Fleet Feet Nike 2 Mile

Fenton City Park

Today was the highly anticipated true kickoff to the season. Many guys have been training since the end of May, and today was the first time to show that hard work pays off. Those competing took off for Fenton right after school. I stayed back to watch the Bull Dog and a few other runners get started with practice, and do their own two mile time trial.

I got to the meet right as the gun was going off for the JV race. Senior Josh Goetz and Adam Morgenthaler were near the front at the mile. They both finished strong after slightly falling back in the second mile.

Finishing first for De Smet and 5th overall was one member of the strong freshman pack from a season ago, Collin "Joey" Vieth. Collin was extremely excited about the time, a PR by more then a minute. Collin ran a smart race, coming in around 15th at the mile, then took off by himself when it was time to move.

"It just felt really good to keep passing people and it wasn't hurting or anything"

Running the race of his life for the JV squad today was Pat Callahan. Pat could be seen ferociously taking down his competition from the gun to the tape.

"In track I ran 12:06 and today I ran 11:21. I was tired at the end but not gasping for air so I knew I could continue my place."

After his first official race as a coach, Coach Rob Garwitz was impressed.

"JV went well. The course was flat and fast. Any time you put guys in a competition with other jerseys, they are going to run fast. Collin Vieth is a monster."

For the next race, there were several runners running their first ever race on Varsity

"I'm beyond excited. So much is on the line and I can't wait to let everyone up (as in not let them down)" -Seamus Hamilton

Track standout Brian Scherping was set to make his cross country debut.

"I'm sweatin' like a hog. I'm really pumped, but my nose is bothering me."

The Bulldog, who will make his return on the V squad at Parkway Central knew the guys were ready.

"Not much chatter. They are thinking about what they have to do. They're ready."

During the last minute words of wisdom and famous Coach Williams handshakes, Coach Traughber simplified how to be successful in the sport of Cross Country. The quote should go on the goals poster.

"You have three options. You can lead the pack. You can be part of the pack. Or you are not part of a pack, not helping the team"

All ten members of the varsity team ran extremely well. All member ran under 11 minutes. Senior Kevin Abernathy came in 3rd overall with a pure crazy time of 9:37. Jacob Seiler and Matt O'Connor came in second and third for the Spartans. The varsity finished a very strong 2nd as a team, and brought a tear to Liz Traughber's eye. We now know what the color we have to target this year.

Being the first race of the season, it is as good a time as any to learn what we can improve on.

"I will do a better job of pacing with a group next race."- Collin Sullivan

"It was way crazier then I was expecting in the beginning. I was happy I passed someone in the final stretch, but I wish I could have gotten a few more"- Steve Placht

"I won't stop when I get cut off next time"- Drew Higgins

"It was a lot faster than I thought it would be. When I was watching last year, I didn't realize how fast they actually go the entire race. I'll get used to it."- Brian Scherping

Overall it was a great day for the De Smet Cross Country Program. I leave you with some words of wisdom. FINISH THE RACE! Some people had too much in the tank after the race. That should be when you reach your fastest gear. Take advantage of the late start, and prepare for a rainy practice.

From Fenton City Park
Alex Potter
M.T.B.L.

Jesery Week: We resume tomorrow with Basketball.

The Calm Before The Storm

Not pictured Coach Russo - Blue Norte Dame

After receiving our jerseys it was off to the track for practice. Today’s practice was the same for every guy on the team. It was a practice of the pre-race warm up. It went really well. Most of us are focused and ready to go for tomorrow’s meet. Beers did an excellent job ringing in the bell lap on the 2 mile warm-up. During the warm-up we were accompanied by a surprise guest, Mr. Fior. He was one day the curve as he had on Brazil soccer shorts.

Please note the redesigned title for this week thanks to Padre the Sailor Man.

Remember to wear your meet day shirt tomorrow.

Quote of the Day: “We need the Blanche Funnel!”- kabes in the locker room as we were filling bottles with Gatorade after practice.

Jersey Week: Rest Day. Check the tomorrow’s Meet Post for Thursday’s sport.
--above written by kabes--

Best Dressed: Today was football day as jersey week continued. It was great to remember The Greatest Show on Turf days as all the key members had at least one jersey being worn. This is just a warning. Kabes comes to win every day. Although he finished in third today, most days a St. Louis native Trent Green jersey and Chiefs helmet would come out on top. But Brian Scherping and John "Bulldog" Madey brought out the old school jerseys. Scherps finishes second with his pop's high school jersey and Canada shorts. Very close call, but the Bulldog comes out on top. Long story short, John was wearing the jersey that was dedicated to former MICDS coach Ron Holtman after he passed away. Mr. Holtman lived next to John as he was growing up, and along with his dad, helped develop John's passion for sports. Congrats Bulldog

Tomorrow is the first race of the year, so M.T.B.L. was on location for pre race day coverage. We were able to sit down with Senior Jacob Seiler and Sophomore Mike Callahan.

Senior Jacob Seiler has been on varsity for parts of going on three years now. But this time, there is no one named Connor or Zach to lead the way from day 1. How will it be different?

"I must say that it indeed has been a change not having any older runners to look up to each day. However as my fellow seniors and I take up their responsibilities there is a sense of accomplishment seeing the team develop. Being a pure bred runner, my wisdom and knowledge has greatly grown thanks to the seniors before me."

Jacob also talked about how important the Nike meet is.

"The first meet is extremely important if not tangibly then in terms of team mentality. If we start the season with a bad showing, then it kills the team morale. Also De Smet is the two time defending champion, so pressure is on the varsity for the 3 peat."

Sophmore Mike Callahan will make his varsity debuet tomorow. Last year he took on the role of freshman leader. He talks about how it will be different to start the year.

"Instead of being a leader, I have to become more of a follower. I feellike I have to represent the sophmore class well."

Mike is known for having a plan to the maddness. Mike shared how he is going to attack Fenton City Park.

"I am going to take down Fenton City Park by by running the first mile sub 5:37 then coming home in 5:32. Maybe closer to 2 5:30s. I think the varsity team will be finishing in the top two at worst."

Juniors Josh Pribe and Steve Placht could not be reached for comment....

Good luck to all those competing tomorow. Plenty of coverage from Fenton City Park to come.

From Fenton City Park
Alex Potter
M.T.B.L.

AC Land United

Reverse!! That’s how today started: a reverse warm-up. Things continued to be equally as great the rest of the practice. In the middle of our warm-up we took a minute to wish Senior Joe Detwiler a happy birthday via video message (check back tomorrow to see the video). Our thoughts and prayers are with Joe and his sister.

We had a fantastic turnout on the opening day of Jersey Week. Everything from generic to England to U.S.A to Barça to unknown Ireland. The top group went on new run today: A Villa. We had a great time. Matt and I got to tell the story of our adventure on Saturday. After hill sprints it was off to AC Land for the first time all year. An abbreviated core session and some chocolate milk and we were done.

Quote of the Day: “Can I be in the picture even though I don’t have socks?”- Scherping as we are changing in the locker room.

Joke of the Day: “Kevin’s Ego: Old!”- Matt OC after Kevin was listing all the new things we were doing today.

Best Dressed: Jersey Week was kicked off today with Soccer Jersey Day. Many soccer icons showed up. USA World Cup hero Landon Donovan returned from Africa to grace us with his presence. One time prodigy Freddy Adu was sporting his shorts from when he was still a prodigy. Cristiano Ronaldo had the backwards black Nike hat going. Arsenal, Barcelona, and Chivas support was in full effect. Madey looked like he was ready to scrum on the rugby field. Today's best dressed however comes down to the highly anticipated revealing of the custom Celtic Foglamesh jersey/dress, and Kabes, who was dressed in a full head ball ace Peter Crouch Liverpool get up complete with socks and matching red Rebocks. The competition however was over when Pat bought the jersey from China. The several week wait was worth it, because Pat "Foglamesh" Callahan is the best dressed on Soccer Jersey Day.
-Potterman

Title: With it being Soccer Jersey Day and the first time we were in AC Land it was fitting to put the two together for the title as a play on soccer teams Manchester United & DC United.

Jersey Week: Fútbol to Football. Bring your best grid iron gear for tomorrow.

BREAKING NEWS

It's after 10:00, but breaking news is breaking news.

2010 graduate, Ethan Stack, who became one of only a hand full of runners to break 10 in the two mile under T Bone and member of the 2009 state cross country team recently found out he has a stress fracture in his foot. Unfortunately after a summer full of hard work, he will be unable to compete with the Bills of SLU this fall.

The Milk Table is proud to report that Stack will be using his new found spare time to help coach the De Smet Cross Country Spartans. More information to come, including Stack's first interview in the days to come.

Welcome back Ethan!

-Potterman

Circle of Life

The next greatest thing behind Saturday Morning Cartoons? Saturday Morning Continuous Tempos. That’s what we had today, and it was superb. It was also a great day for the team as a whole. For the first time all year, we had a full team warm-up, cool-down, stretch, and core.

We headed off to Conway Park to knock-out the tempos. Everyone, from top to bottom, was tremendous today. Guys went after their 2, 3, or 4 miles on the renowned Conway mile loop. Of course we were aided by the booming voice of T-bone at the fork, pushing all of us to have a good workout. It was the final prep-work for the Nike XC Kickoff this coming Wednesday. After a few recovery days, we are going to be sharp and ready to race.

Upon returning to DeSmet, we found that we were the only ones around. So, there was no hesitation in us moving to the middle of the field for stretching. The team looked awesome surrounding the big D. Coach Traughber went around the circle distributing knuck-bumps to everyone for the solid effort. After the very successful full team stretch and core routine, we brought it in and had a “1-2-3 DESMET!” We don’t do that often so it was pretty cool.

Quote of the Day: “Wow, this stretching is so great. I feel way more flexible.”- Glen

Joke of the Day: “Horrible. Horrible. Pitiful. Terrible. You’re ugly.”- Rob commenting on our side leg lifts. He said the last one was to me.

Best Dressed: Beers. He wasn’t discouraged by his narrow defeat earlier in the year. Mega Group was doing its own jersey day in prep for Jersey Week. Matt, as a member of Mega Group was participating. It wasn’t exactly his jersey that set him apart. It was the fact that he got a “sweet shirt” from one of the football players who have their first game today. And it was unquestionably a sweet shirt. It was a 2006 Italy World Cup Champions jersey with pictures of the team and the cup.

Jersey Week: Monday kicks off jersey week with Soccer.

Shutdown Street

On an easy recovery day, most of the team ran Graeser with the others guys going Mosley or Mailbox. It was the first time in a while for many of to run a Graeser which is simply a very pleasant run.

On the feast day of St. Monica, it is only right that we speak about the alums of the fine school named in her honor. First of all, Milk Table Hall of Famer Big OC made an appearance at practice (what a coincidence!). He’s back from Mizzou to run in the esteemed Westbury Manor Triathlon. Two groups were graced by his presence on their strides. St. Monica Alum and younger brother, Lil OC, had a noteworthy practice. With Rob, he knocked out his continuous tempos a few seconds fast in an impressive fashion. And lastly, just a shout-out to the rest of the St. Monica Alums.

Word to the Wise: Next week is going to be a themed week. It is going to be Sports Jerseys Week. Each day of the week, a different sport. Something like this has never been done before. So a few notes (1) check the blog to see what the next day’s jersey is (so tomorrow will have Monday's theme and etc.) (2) you have to be dressed in theme to win Best Dressed (3) there will be the first ever Best Dressed of the Week given out on Friday (gotta have the endurance and consistency to get this) (4) if you are in theme you get in the picture which goes on the blog (being in Milk Table pictures is awesome, just ask Glen). This is going to be great!

Quote of the Day: “Matt, you’re going to do fine. Everything is going to be great. You have Rob with you, and he’s the pace master”- Abernathy to Lil OC who was dreading his tempos. As it says above, he did great, and that is because he got those negative thoughts out of his head and took care of business.

Best Dressed: Padre. His impressive look from mass in the morning (he was all fancy in his bowtie) carried over to practice in the afternoon. In a similar look that won to others best dressed this year, he had on a flag shorts combo. His Germany shorts matched with a nice-looking Germany jersey. Yes, it may been too early with today being the announcement of Sports Jersey Week, but Jacob assured everyone that there’s more where that came from.

Title: On my solo part of the run, I ran by the accident that we had heard lots of sirens heading for. They shutdown Laude from the Temple to the stoplight. Never have ran by an accident or seen one this close to school; it was pretty interesting.

General Rob

After a fairly slow day yesterday that ended up being a rest day for the Milk Table, today was a great day for all with lots of action.

For starts we had an excellent morning run and weights session. Of course Scherping was late. Coach Traughber came along with us and ran through the sprinklers. It was on this run that we learned that we had lost a former key member of the squad: The Scooter. Coach’s Escort which had for years done the grunt work of carrying the water and transporting the troops. RIP Scooter.

Some of us knew right from the start of the afternoon practice that it too was going to be a great practice. Madey, Goetz, and I broke the warm-up record single lap 4 times, and set a new overall record! The splits were 1:53, 1:52, 1:49, 1:48 for 7:23 overall.

On the actual run, a Chasselle, we had an interesting occurrence that spawned the title. Matt noticed a free wood sign and picked up a plank; then, Goetz and Martini followed suit. I stopped running for a moment out of laughter. So, Rob was in front leading three guys with wooden planks. I thought of them as the Army of Creve Coeur lead by their fearless leader, General Rob. The Army was swiftly defeated by T-bone at the Battle of St. Monica. And that was the end of the Army of Creve Coeur.

I’m proud to present our first contribution of the season. It comes from Patrick Callahan, and tells the story of Mega Group:

Mega group all started on Wednesday when coach Traughber put three groups together and called them "Mega group" little did he know that he just set off a chain so massive and awesome that it already rivals that of the Trojan War, and will be a story to surpass Homer's Illiad. The members of Mega Group and those who saw us in action know what I speak of. Bowman Dan, Josh Pribe, Glenn McGann, Foglamesh, Justin Potter, Collin Veith, Matt Beers, Drew Higgins, Steve Placht, Patrick Burns, and Collin Sullivan (although the last 2 didn't run due to injuries) are the esteemed members of Megaaagroooooup. To start the day was a game of cricket before the warm-up with Madey pitchin. Then it started. Our theme song the "nah nah nahnah" from Shots was founded on the way out of Emerson followed by a "MegaaaaGrouuuup" RAWR. After every street we crossed we would sing our theme song. Michael Callahan, and Jimmy Reed ran ahead like sheep chased by dogs when we came into contact with them. It just got better as we entered Falaise we found a tennis ball rolling on the sidewalk and had some major catch with it while maintaining a good AE pace of course. Then during strides we got another theme song for tempos and strides which I believe was from the song Ice Ice Baby. After strides we put our hands in and shouted "MEGAGROUP!"

MEGAGROUP RAWR

Celebrity Update: Yesterday we were joined by Alumni runner Ryan Doyle. It was a pleasure to meet him and run with him. Had a great time and heard some great stories. Today we were graced by the presence of a DeSmet Cross Country Legend, T-Time (Nick Traughber) a former coach. The guys that know him were excited to see him for the first time in awhile.

Quote of the Day: “This is the best day of running ever.”- Collin Vieth during Mega Group’s run.

Morning Best Dressed: Matt O’Connor brought out his inner Gumby for the first morning practice of the year. He had on all green, Boss shirt and Nerinx shorts. A bit of a goofy look, but it took the cake this morning.

Best Dressed: He said he would, and he delivered. Michael Callahan was today’s champ with a full soccer kit. He was sporting the famous blue of Chelsea. Not much can touch that great look. Simple yet sophisticated. The full jersey said he meant business. Nice work Mike.
p.s Michael has predicted another victory tomorrow. Bring your A game and see if you can take down the current champ.