Parkway West Invite

McNair Park

On Saturday, the Cross Country Spartans traveled to McNair park for the Parkway West Invitational. The weather could not seem to make up it's mind. We had rain, shine, and off and on wind. The Spartans were up to the task.

The first race of the day had the Senior and Juniors compete in the Junior Varsity race. Coach Traughber encouraged the boys to take a chance, and the strategy paid off for several runners. Leading the JV and finishing fourth overall with a time of 17:55 was Senior Josh Goetz.

"I saw what my teammates had done the week before and said to myself I can do that too. I trusted myself to go out a little harder than usual and just raced."

Rounding out the top five for the JV were Seamus Hamilton, Adam Morgenthaler, Dan Bowman, and Josh Pribe. Josh ran an amazing race finishing in 19:29.

"I went out a lot harder than I did in prior races so I wasn't spending the whole race catching up to the people I wanted to run with, and I tried to do better speeding back up coming off of steep uphills. It felt great to score for the team after I got over the feeling that I was going to puke coming out of the last turn and into the chute."

The next race was the Varsity. The strategy remained to run in a pack. Finishing first for the Spartans and third overall was Senior Kevin Abernathy. Also scoring was Jacob Seiler, Nick Martini, Matt O'Connor, and John Madey. This was the second race in a row that the entire Varsity team set new PRs. Senior Jacob Seiler knows that doesn't happen on accident.

"It means more than just the plan is working. It means the team has "bought in" to it and continue to do the little things right when Coach isn't watching."

The varsity finished 7th, separated by just a few points from the teams that finished just ahead.


The Parkway West Invite was unique in that there was a sophomore only race. The boys races great. Earning medals were Michael Callahan, Jimmy Reed, Collin Vieth, Mackenzie Smith, Pat Callahan, Glen McGann, Justin Potter, and Matt Beers. The boys went into the race with a different mindset knowing the would not be running with people that could have two years more experience.

"The fact that I was only racing sophomores gave me confidence so we attacked from the get go which is something we normally don't do." -Mike Callahan

"Racing in the Sophomore race made me change my strategy. I knew I wanted to take a chance and I raced out in the first mile with the lead pack. I knew that my place would be important for the success of the team and I didn't want to let my teammates down." Glen McGann

"Well at the beginning of the race I was kinda not feelin well. I got out a little slow and my breathing was all screwed up. I think I just had a little cold but as the race went by I picked off more and more people. Especially the third mile I felt good and was really cruisin at the third mile and felt good at the end about my performance." Pat Callahan

Glen set a huge PR of 53 seconds in the race.

"It was a great feeling to set a big PR. After, about 2 miles I had a pretty good feeling that I was going to PR but, I wasn't sure how big it would be. I turned the final corner and saw my time on the board and was kinda shocked and knew I needed a big kick. I ended up PRing by 53 seconds. I'm really happy that I changed my strategy for the race and took a risk."

The Sophomores finished second by one point! Great job guys!

The final race of the day was the Freshman. Leading the way for the Spartans and finishing 5th overall with a great time of 18:56 was Steve Placht. Also earning a medal and finishing 21st was Blake Waters.

"The race played out pretty well. I'm learning how to pace myself and actually have some left in the end for a sprint. I'm proud of the team for how we did."

Also scoring for the Freshman was Matt Barkofske, Ben Gliedt, and Brett Pawlak.

Great day for the Spartans once again. Next Saturday is the big one, Conference.

From McNair
Alex Potter
MTBL