked by Barrington's Erik Peterson in the final 200m.  Pat was strong and confident, but Peterson is simply a great runner, and we tip our hats to his day and the career he's had.  Pat finished 2nd with a time just south of 15:00.

Jon Smith was tough as our #2 man, finishing in 15th place.  This was Jon's 3rd sectional at Busse Woods, and he performed as you would expect a senior captain to perform: with toughness and confidence. 

Alex Milner was our third finisher, in 31st place.  Alex ran well, but watch out for him next week, as he is brimming with confidence and is ready for a special day.  Detweiller suits him perfectly, and his 31st place finish does not accurately describe the fitness he is carrying.

Jon Ramirez was our 4th man, finishing in 35th place.  Jon probably had the best race of the day for us.  Jon rolled through the field in the 3rd mile, and was mowing down runners left and right.  Like Alex, I suspect Jon is ready for a breakout performance on the grass track that is Detweiller Park.

Trevor Kuehr was our 5th man, finishing in 42nd.  Trevor has been a model of consistency all year, and that model was on display again on Saturday.  Trevor had never seen the Busse Woods course before this week, so I was slightly nervous about how he would handle his first Sectional there.  But as has been his m.o., Trevor ran his own race and was flat out tough when we needed him. 

David Smith finished as our 6th in 60th.  Similar to how Alex shocked his system last week, David pushed that envelope this week.  He clung valiantly to his teammates as they passed him in miles 2 and 3, but it was not meant to be.  Nevertheless, his teammates picked him up at the right time, and he will get another stab at the beast.

Jared Ripoli struggled to find his rhythm again for the 3rd week in a row, finishing as our 7th in 71st.  He did have some fight at the end, which admits that he just needs to be in the right place.  We will work over the next 7 days to put him in that place.

We move towards State with cautious optimism, and will treasure the opportunity that is the dream of all high school athletes.

________________________________________________________

10/21/11 - LZXC 2nd at Regional, Juras Takes Individual Title

We ran the Regional as a formality.  As I see it, the Regional has 2 purposes: 1.  To find out who is the best  2.  To find out are the 9 worst.  Everyone else is all the same.

We were not the best team- that honor goes to host Palatine.  Palatine took home the Regional Champion Trophy with 33 points to our 57.  Fortunately, we were not any of the 9 kids that will not be advancing, and thus, we are just like everyone else.

The pace opened up comfortably, and it was Alex Milner who was leading at the mile.  Alex split mid-4:50s, and the rest of our crew trailed closely behind.  Pat Juras was stalking the leaders, while Jon Smith held the back of the lead pack.  Trevor Kuehr, David Smith, Jon Ramirez, and Alex Milner were caught in no-man's land, similar to the Wheeling invite, where they were leading the second pack with no bodies to chase.  Hopefully we can adapt to a larger meet and maintain our rhythm through a larger field.

With 800 to go, Pat had moved to the lead and began to surge.  Palatine's studs were dropping, and Prairie Ridge's Mitch Wilkins fell off the pace as well.  Erik Peterson had also finally found his way to the front, as he had lagged back with his teammates earlier in the race.  I didn't see the finish, but I understand Pat pulled away in the final 400 to win by about 3 seconds over Peterson.  Jon Smith finished 6th, and our pack of Trevor Kuehr, David Smith, and Jon Ramirez finished in the mid-teens.  Alex Milner faded to 20-something, but expect a great day from him Saturday, as he has set himself up for special things.

The feeling on the team was anything but content.  This meet changed nothing in our minds, and we know that Sectionals is going to be a battle.  After all, would you expect anything less at a Busse Woods Sectional?  I can't wait to watch it unfold!  The girls race begins at 10:30, and the boys race begins at 11:30.  See you then!

_________________________________________________________

10/18/11 - LZXC Takes 2nd in Both Levels at Buffalo Grove Frosh/Soph Invite

The Highland Park Frosh/Soph Invite is no more.  It was taken over by Coach Klotz and our friends at Buffalo Grove.  Since Coach Klotz was running the meet, he was certainly going to put his own "spin" on it.

Here are some highlights of the meet:

-Top 25 individuals in each race did not receive a medal, ribbon, or a trophy. They received a matchbox car, by drawing from a "magic bag".  We snagged 7 of these cars at the sophomore level and 4 at the freshman level.  Our winners were Justin Shim, Pat MacDonald, Ryan Obsuszt, and Logan Ejupi at the freshman level, and Will Llanos, Jack Herman, Austin Kuehr, Juan Ramos, Matt Reninger, and Brian Griffin at the sophomore level.

-The team awards were not plaques or trophies.  Instead, in perfect Coach Klotz form, the awards were porcelain elephants, of 3 different sizes, awarded to the top 3 teams at each level.  We placed 2nd at the freshman level, narrowly edging our Hersey, Highland Park, and Buffalo Grove who were 3rd, 4th, and 5th.  Naperville North dominated the race, and would likely have won the Freshman race as a dual meet against the entire field.  Our sophomores also placed 2nd to Naperville North, but were edged by only a few points.  A giant elephant instead of a medium elephant could have came home with us had we mustered a bit more energy as we charged up the hill to the finish.

-There was 1 mascot in the freshman race: a "Tigger" from Hersey.  Coach Klotz informed me that this will become a tradition, as each team will be required to have 1 runner run in mascot costume.  I can't wait for next year to watch a bunch of mascots running a 2-mile course, A-La the weiners charging around Miller Park in Milwaukee.

-Individually, we used this fun meet on a short course to test ourselves, and try to be more aggressive than we may have previously thought is safe.  Many of our athletes discovered that they were capable of much more, and that they did not fail as badly as they thought they would.  In fact, we had 10 of our 21 competitors set 2-mile PRs in the process: Juan Ramos (11:23), Pat MacDonald (11:32), Jon Berggren (11:59), Robert Picha (11:59), Ryan Obsuszt (12:00),  Richard Waller (12:03), Logan Ejupi (12:04), Dan Abboud (12:13), David Crisler (12:25), and Mark Spatz (12:36).

Our freshmen and sophomores ended the season on a positive note, but now is when the work begins.  Next season's success is determined by the next 9 months.  Remember men, that fall holds no secrets to how the off-seasons were spent.

_________________________________________________________

10/15/11 - LZ Sweeps North Suburban Conference Meet

For the 4th year in a row, we swept both the varsity and JV races.  The varsity won with 33 points to outdistance runner-ups Libertyville with 84.  The JV squad scored a perfect 15 points for the second straight year.  Here are some highlights:

Varsity

It was a very windy day up in Zion Benton, and I think the wind was magnified since it was coming right off the lake.  As a result, nobody was willing to lead, and the pace was miserably slow from the start.  We were ok with that, and Pat's race plan from the start was to keep the pace mild.  By the mile, Pat Juras had taken the lead with a large pack on his shoulder.  It appeared that the field was afraid to pass Pat out of respect, and he was content with the slow race.  The leaders hit the mile in a pedestrian 5:07-5:10.  Our crew was in that pack, with about 10 other runners.

Pat held a steady pace during the second mile as he split 10:20.  Pat was very much in control of the race at that point, although a handful of runners hung onto his steady clip.  In the third mile, Pat finally made his move and pulled away from the pack.  His final time of 15:08 beat runner-up Nick Korhumel of Libertyville by 8 seconds, while 3rd place Martin Martinez was back in third at 15:25.  I have heard varying reports from coaches who measured the course anywhere between 2.95 and 3.0 miles.  I am going to error on the side of 2.95, and assume the course ran about 10-15 seconds short.  Nevertheless, it was good to see Pat make his patented late move despite a slower race.  Luckily, we have drawn the competitive Palatine Regional so it will give Pat an extra opportunity to race in a fast race before the stakes get really high.

Behind Pat, the rest of our team ran to mixed reviews.  We have yet to all click on the same day, and I thought that the conference meet might be that day.  It wasn't.  But the great thing about this team is that when one man is down, somebody else always seems to step up.  Alex Milner and Jon Ramirez were those people on this day.  Alex and Jon were our #6 and #7 the week prior at the Wheeling Invitational, but today they filled our #3 and #4 positions, finishing 7th and 10th overall.  Alex and Jon are gaining momentum at the right times, and are flat out ready for a breakout race.  Trevor Kuehr and Jared Ripoli were our #3 and #4 at Wheeling, but they both looked flat finishing as our #6 and #7 in 12th and 17th overall.  Both Jared and Trevor took the PSAT in the morning before the race, so they may have been a bit drained before the race even started.  David Smith did not run his best race either, although he was our 5th man in a respectable 11th place.  David is at his best in a big, fast race, and this setting simply was not going to play towards his advantage.  Look for him to step up at Sectionals and State in the coming weeks.  Jon Smith was solid but not spectacular as our #2 man in his final conference meet.  Jon was able to move up to 4th place in the last mile, and he looked strong despite twisting his ankle earlier in the week. 

In the end, we won the meet fairly handily, with 33 points to Libertyville's 83.  This extended our title run to 4 straight years, and we have now had 4 straight years with the individual champion as well (Perez in 08, Morrison in 09, Juras in 10 and 11).  We will have our work cut out for us to keep these streaks alive.  There are a number of talented, experienced juniors in the conference that we are still chasing (Korhumel of Libertyville, Martinez of Warren, and Ryan Prais of Lakes).

Junior Varsity

Our conference only runs 2 races, a varsity race and a junior varsity race.  This is a heated debate each year among the coaches in the conference, but status quo tends to win out.  Basically, we have a number of schools that have very small teams, and have a difficult time fielding under-level squads.  Thus, they prefer not to run a frosh/soph race.  As a result, the JV conference race turns out to be too huge (this year it had 339 runners), and it is usually on a course that cannot support a field that large. 

In my opinion, omitting a frosh/soph race takes away from the development of our young runners.  We have a freshman, Pat MacDonald, who ran 17:43 today.  Pat is a very good freshman runner, and has the potential to become a great varsity runner someday.  But in the JV race, Pat got lost in the masses.  Pat didn't get the opportunity to experience being a front runner in a race, which we expect out of him in the next 3 years. Pat will never get the recognition for his hard work, or for his ability.  Pat and other young runners like him may not have won an underlevel race, but they may have earned a medal.  Runners like Pat need that sort of recognize. If we ever want to compete consistently with a conference like the MSL, we need to find every way to get our young athletes excited about the sport early on.  Giving out conference medals to Frosh/Soph runners is one way to do that.  Competition breeds competition.  I am confident that if there was a frosh/soph race, Pat and his frosh/soph competitors would have run much faster races than they did just because they wanted to earn a medal or score in the meet.  Instead, they get lost in a crowd of 339 runners, and don't stand out at all.  I digress.

I thought the front of our JV lineup ran very well.  We snagged the first 5 places, and 11 of the top 30 JV medals.  But out of the top 30, we had some athletes struggle just because they got stuck in a huge crown and weren't able to navigate freely.  The ran their hearts out though, and were able to make huge gains in the final mile once the field thinned out.

The race belonged to senior Isaac Honegger. Isaac took the race from the gun, and nobody was willing to run with him.  Isaac's time was 16:12, which would have placed him 22nd in the varsity race.  I applaud Isaac for his gutsy race- he chose to do it all alone into the wind, and he was rewarded with a huge victory.  I thought he had a chance to win, but I didn't expect him to run away with it like he did.  Well done Isaac.

It appeared the rest of our JV lineup deferred to Isaac, which was rather disappointing.  Ruben Riano, Will Llanos, and Bobby Klett have the ability to run with Isaac, but were content racing for second.  This ended up costing Will Llanos a spot on the state meet roster, as Jack Herman snuck up behind him in the 3rd mile to snag the 12th roster position.  I hope it is a lesson learned to each of these guys who have hopes of being varsity runners next year: There are no rewards for the timid, and varsity competition is a whole different animal.  With that said, those 5 runners did take the first 5 places in the race, and Bobby (16:28) and Jack(16:33) each set lifetime PR's, even after the times were converted to 3m. 

Our other medalists were Oliver Shim (16:57, 10th, who also took the PSAT that morning), Austin Kuehr (17:01, 14th), Nick Slotten (17:08, 18th), Matt Reninger (17:15, 22nd), Juan Ramos (17:17, 24th), and Justin Shim (17:23, 30th).

I think our sophomore really stepped up in the JV race, and their improvements are quite evident.  Check out our list of sophomores and their improvements from last year:

We are not there yet, but this is a great stepping stone on the way.  Hopefully, we can use this to catapult us into a great Polar Bears season and make some special things happen.

There were a number of notable performances in this race:

Senior Nick Slotten (17:08) PRed in his final race of his career. 

Matt Reninger (17:15) set a PR as well.  We look forward to getting Matt year round as he is joining track this spring.

Juan Ramos (17:17) is a name to remember: he came out for the team in early September, but has shown some great natural ability.  Everyone around LZXC is excited to see Juan continue his training through Polar Bears and see what he can really do with a mileage base under his belt. 

Jon Berggren (17:42) is a first-year LZXC member as well, and he has a body built for distance running.  Jon has found a home in LZXC as well.  We look forward to getting more Jon Berggren in our lives during Polar Bears.

Robert Picha (18:08) PRed, and is becoming a leader in the sophomore group.

Junior David Berton (18:12) finished up a great year on a great note, with a PR.  David was skeptical about joining this year because he battled illness a lot last year, but he has bounced back with vigor.  It has been very refreshing seeing him healthy and running well.

Sophomore Dan Abboud set a PR 18:25.  Look forward to Dan dominating the hurdles next spring.

Senior Toby James (18:25) PRed in his final race of his career.  Well done Toby.

Senior Mike Unger (18:34) also PRed in his final race of his career.  How about those seniors!  What a day!

Freshmen Logan Ejupi (18:59) and Mark Spatz (19:07) have steadily improved all season, and had their best race on the biggest stage.

_______________________________________________________

10/8/11 - LZ Places 3rd at Wheeling Invitational

We competed in the Wheeling Invitational as a tune-up for conference.  A lot of teams hold out our varsity in this meet, but we like the competition on a flat fast course (typically), and is our last opportunity to find out who we are before conference.

Frosh/Soph

At the Frosh/Soph level, we ran great, and are starting to learn who they are.  We finished 4th overall, but only 20 points out of second.  Hersey won behind a stacked FS lineup who will be very competitive in years to come. 

Will Llanos led the way with an 8th place 13:56 (4K).  Will was with the front pack through 2 miles, but fell apart in the final 800m.  Nevertheless, it was good to see Will running aggressively, as he has the potential to be a very good varsity runner in the future.  Given that he pays attention to the small details of his training, look for him to step up to varsity competition smoothly.  Will's time was the fastest time we have ever had, and surprisingly, we have never had a sophomore finish higher than 8th in that race.

Behind Will, we had a trio of runners earn some ribbons by finishing in the mid-20s.  Sophomores Matt Reninger and Austin Kuehr continued strong seasons while Freshman Justin Shim joined them in 28th.  Our 5th finisher was sophomore Jon Berggren, with a big kick to edge out teammate Brian Griffin.

Varsity

We didn't get the outcome that we wanted, but we accomplished what we wanted to accomplish.  We wanted to run the race from the front, in preparation for the fast start that always materializes at Sectionals.  We did just that, with our entire varsity running right with the lead pack at the first turn.  As any coach will tell you, that is not the most efficient way to run a race, but it at least tests your limits.  Hopefully we now have a better understanding of what we are and are not capable of.  We finished a strong 3rd place with 63 points.  Belvidere North won for the second year in a row with 47 points, and Barrington edged us out by a single point.  In fact, Barrington's #3 Nolan Wojtowicz was the difference maker as he sprinted past both David Smith and Jared Ripoli in the final 100 meters to complete the 2 point swing.

Individually, we didn't have very impressive races.  I think the heat had a lot to do with the slow times, paired with inefficient racing strategies from us and a few other schools.  By the mile, there was a pack of 12 runners that split right around 5:00.  Jon Smith was hanging onto that pack but was fading.  Pat Juras was in the middle of the pack but did not look comfortable.  There was a 20 meter gap, then our crew of David Smith, Trevor Kuehr, Jon Ramirez, and Jared Ripoli led the rest of the field.  Barrington's pack was nestled right behind ours, and I knew they were in much better position than us.  We were frankly caught in no-man's land.  The front pack was pulling away, and we were the hunted, with no passable bodies in front of us. 

Over the next two miles, we held on pretty well, but I think that was as much a product of the rest of the field faltering as much as we did.  Pat Juras finished a disappointing 5th, and was never really in the race.  We are still boosting his mileage after his injury, and he will have better days ahead.  Jon Smith fell back to the rest of our pack, as we finished 12, 13, 16, 17, with all times north of 16:00. 

JV

Bobby Klett and Ruben Riano led the way for us in this race, with solid 3rd and 4th place finishes.  They were within striking distance with a mile to go, but couldn't muster the strength to make a move on the 2 leaders.  Nevertheless, it was good to see them running near the front.

Probably the best race of the day came from freshman Ryan Obsuszt.   Ryan ran a PR 18:44 to finish as our 3rd finisher.  I hope Ryan continues to train as we near the end of our season because he has a lot of potential as he has shown in flashes throughout the season.

We had 3 other PRs on this day, despite the temperatures that approache 75 degrees by the time the JV race went off.  Sophomore Richard Waller ran a nice 19:09, and David Crisler was not far behind with a 19:21.  Freshman Mark Spatz followed up a great PPM on Thursday with a PR on Saturday, 19:47.

_________________________________________________________

10/5/11 - District 95 Invitational is a Huge Success

I have official results from the 2011 District 95 Invitational, as well as a ton of pictures from the event.  Check out the Photo Gallery for our 2011 pics.

The girls' race was won by Caitlyn Sheperd of Middle School North. Caitlyn's time was a quick 13:13 for the 2 (2.05?) mile course.  Rachel Goldberg of Middle School South and Tara Frank of  Middle School North finished 2nd and 3rd.

The boys' race was won by Jack Gelinas on Middle School North with a terrific time of 11:37.  Eric Metzger and Brian McNair, both from Middle School North as well, finished 2nd and 3rd.  Each of these 3 boys all come from good pedigree: all are siblings of current of former LZXC athletes. 

Past winners in the boy's race were

Overall, the entire field ran hard and competitively.  Good luck to each team in the Sectional championships this weekend!

_________________________________________________________

10/3/11 - LZXC Goes Undefeated in Conference Duals for 4th Straight Year

Over the past 2 weeks, we have fought some tough conference battles with rivals Warren, Lake Forest, and Stevenson.  We came out on top in each dual, extending our unbeaten streak to 4 years.  The class of 2012 will graduate without knowing what it feels like to lose a conference dual.  How many more senior classes will be able to say that?  Time will tell, but we have our work cut out for us as many of our competitors boast strong underclass teams to build around.

Our dual meet streak is nothing like York's or even Palatine's dual meet streak, nor is the North Suburban Conference anywhere close to as competitive as the West-Suburban or the Mid-Suburban Conference, but we are proud of our accomplishments nonetheless.  We are still chasing Stevenson's NSC streak streak in the late 1990's and early 2000's of like 9 consecutive years.  Like I said before, we have our work cut out for us.  Winning is nice, but the work itself is often the most rewarding.  Let's keep working and keep our own version of the streak alive.

I have updated the Photo Gallery with pics from Palatine, Lake Forest (with pics of the puddle so big it actually had a fish in it), and Stevenson.  Check them out!

From here, we continue to progress towards the championship meets.  We race in the competitive Wheeling Invitational this Saturday as a tune-up for next week's Conference Championship up at Zion Benton's new course.  On the home-front, I am proud to say we are getting healthy, putting together a string of quality workouts, and are jumping at the bit to show the world what we are really made of.  Pat Juras, Jon Ramirez, Isaac Honegger, Shaun Bonefas, and Cal Duff are all rebounding nicely after tough early season illnesses and injuries.  Look for them to take big leaps on our Varsity and JV levels as we make a strong late season charge.

_________________________________________________________

9/24/11 - Highlights from Palatine Invite

We took our lumps at the Palatine Invite, running against some of the best programs in the state.  The meet featured 13 ranked Illinois schools and two ranked schools from Missouri.  We placed 8th at the Varsity level, 7th at the JV level, 16th at the Sophomore level, and 11th at the Freshman level.  We are humbled by the strength and consistency of our competitors, and we learned that we simply must prepare better to compete with these teams.  Here are our highlights:

Freshmen

Our Freshmen finished 11th overall.  We only have 7 of them, but they race hard and train hard, which is all you can ask.  We had one medalist, Justin Shim, who snagged the final medal in 20th place.  Justin's time of 14:19 is the 7th fastest in our team's history, and ties him with some of our current varsity runners Alex Milner and Jared Ripoli.  Pat MacDonald also ran well to place 34th in 14:37.  Ryan Obsuszt probably had the best race of any of the freshmen, splitting PRs at the 1mile and 2mile en route to his 15:17. Logan Ejupi was a medalist last year in the shot put at the Middle School State Track Meet, but you wouldn't guess it as he ran as our 4th Freshmen, running a sweet time of 15:53.  Mark Spatz rounded out our top 5 with a 16:00. 

Sophomores

This crew placed 10th last year as Freshmen, and I had been looking forward to see this team move up in the standings from one year to the next. Alas, we moved in the opposite direction to 16th.  It didn't help that our top 3 from last year's Freshmen race were MIA: Dave Brown is off the team, Jack Herman was out with a hamstring, and Gerrit Williams was out with lower leg pain.  Nevertheless, we needed more guys to step up and fill those voids if we were to improve from our 10th place finish last year.  Our top runner on this day was Will Llanos, who ran a PR 16:54, breaking 17:00 for the first time.   Will has the potential to be a frontrunner in this unit, but he still lacks the confidence and experience to be more aggressive early in the race.  Hopefully he gains that experience in the next 12 months because he can be a major varsity player. 

We also got great races out of Jon Berggen and Robert Picha.  Jon was challenged with staying with Matt Reninger.  Jon held strong through a near-PR first mile of 5:45 and fought hard to keep the pace.  It was definitely the toughest he ran all season, and he was rewarded with a PR 18:20.  Robert Picha continues to be one of the most improved runners on the team, with a sweet 18:27 PR.  Also of note at the sophomore level is David Crisler breaking 20:00 for the first time in his life, with a 19:44, and Cal Duff racing in his first invitational, splitting 21:20.

JV

This group placed 7th overall, but I think we underperformed a little bit.  Many of our top JV runners are varsity caliber runners, who have been hampered by sickness, eligibility, or injury.  I have no doubt that these guys will have better days ahead, and we simply must continue to risk more if we want to be rewarded.  The teams that consistently score high at the JV level are the teams that consistently score high at the Varsity level.  While 7th place is a solid showing, we must improve.

Jon Ramirez was in the hospital earlier in the week, and is still not running with a lot of confidence.  His 16:23 was his best race of the season, but with his talent and training, he should have been competing for the win in this race.  Instead, he was 17th overall.  Look for Jon to have a big second half of the season as we head into the state series.

Ruben Riano ran his first race of the season, and broke 17 for the first time, running a nice 16:38.  Ruben has the potential to be a major player next year, and his off-season training will determine his success.

Other notable races came from David Berton, who ran an inspired race.  David took a risk and ran out of his comfort zone.  This strategy worked out well as he broke 19:00 for the first time, with an 18:46.

Kyle Tuckey was the other notable race in this group.  Kyle is now only the second runner I have ever coached that actually obeys orders during the race.  When I cheer for Kyle to pass other runners during the race, Kyle would actually do that.  The only other runner I have ever coached who would pass on command was Gerardo Perez.  That's pretty good company.  Kyle ran a PR 20:10, and is greatly improved from last year, where he was consistently running in the 24-25 minute range.

Varsity

This field was absolutely stacked at the Varsity level, and I didn't know what to expect.  We were hit with a few more unfortunate sicknesses this week, which set us back again.  Nevertheless, we got to the starting line as a full varsity for the first time this season.  We are definitely not ready for the state meet yet, as we are still running too timid to do major damage in a big invitational.  However, there are a lot of positives to be taken out of this meet.

Pat Juras ran his first race in 3 weeks, and showed he is talented enough to contend.  Pat stayed with the lead pack until the last 800m, and finished 7th overall with a 14:48.  Pat had missed 17 days of training over the past 3 weeks, so 14:48 is pretty impressive considering.  Pat's 14:48 was our 2nd fastest time ever at Palatine, only 2 seconds behind Sam Romanoski's 14:46.

Jon Smith was in the hospital earlier in the week, and he didn't look himself.  Jon faded to 47th place but still finished as our #2, with a time of 15:38.   Our junior pack of Trevor Kuehr, Alex Milner, and Jared Ripoli were a bit timid at the start, but navigated methodically through the field and nearly caught Jon.  Trevor ran a nice PR of 15:43, and Alex also ran a PR 15:46.  Jared fell into the dreaded comfort zone and settled for a 15:58. 

Our seniors Pat McPartlan and David Smith ran tough in the first half of the race, but were each feeling the effects of a cold, and faded late in the race.  David and Pat finished as our #6 and #7 runners at 15:47 and 16:00.

I am confidence that eventually we will all be healthy at the same time, and I still think this group can do some pretty special things.  In the meantime, we will take a backseat to some other great teams.  From here, we have a couple dual meets against Lake Forest, Stevenson, and Warren before our next big invitational at Wheeling in two weeks.

_________________________________________________________

9/17/11 - Highlights from Peoria Notre Dame

I am typing this on the bus-ride home from the Peoria Notre Dame Invitational, and I do not have the official results in front of me.  I apologize if any of my times or places are off.

As usual, we had an absolute blast on our trip.  The team was blessed with the most challenging Peoria Trip Test in the history or Peoria Trip Tests, yet we still had a perfect paper, turned in by senior David Smith.  The Prediction Run went off without a hitch, and was won by sophomore Robert Picha.  Our spaghetti at Avanti's was fabulous, as was the dapper attire we donned.  I am so proud to be a coach of this team- they are simply good-hearted people who are respectful in all circumstances, they work extremely hard, and they are loyal to a fault.  I'm pretty sure they would run through a brick wall if I told them it would help them run faster.

Every year we learn that to climb to the top of the mountain in Illinois, you have to do a lot of climbing.  There is always another team waiting beside you in case you let you guard down for just one moment.  This healthy competition is certainly on display at the Peoria Notre Dame Invitational. 

We feel pretty good about our team this year, as we have a veteran group of varsity returners, strong leadership, and solid depth.  However, we placed 15th at the Frosh/Soph level and 13th at the Varsity level in a true "meet-grinder".  We come to this meet to run fast, but the ego-check is always an un-programmed bonus. 

 In all, 28 of our 33 competing athletes set lifetime personal records over 3 miles, and many also set 2-mile personal records as well.  As a coach, it is difficult to find fault when your team puts forth that type of effort.  However, we have goals and dreams much greater than a 13th place finish at Peoria Notre Dame.  We learned, that while we may have run faster than we ever have before, we must be even better.  We will get better, and we will look back on this meet as a key experience that catapults us to greater heights.

Varsity

I don't want to create excuses for a 13th place finish, or even mention the "what could have been".  Frankly, we ran well for where we are at in our training.  There simply were 12 teams better than us on this day.  Such is the life in Illinois cross country- there is always someone waiting to pass you up if you let up for just a moment.

With that said, I was pretty impressed by our performances considering the adversity we have faced in the past 2 weeks.  Injury, illness, and even a strange wall of smoke ignited a few asthma attacks, and through this, only 2 of our varsity runners were able to avoid these hurdles enough to complete all of the week's workouts.  We did well to get almost everybody to the starting line, although our star Pat Juras remained on the shelf.  We are in position to see some special things happen, but we must avoid these hurdles going forward.  Consistency is the key to training, and training is the key to racing.  To all the math geeks out there, apply the transitive property and you will see what I am getting at.

Jon Smith ran exceptional for us, finishing 36th with a PR 15:12.  Jon also split the 2 mile in a PR 9:58, his first time under 10:00.  Jon's 15:12 is the 5th fastest PND time we have ever had.  It is interesting to note that everybody who has run 15:12 or faster for us at this meet went on to be All-state runners by the end of the year.  Jon has some leap-frogging to do to get to that mark, but I wouldn't say it is impossible.

We had a pretty big gap after Jon, and I believe that gap will get smaller once everyone gets healthy.  Pat McPartlan, David Smith, and Jared Ripoli all ran PR's between 15:38-15:41.  If this gap closes, we can be very dangerous.  After Pat, David, and Jared, we had a pair of juniors break 16:00 for the first time in their lives: Trevor Kuehr and Alex Milner.

Frosh/Soph

There are no standouts in this group...yet.  But time is the great equalizer, and these athletes have the most of it.  If they take advantage of their greatest resource, they can continue the LZXC tradition or even write their own history.  We had 2 freshmen running in this race: Justin Shim, who ran the 3rd fastest time we have ever had a freshman run, and Pat MacDonald, who ran a nice 17:55 despite opening up in 5:50 in the first mile.  Pat will be especially dangerous once he trusts his training and learns to race more aggressively. 

It was really our sophomores who carried the load in the Frosh/Soph race.  Jack Herman had a tough race, tweaking a hamstring after a fast 5:05 opening mile.  He struggled through the rest of the race after that and finished as our #5 on this day.  But it was the rest of our sophomores who showed some great improvement from last year.  Check out these improvements; some of these are really pretty jaw-dropping:

None of these guys are ready for varsity competition, but they have made great strides.  We have about 12 months to prepare them, because they will certainly be counted on next year.

JV

We had some great races out of our JV lineup, although non broke 18:00.  Hopefully we can get some of these guys sub-18 before the end of the year.  Notably, senior Steve MacDonald ran tough in the last mile to finish in 18:02, and it was fun to watch Peter Stavropolous race after dealing with an ankle injury for most of the last 12 months.  Peter ran a PR 18:38.  Bill Bennett broke 20 minutes for the first time, splitting 19:57. 

Our freshmen ran tough in the race as well, with Ryan Obsuszt leading the way with an 18:51 in his first major race.  Logan Ejupi is a shot putter at heart, and went to middle school state last year in the shot put, but you wouldn't know it watching him break 20 minutes for the first time in 19:51.  Mark Spatz also broke 20 minutes for the first time in his life, just out-leaning the clock for a 19:59.

Our schedule does not get any easier in the near future, as we will see many of the same teams next Saturday at Palatine.  But before that, we square up against who I think is the most dangerous team in our conference, Libertyville, in our only home meet of the season.  Libertyville has a huge team and couple pretty talented front runners, and we will need to respect them with a great team race on Monday.

 _________________________________________________________

9/13/11 - Alumni Updates

A number of LZXC alums are competing in college.  Check out the alumni updates on our Alumni Page!  Updates include:

-Paul Geimer ('10) at Colorado School of Mines, ran a 19:36 6K in the UCCS Rustbuster 6K.

-Some sweet pics of Francisco Soto ('10) winning the 1500m JC National Championship last spring.

-Victor Delatorre ('11) at Eastern Illinois University, ran a 25:38 8K in the EIU Walt Crawford Open.

-Ryan Moncrieff ('11) at Miami University (OH), ran a 26:24 8k in the Miami Open.

_________________________________________________________

9/3/11 - LZXC Opens Season with Win at UW Parkside

We have been working towards the model of hard work in the early weeks of the season, so we were excited to lace up the spikes and get racing.  As per tradition, we opened our season at UW Parkside's Rebel Invitational.  Our varsity won with 52 points to outdistance Kenosha Tremper's 76.  Our junior varsity won with 48 points, narrowly outscoring Libertyville's 52, and our freshmen placed 5th, despite only 5 freshmen competing.  Our team is small this year, but it is certainly not weak.  Every athlete that competed for us, whether they competed in the varsity race, junior varsity race, or freshman race, all finished in the top half of their race.  That is quite an accomplishment.

Freshmen

Only five of our seven freshmen toed the line for us, so there was real pressure to perform well and represent the blue and white.   It seems every other day that these youngsters are making huge jumps and learning what this sport is all about.  As a coach, it is fun to watch as they strive to make themselves into something great.  These five freshmen competed from the gun, and far surpassed both Coach May's and my expectations.  Justin Shim and Pat MacDonald cruised to the front and battled with the front pack.  Logan Ejupi, Ryan Finley, and Mark Spatz filled the remaining slots and packed up nicely in front of the main crowd.  All five athletes split the 2-mile in personal records en route to the 4K finish.  Justin and Pat finished in the medals in 4th and 8th, respectively.  Justin's time of 14:54 places him as our 3rd best all-time freshman mark on UW Parkside's course, while Pat MacDonald's 15:01 places him as our 4th best freshman time ever.  Logan, Mark, and Ryan finished strong in the mid-17s, all earning their place in the all-time top 50.

Junior Varsity

The Rebel JV race is usually one of my favorite races of the entire year.  Every year, an unknown runner becomes known, showing a newfound fitness, maturity, and competitiveness.  This year that unknown runner is sophomore Austin Kuehr. 

Last year at this meet, Austin finished 90th place in the freshman race, with a 4K time of 18:51.  But that was last year, and the finish line doesn't care what you did last year.  Over the past 12 months, Austin has trained quietly and methodically, followed the simple recipe for excellence, and has become one of the great success stories of our team. 

Austin finished as our #3 JV runner today, placing 7th overall and earning his first high school medal, with a 5K time of 18:57.  How about running nearly the same time as the previous year, only covering 1000 more meters!  That's pretty special.

We had some other great efforts today by a few others in our sophomore class.  Notably, Jack Herman showed his training is progressing nicely as he placed 3rd overall in 17:45.  Matt Reninger earned his first high school medal with a 9th place effort in 19:06, and Ryan Wendell also PRed with a sweet 19:37.  Mark Syverson matched his classmates' strong races with a strong race of his own, with a PR 20:51. 

Our scoring 5th man on this day was senior Steve MacDonald, who came up big both in the race and presenting a memorable speech prior to the races.  Hopefully this speech makes its way to the fabled Coach May Powerpoint at the end of the year...

Varsity

We won the varsity race with 52 points.  We were led by individual champion Pat Juras, who won with a time of 15:58.  Pat got quite the challenge from Zach Hanson of  Kenosha Tremper, but Pat was able to pull away in the last mile.  After doing a bit of research, I discovered that Hanson is no slouch himself.  He placed 3rd in the Wisconsin state cross country meet last year and followed it up with a 4th place 4:13 in track.  Hanson is a favorite in Wisconsin this year, as well as a Foot Locker hopeful.

After Pat, our pack held strong through 2 miles, but slowly disintegrated in the heat and rolling hills of the final mile.  Pat McPartlan, Jon Smith, Trevor Kuehr, Jared Ripoli, David Smith, Alex Milner, and Jon Ramirez ended up finishing 10th, 13th, 15th, 16th, 18th, 19th, and 21st.  Our 1-5 split at the 2 mile was 19 seconds, but by the end, it was 70 seconds.  That statistic pretty much tells the tale of our race.

It is nice to win, but we certainly have a long ways to go.  I am extremely excited to watch this team progress through the season.  It is a group of individuals that are completely unique, in their approach to training and their strengths in racing.  However their collective desire to excel is the glue that keeps them together, and that is what makes this group a dangerous team.  In the upcoming weeks, we run a couple NSC duals before making our annual trip down to Peoria where we will face many of the top teams in the state.

_________________________________________________________

8/29/11 - Updates from LZXC 2011

LZXC 2011 is off and running...  We have smaller squad than last year, only 49 members, but that doesn't mean it can't pack the punch.  Here are some highlights from our early season activities:

Pat Juras is training at unheralded levels.  Pat won the 2011 Heaven Week with a record 210 points, setting the Heaven Week timed mile record in the process.  Its difficult to imagine that a guy with 2 all-state medals under his belt can surprise the running community, but I'm afraid he is being underestimated.  Time will tell, but we know this for sure: Pat is pretty special.

Jon Smith is taking on new leadership roles as co-captain (with Pat), as he leads a tight group of frontrunners.  Jon comes into the season in the best shape of his life.  Look for Pat McPartlan, Jon Ramirez, and Jared Ripoli to join him as the core of our varsity lineup.

Will Llanos was our top sophomore during Heaven Week.  Will had a great summer of training and will challenge our varsity as the season progresses. Will leads a much improved group of sophomores that are still searching for their identity.  Look for Jack Herman to emerge as a frontrunner in this group, and look for Austin Kuehr and Brian Griffin to solidify the top 7 after solid work in the summer.

Pat MacDonald was our top freshman during Heaven Week, as he narrowly outscored Ryan Obsuszt and Justin Shim in the standings.  One would think that a state trophy on the shelf would attract more incoming freshmen to the party, as we are with only 7 freshmen.  Nevertheless, I am excited to watch these youngsters progress and they already have embraced the LZXC attitude and commitment.

The 2011 Heaven Week was one of the most exciting ever.  Monday's pushup contest set the tone, as Freshman Pat MacDonald destroyed the field with a record 30 rounds of pushups. The previous record was 27, and those who have participated in the pushup contest in the past know how difficult those last couple rounds can get.

Jon Ramirez and Jack Herman both scored perfect scores on Tuesday's Prediction Run, while Alex Milner scored a perfect score on Thursday's Guess-Your-Time Run.  With all the miles logged by these three guys, it is not surprising how well they know their paces.

Middle School North won the Middle School Challenge in convincing fashion for the 6th time in a row.  The South team fought hard, but in the end, could not match the depth of the North crew.

The LZXC Carwash was bombarded with a brilliant lightening storm, and we were relegated to the school for much of the day.  Nevertheless, we managed to wash a number of cars before the storm arrived, and we enjoyed our time together in the process.  Special thanks to all the families and fans who donated to the cause, only to receive a "natural car wash" in the process!

_________________________________________________________

8/27/11 - Superfan Ann Hanson nearing her 4th CD Birthday

LZXC Superfan Ann Hanson (my mom) reached her 1000th consecutive day of running today.  That's a number that would put her #2 on the All-time CD records... Check out her "bouncing walk" as she enjoys the Alaska scenery.

_________________________________________________________

8/13/11 - Alums Use Their Wisdom to Defeat the High Schoolers in 1st Annual Alumni Kickball Game

We held our first annual Alumni Kickball Tournament, and it was a huge success.  18 LZXC legends and 2 parents returned to reminisce about old times, and teach the youngsters a thing or two in the process.  The alums defeated the high schoolers in a blowout, 10-4 in an action-packed 9-inning game.  We hope to make this a yearly event, and we hope to see more of our former LZXC legends back next year.

Check out this pic of legends who came back and their current events (from left to right): Jordan Pavlovich ('10, running at NCC), Ryan Moncrieff ('11, running at my alma mater, Miami OH), Colin Schofield ('09, competing at Illinois Wesleyan), Adam Burke ('09, at UIC, running his first marathon this fall), Victor Delatorre ('11, running at EIU), Jake Paulus ('08, competing at NCC), Matt Zak ('06, Notre Dame grad, beginning flight school this fall), Mickey Stott ('07, running at UW Stout, interning at Disney this fall), Nate Nard ('06, at UIUC, researching the cure for MIRSA), Gerardo Perez ('08, at ISU), Coach May (loves seeing all her sons), Coach Lange (traveling the world), Shawn Picha ('11, attending THE Ohio State University), Scott Harbeck ('10, attending Notre Dame), Greg Bielak ('10, attending UW Platteville), Francisco Soto ('10, running at Harper), Matt McLain ('11, attending Harper), Tony Piecuch ('10, attending EIU despite a recently broken ankle), Alex Brend ('11, running at Minnesota), Steve Brown ('11, playing tennis at CLC), Bob Zak (still one of LZXC's greatest fans),  Coach Hanson (living the dream).

 _________________________________________________________

8/10/11 - Attention All Alumni and Families... Get Ready for the First Annual Alumni Kickball Game!!! 

Who? - LZXC Alumni and their families, as well as current LZXC members and their families.  To all Alumni, please pass along the word!

What? - The First Annual Alumni Kickball Tournament!  LZXC Alumni know that we pride ourselves on being a little wacky, which is why we have chosen an Alumni Kickball Tournament instead of an Alumni Run.  All Alumni and their families are invited to attend, as well as current LZXC members and their families.  If kickball isn't your thing, then this tournament is for you!  If kickball is your thing, then I guess we will let you play anyway!

Where? - The new Hanson abode! 1097 Stanton Road in Lake Zurich, next to Bristol Trails Park.  The kickball festivities will take place at Bristol Trails Park, and refreshments will be enjoyed at the Hanson house, which backs up to the park.

When? - Saturday, August 13th, 2PM.

Should I bring anything? - Definitely your kickball sneakers!  We will provide drinks and some snacks.  If you would be willing to bring an appetizer or other snacks, please do!

Do I need to RSVP? - No!  The Tournament will go on whether you are there or not! (But we would love to hear from you either way!)

_________________________________________________________

8/4/11 - LZXC2011 Begins Wednesday, August 10th, at 7AM!

To all LZXC 2011 Athletes, paperwork is now being accepted by Ms. Arnold in the HS Athletic Office.  Click this link for necessary 2011 fall registration paperwork!  As a reminder, all returning athletes must have all registration materials turned in by August 10, if they want to compete at the Rebel Invitational!  Athletic physicals will be offered at LZHS on August 9 from 3PM-5PM, and the cost will be $30.

_________________________________________________________

7/22/11 - Kettle Moraine Camping Trip Challenges LZXC as Runners and Campers

We took a record 36 athletes up to Kettle Moraine State Park for our 4th Annual Team Camping Trip.  We were hoping for some adversity to make us tougher, and we got it, in the form of 2 record hot days and a lightening storm on the third.  Away from the comforts of home, we ran and talked about running to our hearts content, as we culminated the LZXC Summer Camp.  Here are some highlights of the trip:

-Pat Juras won the hottest Green Loop on record with a time of 39:28.

-Alex Milner won the Observation Loop with a time of 17:49, breaking Pat Juras's all time record from 2010 by 1 second.

-Jack Gelinas broke the middle school record on the Observation Loop with a time of 19:01.

-Mrs. Delatorre was generous enough to make her tacos for us for our Wednesday night dinner.  Yumm!

-It was the year of the Paper Bag Contest, as Oliver Shim, Shaun Bonefas, and 7th grader Chris Yun demonstrated 3 different techniques, and each broke the previous record.  The future looks bright with our trio of Paper Bag prospects.

-Ryan Fitzgerald and David Smith each earned 2 nutter-butters.  Ryan and David won the Flashlight Relay.   The next day, Ryan won the Ice Age Trail Prediction (2 seconds off) and David won the hotdog eating contest (8 dogs, new record).

-Pat Juras won the Ottawa Lake Run in 21:38, with Jon Smith only 4 seconds behind.

-Coach May got in on the action for the first time, smoking the Observation Loop and Ottawa Lake Runs.

-Shaun Bonefas earned the title as "Best Mafia Narrator".

-Mike Unger perfected this year's version of The Brew, with some potent gatorade.

-Friday morning's storm caught a few campers by surprise, as they were caught without a rain tarp overhead.  Rumor has it that Jared Ripoli's tent was only half covered by the rain tarp.

-Our parent chaperones this year included Mr. Lulis who once again saved the day by driving the bus, Mr. Gelinas, Mr. McNair, Mr. Glatz, Mr. Honegger, and Mr. Smith.  Matt Zak, class of '07, had double duty as our lone LZXC Alum on the trip.

-The beast was once again altered due to lightening, as we ran up the road towards the campground.  Jon Smith led the way with 9 beasts, all under 1:38, despite taking a nasty spill on the wet pavement on beast #1.

_________________________________________________________

7/7/11 - Attention All Alumni and Families... Get Ready for the First Annual Alumni Kickball Game!!! 

Who? - LZXC Alumni and their families, as well as current LZXC members and their families.  To all Alumni, please pass along the word!

What? - The First Annual Alumni Kickball Tournament!  LZXC Alumni know that we pride ourselves on being a little wacky, which is why we have chosen an Alumni Kickball Tournament instead of an Alumni Run.  All Alumni and their families are invited to attend, as well as current LZXC members and their families.  If kickball isn't your thing, then this tournament is for you!  If kickball is your thing, then I guess we will let you play anyway!

Where? - The new Hanson abode! 1097 Stanton Road in Lake Zurich, next to Bristol Trails Park.  The kickball festivities will take place at Bristol Trails Park, and refreshments will be enjoyed at the Hanson house, which backs up to the park.

When? - Saturday, August 13th, 2PM.

Should I bring anything? - Definitely your kickball sneakers!  We will provide drinks and some snacks.  If you would be willing to bring an appetizer or other snacks, please do!

Do I need to RSVP? - No!  The Tournament will go on whether you are there or not! (But we would love to hear from you either way!)

_________________________________________________________

7/7/11 - Sign up for the 4th Annual Kettle Moraine Camping Trip!

Who? - The LZXC Family, including current 6th-12th grade runners.  We are in need of both parent and alumni chaperones for the trip!  If you are willing and interested, please contact Coach Hanson!

What? -  4^th Annual LZXC Camping Trip.  The trip will consist of beautiful runs, memorable logbook sessions, competitive contests, meals cooked with our own hands, and of course the enjoyable wit and charm of the members of the Lake Zurich Cross Country Team.  Many of your favorite activities will be back for the fourth year: the Beast, the Paper-Bag Contest, the Green Loop, the Ottawa Lake Run, the Bunny Game, the Hot Dog Eating Contest, Swimming in the lake, Mafia, Logbook Sessions, Brew, the Flashlight Relay, Spartan Showers, the Viking Game, the Natural Spring Ice Bath, and more...

Where? - We will stay at the Pinewoods Group Campground in Kettle Moraine South State Park, located 90 minutes north of Lake Zurich, near Eagle, WI.  The campground is filled with soft trails, a swimming lake, a shower facility, and a large fire-pit. 

When? - Wednesday July 20 through Friday July 22, 2011.  Bus Departs from LZHS at 2PM on July 20.  Bus will return to LZHS at 3PM on July 22.

Cost? - $40 per camper, free if your parent attends as a chaperone!

Click here for registration materials, and return them to Coach Hanson ASAP!

_________________________________________________________

7/7/11 - LZXC 2011 is Only a Month Away!

To all LZXC 2011 Athletes, paperwork is now being accepted by Ms. Arnold in the HS Athletic Office.  Click this link for necessary 2011 fall registration paperwork!  As a reminder, all returning athletes must have all registration materials turned in on Day 1, August 10, if they want to compete at the Rebel Invitational!  Athletic physicals will be offered at LZHS on July 19 and August 9 from 3PM-5PM, and the cost will be $30.