Boneless Meet

Forest Park

On Saturday, the Cross Country Spartans headed to Forest Park down their fearless leader. After leaving school early on Friday, Coach Traughber and Liz welcomed their first child, Hannah Loraine Traughber about 15 minutes before the gun went off for the Varsity race. Congrats to Coach and Liz, we are all very excited!

Knowing that T Bone would be missing, only made the boys want to give it their all that much more. The first race of the day was the Varsity. Finishing 2nd overall and earning 1st team All Conference honors while setting a new PR for the third straight week was Senior Kevin Abernathy.

"It was awesome to put up a time in the low 16s. And then to do that in a big race like MCCs made it that much better. It's fun to get out there and run fast against our cross-town rivals. It felt great and rewarding, and the best is yet to come."

Down the Bulldog, the scoring pack kept it together racing very well. Junior Nick Martini was the second man for the first time this season.

"It was a lot like Rim Rock. We were all together for the entire race. As the leader got tired, someone else would step up and take over. It helps a lot to run with someone right next to you."

Nick, Junior Matt O'Connor, and Senior Jacob Seiler all scored for the Spartans, and earned 2nd team All Conferene honors. Junior John Waller and Senior Brian Scherping also earned medals.Josh Goetz running his first Varsity race was the all important 5th man.

"I was happy with the race and while there were some key things I could have done better, such as running at a more consistant pace, I think it was a solid showing for my first race and was glad I could help the team out."

Best part of the MCC Meet? No girls. Which means we were moving quick. Minutes after the Varsity was finished, the JV squad took the line.

Leading the way for the JV squad for the second time in three meets was Senior Seamus Hamilton. Seamus finished 8th overall.

"I think the race went great, I started out going at a speed I felt was barely tolerable, and by the first mile split I realized how fast I was going. Once I realized that and that I still felt like there was a lot left in me. I felt like keeping up with Riley (Konzen, SLUH Senior), so we fought for the rest of the race and I declared him my new rival"

Also placing for the JV squad was Michael Callahan, Mackenzie Smith, Glen McGann, and Jimmy Reed. Collin Sullivan, Dan Bowman, and Justin Potter also recieved medals.

The third and final race of the day was the freshman. Steve Placht finished 5th overall with a new PR of 18:21, and even more incredibly, texted me back for blog info!

"I was really nervous going in. One thing that helped cool myself down is telling myself to breathe, and run your race as best you can. I went out strong and tried to stay with SLUH's 2nd runner. I was with him for about 2 miles. In the final mile, he got ahead and 3 other SLUH guys passed me. I was upset they passed me, but I knew I did the best I possibly could. I'v never been that close to fainting"

Also earning medals for the freshman were Blake Waters, Matt Barkofske, Ben Gleidt, and Nick Trunko. I know there was a picture taken of these guys, so if someone that has a copy could email it to milktable@gnail.com I can add it to the post.

The boys represented De Smet well, finishing second in every race. As Kabes said above, the best is yet to come. Congrats again to Coach Traughber and Liz!

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

No T-bone, No Rules

Warning: The title was just a saying. It is not actually true.

Well, after being on high baby alert for awhile Coach Traughber got the a call and had to leave school early today. We wish the Traughbers: Coach, Liz, and Baby-T the best. You’re in our prayers.

Even without our fearless leader we pressed on. At the 210 goals meeting, Coach Williams took the helm and I took over writing the info on the whiteboard.

For practice it was the Greaser, Mosley, Mailbox routine. Abernathy, Seiler, little OC, and Martini were the Greaser guys. On our way there Jacob and I spontaneously created a new game that we then played for the entire rest of the run, stretching and even strides. We named it "See-Ya" and it was a ton of fun. They might be hard to understand, but here are the rules explained in words as best the can:

It is a game of naming things in the same category. One person stats by saying something, apple for instance. Then the next person says something else in that category, banana. So on and so forth. When a person repeats, misses the category, or takes too long they get a point. The goal is to have the least amount of points at the end. When someone gets it wrong everyone else yells, “See-ya!” The category is not said aloud, it gets established by the first 3 and then it’s up to whoever started the category to say if people miss. Easiest way to learn is to play with guys who know.

Quote of the Day: “SEE-YA!”- Abernathy and then everyone else when we were playing our new game that bears this name.
--kabes--

And now prerace coverage from Potter:

---

Forest Park

On Saturday, the Cross Country Spartans will participate in the annual MCC Conference Race. Normally, this race is at Chaminade, but this year SLUH will host the meet at Forest Park.

The big story heading into Saturday, is after four years of hard work, Senior Josh Goetz will be racing in the top 7 for the first time. He is excited to say the least.

"Getting to run in the top seven on Saturday is a reminder to me that hard work and “buying in” pays off."

Something has clicked in the last few weeks for Josh, that has helped him to make the jump.

"This year the big difference was the mental game. I had a hard time convincing myself that I was in control of the hard workouts my sophomore and junior year and as I result I wasn’t performing any better when race time came around."

Unfortunately, the IR squad will have a new member this week in John Madey. John has had some hamstring pain, and should be good to go for districts. Senior Brian Scherping will remain on Varsity in the 7 spot.

Another runner that has made a huge impact on the team recently is Freshman Ben Gleidt. Ben came out a little late, so it took him slightly longer to get adjusted.

"I decided to come out for cross country for a few reasons. I was told by several friends that they were having a lot of fun with it, and that I should join. Also, I was feeling out of shape and thought that it would be a good way to get fit again. With other sports that I am doing later on, I thought I should build my endurance to be better prepared for those sports. Finally it just sounded like fun to me."

Junior Michael Ahlheim has been a JV team leader for years now. Conference is an awesome meet, but it is possible to get a little too worked up about it.

"I try to keep the same mindset for every race. If you get too pumped up for a race you can lose your composure and you lose focus on the goals of running with your pack. It does however give me a little more reason to give a bigger push at the end if I can beat a couple SLUH runners in the last mile or so."

Sophmore Justin Potter will continue to set new PRs and hopefully score for the JV. He talked about how his season has progressed up to this point.

"My season has progressed pretty good. I started out a little behind last year's PR, but now I feel great about where I am. My goal for the year is to break 19 minutes."

The four runners also talked about what the Conference meet means to them.

"Conference definitely has some bragging rights involved that you won’t find in other meets, but it also crucial to use as preparation for the other 'post-season' meets." Josh Goetz

"To me, Conference is really just another race. I try not to get too worked up for one individual meet. I think that I do best when I just focus on my race and doing the best I can." Michael Ahlheim

"The conference is different because only some schools can run in it and people take it very seriously" Justin Potter

"I am not sure what to expect of conference because I have never been to one, but I expect it to be a fun and competitive race." Ben Gleidt

Good luck to all the runners running tomorrow. Represent De Smet well! Say a prayer for the Traughbers!

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

Highway Patrol

In preparation for MCCs on Saturday, the varsity squad headed to Forest Park to run the course. After soccer mom Scherping drove most of the team over in the Pondering Man Van, we meet at the tombstone only to realize that we were supposed to be on the other side of the oasis.

T-bone arrived and we headed to the course for the warm-up. It’s double-lined and really cool. Instead of running on one line, we get to run in-between two. Like a highway. Awesome! The UNLAB (flag shorts) had its first official meeting of the season. We were down America, but still had reps from Ireland (kabes), Canada (Potter), Germany (Seiler and Matt OC), and Great Britain (T-bone). The workout went well. It was 3 miles on the course at different paces for each. Just a great practice at Forest Park.

Quote of the Day: “How bout these shorts?”- Coach Traughber showing off his Great Britain shorts to the other MCC coaches who were at the park.

Joke of the Day: Just about anything Scherping said or did. The best might have been, “Will there be pizza?” in total seriousness after coach said we were having a meeting.

Best Dressed: Potter. He heard it was flag shorts day and he came running, literally. Alex got out his Canada shorts and got some work in with the rest of us in preparation for the upcoming Clayton meet. As Rob calls it, “The Potter Sendoff Meet.” Potter had to carry team Canada today since Scherping forgot his shorts. And he did just that, adding a red bandana to match the shorts. He topped it off with the Like a Boss shirt. Potter without a doubt had it going today and this was only the prep work.

T-Shirt Time

That’s right. The voting is over. A design has been made. All there is left to do now is order your Milk Table shirt. Order a shirt by sending an email to milktable@gmail.com with number of shirts and sizes. The price depends on the number of shirts so the more we order the cheaper it gets. It won’t be more than $10. Friday is the last day to place an order.Remember this is the first ever Milk Table shirt so it is a super collectable. You don’t want to look back on this day and say “Why didn’t I get one?” And if your reading this it means you like the Milk Table so show it off; GET A SHIRT!! They're for everyone.

For practice it was an easy AE run. We were back on the track for our normal mile warm-up for the first time in a few days. The top group, without ellipticizing Madey, went out for a Villa. It was a clam run except for a couple “exciting” moments on Conway. The highlights were seeing 2 Westminster girls 2 times, running past the “No Foot Traffic Sign,” and Matt getting some revenge in Spotter.

After practice, it was the start of Free Milk Week! Why is it Free Milk Week? Well, Coach Traughber received an anonymous letter early in the season: We tried and were unable to find the gracious donor. So whoever you are, Thank you very much! This is awesome!

Quote of the Day: “It was time for me to start growing out my cross country playoff beard.”- A beardless Rob on why he shaved it.

Joke of the Day: Scherping takes a couple milks out of the crate and someone asks what he is doing to which he says, “They’re for Rob.” All of us in the AD’s office cracked up.

Best Dressed: Once again in a fit of ecstasy after the success that was yesterday’s workout Kevin Abernathy dressed for success in his Barcelona Messi Jersey with matching shorts and blue hat making him the obvious standout for today. Younger runners should take note of his daily appearance. Viva Barcelona. Viva Kabes.
-Padre-

Monster Workout

There was an energy and excitement around the team yesterday that only comes after having a monster workout. A monster workout that everybody destroyed.

We headed back to Conway looking for some revenge. Last week, the first 5k workout was a bit of a struggle. This time it was 1200s added up to the same volume at a touch faster pace. With a new attitude and readiness, we took care of business today. A slight change in the course helped us put up fast times. The packs looked great as the guys stayed together and pushed each other through the workout. I even had a pack today with Rob running alongside.

The Morning Practice Club had a nice pre 7:00am 2 mile run. I got to call a little play-by-play of the run which was a lot of fun. We followed that with core, saving weights for after the workout. So after the cool down and stretching we went to the weight room for the highly anticipated Upper Body Circuit. 30 seconds at 10 stations with 30 seconds in between. Then do it all over again. We got huge, especially Matt who had to end on dips.

Coach announced the Runners of Week who all earned a free chocolate milk for their efforts. The winners: in the freshmen race, Jackson Lamping; in the sophomore race, Mackenzie Smith; in the JV race, Josh Goetz; in the Varsity, Matt O’Connor. With Coach Russo out, Coach Traughber took over the paragraph writing duties.

Quote of the Day: “Delicious!”- Michael Callahan in response to being asked how the workout was.

Best Dressed: Seiler. Sometimes it’s a factor outside of the team to earn a win. That’s what Jacob did the last two days. He had on the same shirt as a girl on the Westminster team both days. Yesterday it was the Saucony “We run XC” shirt, and today it was the 2010 Rim Rock shirt. It’s hard enough to coordinate with guys on our team, but he managed to do twice with another team.

Sunday Conversation

This week I interviewed a fan favorite, Ed O'Brien (2010)

AP: Where are you at these days and what are you studying?
ED O: I am at University Missour of Kansas City School of Medicine. I am studying medicine though I will have a B.L.A. degree

AP: How has the college expierence been treating you?
ED O: College is good, and it has probably been made easier that everyone in the program has become a close community

AP: Are you still running? I remember you bought several pairs of shoes at your last team day.
ED O: Yes, I am still running, and with a friend of mine we started our own Med School running club

AP: What do you miss most about the De Smet running program?
ED O: I miss working with the guys everyday and seeing how everyone improves. Not to mention our crazy conversations

AP:How does it feel to be looked at as a legend, especially with the self proclaimed "mega group"?
ED O: It feels good, but I know that I had the support of a lot of people who helped me to reach my potential

AP: Advise for guys as the season enters the home stretch?
ED O: Keep running hard, don't worry about the time, don't worry about the guys behind you, focus on the guys ahead of you and pick them off one by one

AP: Do you follow the results of the team at all?
ED O: Not as much as I would like to, especially now with tests every week and a none stop need to be prepared for docent team (hospital experience teams)

Thoughts for Baby Traughber's name?
ED O:Well I first need to know if the baby is a boy or a girl. I think Edward is a good name (just kidding) it depends on what Mrs. Traughber wants. William might work and if the baby is a girl Emily or Katherine, but it is really up to Mrs. Traughber.

AP: Kobe or LeBron?
ED O: LeBron