Speed Suits

On the first day of the MLB season, the DeSmet Spartans made the short trip to CBC for our first big meet of the season- MCC Relays.

First on the slate was the 4x1600 relay. Running the opening leg, in his first varsity race, was Austin. His 4 laps was the performance of the day. He ran an extremely impressive time of 4:44. He got out fast and hung on, sticking with the SLUH guy for the first couple laps. DeSmet hasn’t seen a freshman run that fast in a long time. The rest of the season and beyond look enormously bright for our stud freshman, Austin. Running the remaining three legs were Goetz, Martini, and Waller. The guys took 2nd.

Next up for the distance squad was the Freshman-Sophomore 4x800. The was made up of J. Potter, M. Callahan, McGann, and Hilmore. They also finished in 2nd. Then came the Varsity 4x800 with O’Connor, Seiler, Martini, and Waller. They ran well under nine minutes for 2nd place. Waller did a nice job as the anchor in both races.

After that was the highly anticipated DMR. The team, made up of all soccer players—Abernathy (1 year), Potter (2), Struttman (4), and Scherping (3)—was hoping to take a run at the school DMR record of 10:58.6. Abernathy lead off running the 1200 and passed the baton (the back one with the dent!) to Potter for the 800. Struttman took it for one lap before giving it Scherping. DeSmet lead for the first 8 laps in the 10 lap race. Scherping held off the top runner in the area, Rackers, for the first two laps of his mile. He was passed but the race was not over. Brian made a big move over the last 100, but it wasn’t enough. DeSmet finish in 2nd by about a second, running 11:04. We didn’t win or get the record which was a little disappointing. But we ran a good race. Scherping went under 4:40 and Strutt was under 55.Yes, we were in the speed suits. Hopefully that never happens again.

In an encore performance for the distance squad, Matt O’Connor was tossed into the final race of the meet, the 4x400, for Potter who wasn’t feeling very good after his 800. Matt has demonstrated some speed running a couple good 800s last year and doing well in the all out 400 XC workout. Getting the baton in first as the third leg, Matt ran a great, fast lap: a 55 which held the lead. This helped the DeSmet 4x4 team win the race and set a new MCC Relays meet record. The Milk Table had to document these two guys in the speed suits as its probably the only time it will ever happen. And Matt said after the race that he wasn't planning on giving it back.


In the final standings of the meet, DeSmet finished in a close second to SLUH. It wasn’t the desired the result, but you can’t get down about. We move on from here and get better. And then we’ll get them at the big conference meet. It was the first time we’ve had the whole team together for a meet this year and it was just a lot of fun.

A thanks to everyone that came to the meet to support us. Especially Liz and Hannah, and MT Hall of Famer, OC.

Quote of the Day: “I’m so happy.”- Austin between gasps for air after his terrific race.

Joke of the Day: “Matt, you know this means that you can’t run 2:10s anymore.”- Coach Russo talking about the 800 after Matt’s great 400.

If anyone has any action photos of the meet, we'd love to put them up. Email them to us at milktable@gmail.com.