Forest Park

Forest Park

Yesterday was the largest meet of the year, over 3,000 runners. De Smet ran a JV and Freshman team. I was taking the ACT, so Jack Husmann helped me out writing this.

Today De Smet competed in the Forest Park Cross Country Festival, one of the biggest meets of the year. Despite the muddy conditions, everyone ran well. The JV team ran first, placing 4th< out of 25 teams. The top 7 all finished within 20 seconds of each other, proving running in packs works. Leading the way for the JV was Michael Callahan, with a time of 19:05 and earning a medal. Also finishing in the top 7 and qualifying for the bus trip to Rim Rock Farm were Josh Goetz, Pat Callahan, Brian Scherping, Collin Vieth<, Seamus Hamilton, and Collin Sullivan. Collin talked about racing differently knowing he had to get that 7th spot.

"I wanted to slow down near the end, but I knew I was 8th on the team. I
could see number 7, so I kept pushing and eventually was able to catch him."

Not finishing in the top 7, but setting a new Personal Record of 20:00 on a very muddy course was Glen McGann.

"Getting a PR is a great feeling. It shows that you tried your best and are improving"

Glen is always one of the hardest working guys out there, no doubt this won't be the last PR he sets this season.

Running in his first 5k ever was junior James Lovinggood. James has worked very hard since coming out during camp.

"It was a little muddy, but I was happy with my first 5k and my time of 21:59. The team ran very well, and running with runners such as Nick Hapak and Justin Brock helped me to keep my pace."

The freshman team were able to finish a strong 3rd out of 23 teams. Steve Placht led the way finishing in 14th place. Patrick Burns and Blake Waters both were in the top 25. Matt Barkofske and Mike Del Castillo also scored for the freshman. Today's race proved that everyone is capable of competing in any condition.

Next up is Parkway Central. Pictures from Forest Park will be added to the Facebook page when they are available.

From Forest Park
Alex Potter
M.T.B.L.

Smile!

It was the 3rd most important day of the season: Picture day. Everyone brought their uniforms and smiles, and we looked great.

After that chaos, the Freshmen and JV left for a mailbox in preparation for the big Forest Park Meet tomorrow. The top 7 went off for a Greaser since they will not be racing at Forest Park due to the ACT. It was a pleasant run in some of the coolest weather we’ve had all year.

The light day allows me to get to some other stuff not relating to today. First the Milk Table is really expanding. We’ve picked up our first parental follower, Mr. Seiler! Also, we’ve heard that more parents are reading. As well as parents, we now have teachers taking a liking to the blog. Compliments from MC and Mr. Musso has even favorited us. We really appreciate everybody who reads and enjoys, so thank you.

Also, the Milk Table now has an email address: milktable@gmail.com. It's main purpose is to be means for people to send us photos to post, but it can used for anything. Send us comments or concerns if you'd like. You could even send us something you would like posted. Or you could even send a contribution like Madey did earlier this week. For those of you who don't know you can now find us on Facebook as well. Just search Milk Table.

Lastly, Coach has asked me to put this up. It’s what he calls the “Buy-In.” In regular terms it’s our Suggested Time Management Plan. It’s called the “Buy-In” because buying in to this plan is a key to having success. It’s set up for the Varsity since it includes morning practices, but it can work for all of us. And it's especially important as we are getting further along in the season.

Suggested Time Management Plan:
6:25 am | Arrive at De Smet

6:30 am – 7:30 am | Morning Practice

8:00 am – 2:50 pm | School (activity period snack in my room is permitted)

3:10 – 5:15 pm | Afternoon practice

5:15 – 6:00 pm | Gather your things and go home (eat a snack/chocolate milk/gatorade)

6:00 – 7:00 pm | Dinner/Free time

7:00 – 10:00 pm | Homework/Free time

10:00 pm (at the latest) | Bed Time

FOCUS + TIME MANAGEMENT + SACRIFICE = REST

REST IS A CRITICAL ASPECT OF TRAINING

Quote of the Day: “I’ve never run a 5k.”- Jimmy Reed when we were talking about PRs during stretching.

Joke of the Day: “They had my history book so they were definitely in 7th grade.”- Martini commenting on a group of girls we passed. It played off the History book for Mohan’s class which we had talked about yesterday.

Best Dressed: Seiler wins again on Mass day. On picture day everyone is in uniform so how can one win best dressed? By separating themselves in the one area they can: socks! And that’s exactly what Jacob did. The Flame Socks and all their glory showed up for the team picture. Thanks to MC who pointed all this out.

How much longer?

Forest Park

This week, the De Smet cross country Spartans will be competing in the annual Forest Park Cross Country Festival. For those who are new to the program, this race is the largest we will be at all year, including State. The teams from all over the Midwest make the trip. Unfortunately MSHSAA and the ACT are not run by the same people, so many seniors will not be available on Saturday. That being said, De Smet will not be racing a team in the varsity event. I will not be at the race, but there WILL be post race coverage.

This week, I interviewed junior Adam Morgenthaler, sophomore Jimmy Reed, and freshman Jordan Bender. Senior Brian Scherping, as expected, did not get back to me, but we'll let it slide because he was at morning practice on time.

Saturday will be the third time Adam races the festival, so I asked him about the similarities to State.

"Both meets are huge. Forest Park and State are my two favorite meets to be at because I really get involved in cheering on the team."

Adam went on to explain the difference in the huge amount of teams compared to the other meets:

"For me it is easier to run with a large amount of runners because as I pass people my confidence goes up. On the down side it is very important to get out quickly so you don't get boxed in."

Sophmore Jimmy Reed ran his first ever cross country race last week at Fenton, which happened to be on the varsity squad. He is very pleased with his first race.

"I did better than I expected. I really gave it 100%. If we don't give 100% every time we run, we will regret it later."

With De Smet not running a varsity team Saturday, Jimmy knows this is a great chance for the JV team to represent De Smet well.

"JV is all about running to your full potential. Practicing as hard as we can, making good decisions, and racing 100% is what everyone tries to do."

With most of the seniors beings gone, it will be up to Jimmy, Matt O'C, Nick Martini, and John Waller to lead the team, even though they are not running.

"I think just being there means something. As a freshman, I never wanted to go watch meets. But I thought it was really cool when people stayed who weren't running to watch me"

As many people know, the top 7 times from Saturday will earn the chance to take a van trip to Rim Rock Farm, a cross country course owned by University of Kansas. Adam talked about what it would mean to get the invite, and Jimmy talked about how excited he is after clinching a spot last week with his epic Fenton race.

"Rim Rock was my main goal in the beginning. It excites me to think about a team trip. I think it would bring the team together, and I am excited to go." -Jimmy Reed
"If I could go back and run at least under 19 minutes that would be the best feeling in the world."- Adam Morgenthaler

Jordan Bender and I have something in common, we have historic last names. There is a wizard with books and movies named Potter, and Jordan is Blake's brother. I asked Jordan if he learned anything about the sport having his brother in the program for three seasons.

"If there is one thing I learned it is that running is just as much a team sport as any other. People cheering others on during races encourages them to push themselves harder than they ever imagined."

Jordan talked about what the best part about cross country has been so far and what he is looking forward to on Saturday.

"Cross country has introduced me to new friends and taught me to push myself harder than I knew I could. I have no idea what to expect, it's going to be crazy and I can't wait to get out there and race."

Will Jordan take on the role of the Enforcer?

"You'll have to wait until Saturday to find out."

Special thanks to Adam, Jimmy, and Jordan for answering some questions. Good luck to all running. The title comes from last year at Forest Park, I was trying to ask Coach Russo how much longer I had to run in the middle of the race, a story he told at the banquet last season.

From Forest Park
Alex Potter
M.T.B.L.

The Hurricane That Wasn’t
Pre-Meet coverage is great, but some people still want to know what happened at practice today. If that sounds right then this part of the post is for you.

After a late start due to the college fair, we were prepared for the worst—believing that at any moment the sky was going to up and we’d get soaked. As we said in the locker room before going out, a hurricane was coming. In what could be called a miracle, it never happened. According to Cwill there was some kind of super bubble holding it back. Regardless, we stayed dry and had some awesome running weather.

The JV and Freshmen headed to Runnymede for some 5k pace stuff, and the top 7 had the all-important State Simulator Part One today. The Simulator went really well. We even added an extra at one point-Wiggles, a random dog that joined us for the hills part. T-bone and Rob then joined us for a fun cool-down.

Quote of the Day: “I’m an expert at cumulative things.”- Coach Traughber talking about his homeroom winning Freshmen Olympics last year. It also has to do with his always long-term planning for the team.

Joke of the Day: “So anyways…”- Coach Stack right after Matt said something about when they became friends.

Best Dressed: You know someone had an impressive performance when matching throw-back jersey for the Simulator don’t win. That someone was D-bow. For whatever reason he was feeling awful Spanish today. He wore his David Villa Spanish National Soccer Team jersey which alone is really cool. But, it was made way better by being teamed up with the matching shorts and socks. Downright awesome.

kabes

Recon: Operation Laduemont

Everybody headed West on Ladue for an AE run today. Up front, the six of us had a great run. We decided to turn on to Laduemont and then did some side-streets to hit our 45 minutes. It was cool as we had never done that before. Some of us were excited to run through sprinklers, but they turned off right before they made it to them. Fortunately, some other sprinklers turned on right afterwards.

Due to the soccer games, we did flying 40s around football practice. As we jogged, there was some excellent comradely between the two teams. We overlooked their massive pads, and they overlooked our tiny shorts.

All of the guys running at Forest Park this weekend finished up practice by filling out their goal sheet for the meet.

DON’T FORGET! Bring your UNIFORM to practice TOMORROW. Put it in your bag NOW.

The Varsity decided on the team's Daily Goals today. Click the picture below to check them out.
The Milk Table would like to give a shout-out and congratulations to Liz who is having a surprise baby shower tonight. We are all so excited! Also, we are deeply sorry for not saying anything about your last comment. Please comment again; we like it.

Quote of the Day: “Put some pants on!”- Unknown kid in the Emerson Lobby to Matt as we came inside for a bathroom stop before starting the run.

Joke of the Day: “Matt quit messing up our data!”- kabes to Matt OC when he was running ahead on the warm-up. A few of us are trying to gather data on the ratio between intensity of insult and distance Matt runs ahead.

Best Dressed: We had quite the couple today: M. O’Connor & J. Potter. They were dressed like 5 year old twins, exactly the same. They both had their blue Christpower shirts with matching blue shorts. It was funny yet impressive.

Title: We considered our run on the Laduemont side-streets to be a reconnaissance mission.

Stack Attack

Well boys, it’s finally happened. That’s right JC, the Bulldog, Madey is in charge today.

A lot happened today, but the most important was the fact the Ethan Stack (2010 graduate) made his coaching debut today, cheering the boys on while we worked. He encouraged us by telling us that this “was an easy workout”. Somehow, it actually worked. Good thing you’re back Stack, your leadership and coaching will undoubtedly make a difference in every runner.

Congratulations to the Runners of the Week for Week One. Martini pulled a solid varsity race (his first career varsity race) to earn the varsity honors. Joshua Pribe and Patrick Foglamesh Callahan pulled in superb performances for the JV team at the Nike Kickoff to earn JV honors. Last but certainly not least, Del Castio earned the Freshman Runner of the Week honors. Congrats to all that won. Everyone keep working to earn these honors and the FREE chocolate milk. Click here for more details on the winners.

As for the workout today, the team ran a variety of distances on the 800m loop at Des Pres. The top groups had a ferocious 1 mile, 2 800’s, 4 400’s, and 2 200’s. The JV squad and freshmen also has similar workouts. Everyone went to town on this workout, as group after group hit their splits. Even coach Rob had only good things to say about today’s workout. Some of the runners headed straight home from the park, but others headed back to De Smet for well deserved chocolate milk after such a tough workout.

A special shout out to Alex Potter, as he ran very well today in his first workout in long time. It seems as though he is getting back into shape, and is looking to make a solid return to the varsity squad asap.

Also, remember to wash your uniforms (hopefully you already have) and prepare to bring them on THURSDAY. Coach wants us to have them a day early for pictures on Friday, so don’t mess up this simple task.

Great job to everyone on the workout today. I saw nothing but positive and upbeat attitudes. Keep up the hard work; it all pays off in the end.
—The Bulldog—

We took the Summer Training Shirt Picture. If you think the shirt is awesome then put in those miles this winter and get one. Not pictured: Hussmann.

Quote of the Day: “Had to bash some heads and crack some skulls”- Hussmann after coach asked him how the workout went. Jack took on a coaching role today because of his boot. He had a clipboard and a group so you know it was official.

Best Dressed: Steve. In the first practice after his birthday, it was his day when it came to looking good. He matched his shirt and shorts like a seasoned veteran. What made it even better that it was a unique shade of blue. The Saucony shirt and gray shorts with matching stripe showed that Steve meant business on workout day. Nice job Steve and Happy Birthday.
—kabes—

Sunday Conversation- On Monday

This week's Sunday Conversation features the newest member of the staff, Ethan Stack.

AP- What exactly happend to the foot?
ES- My foot started to hurt, and I didn't think anything of it. I thought it was just in my big jump of miles in the summer to get ready for the college season. The pain is right under the knuckle, but the stress fracture is in the mid foot.

AP- What would you say to Jack since you are two weeks into the recovering process?
ES- "The first thing I would say is to not freak out. The focus is now on the spring. It won't be a hard transition back into running if you don't get too far down, and concentrate on rehab and staying in some kind of shape. Keep up ice baths, cut down unneeded walking.

AP- Who will you be working with?
ES- I will be working with more of the older guys especially on workout days.

AP- Is there anyone specific you think you can rub some knowledge off to?
ES- I think my knowledge will most help Jack Husmann, Matt O'Connor, Jacob Seiler, and the pack of sophomores. I can help them with how to prepare. There were plenty of things that I did wrong, that I corrected in track (Stack Shuffle).

AP- What have you missed the most being away the last month?
ES- The atmosphere Coach Traughber has created. People know how to have fun, but take it seriously when it is time to work hard. Practice was always the best part of my day. The meetings also helped us get ready for races.

AP- What are you most excited about?
ES- I am most excited about being back in a growing program. I wanted to win so bad, then there was SLUH. To be looked up to is a great feeling.

AP- Kobe or LeBron?
ES- Kobe, he just wants to win. LeBron is too full of himself.

See you tomorrow.