Let me begin with a story of a pre-Milk Table April Fool’s Day. Two years year on this day, Coach Traughber sent us out for our run. The run was a Chasselle. Connor was up front in his own group, then Boyle also in his own group, and I was in the 3rd group with at-the-time-juniors. When we got to Olive we meet up with Coach and he asked if we had seen Boyle. We said no and guessed that he had probably stopped to go to the bathroom. When we returned to DeSmet Zach was already back. Coach asked where the heck he was because he didn’t see him on the run. Zach said he ran a Laduemont. He claims that he didn’t see where Connor went and assumed the run was a Laduemont because he wasn’t listening earlier. It ended up being quite the accidental April Fool’s joke.
Snap back to today. We wanted to top Boyle’s accident. And coach gave us the perfect opportunity. He told us that we had to wait for him to get back from dropping off the water before we could start the warm-up. So, we decided to hide. Oh and Scherping hadn’t made it to practice yet so wasn’t in on this. We went to the “balcony” outside the theater door looking over the track. Peaking over the rail we saw T-bone pull into the parking lot. When he got to the side of the track, all together we jumped up and yelled “April Fools!” It was awesomely hilarious. We totally had him.
The only thing better than getting coach was also getting Scherping. During the warm-up he recounted what happened to him. He came out to the track late and didn’t see anyone. He checked the locker room. Nobody. So he went up to 204 where we were going to have a goals meeting and didn’t see anyone. He then had the brilliant idea that we might be starting from AC Land (we haven’t used it to start practice for years). Then, he went and did it all over again and again found no one. Lucky he found Coach who told him want happened and he meet up with us in 204 for the goals meeting.
We began the goals meeting by turning all the desks around. After attendance we turned the desks back to the front and got serious. It was time for everyone to write down their goals for the season and post them in their locker. We have written down what we want to accomplish. Now, it’s time to work to make those goals a reality.
Everyone had one of three runs today: Conway-Mason, Laduemont, or loops at Conway Park. Matt, Jacob, and I rejoined the top group for our first road run in awhile. The run was money! Literally, Jacob found $5 dollars in the ditch. We played some 20ish questions and had a blast. Austin and I broke off at Laudemont. I shared the beginnings of my running career and some team history with him. You know how much I love telling stories, and if Austin found it boring, he never showed it.
Upon arriving back at DeSmet we were overjoyed to find the YMCA had been closed. The team gathered at the circle on the turf for core and stretching. It has been a long time since we have been able to do that. It was cool. Of course, we played telephone. This probably was the best practice of the year. So much fun.
Quote of the Day: “The T-bone is on the grill.”- Nick Martini. He came up with this phrase as our code for Coach Traughber arriving at DeSmet when we were in the middle of our April Fool’s joke.
Joke of the Day: Right after we finished core. “You guys have been lollygagging all day. Let’s go- plank position. UP!” [5 second pause] “April Fools!”- Coach Traughber getting us back.
Best Dressed: Matt O’Connor takes the first Best Dressed after a long lapse. He had the red Summer Training shirt matched with red striped shorts. For the run, he went Sun’s Out Guns Out and the always cool flag shorts.
Friday, April 1, 2011
Thursday, March 31, 2011
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.
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.
Tuesday, March 29, 2011
Pronouns
The other day Alex broke the longest post draught the Milk Table has ever had during a season. Granted it was spring break and there were only a few practices and a handful of guys were out traveling. Guys were (hopefully) running on the ocean, in the Ozarks, and everywhere in between. It was a wonderful time to relax and hangout. But now it’s time to get back into the normal routine which includes blog posts.
Yesterday, we appreciated our seniors who didn’t have school but were still at practice. The team had a hills-track combination workout to build strength and speed. An all-around solid effort; it seemed like everyone to care of themselves of break.
Once again we had some not-so-spring-like weather. It was the long run for the week so guys were out on the Ladue Loops. I didn’t hear what happened out there so I guess no news is good news. Remember if you ever have anything you want to be included in a post just talk to me or shoot an email- milktable@gmail.com or kabernathy@desmet.org
Little OC, Jacob, and I did our run on the track today. We had a nice run topped off with some indoor cardio work. The topic of the run was ACT test strategies. Matt’s girlfriend asked me to tutor Matt. He wasn’t so thrilled- running and tutoring isn’t an exciting combination. But it actually went really well. Jacob and I told Matt what worked best for us and just talked about the different tests, mainly science which can be a tricky one.
There is a lot of excitement and hype for the upcoming MCC Relays meet this Thursday. Check back for complete details of the meet. The distance squad will be running freshmen-sophomore 4x800, varsity 4x800, DMR (Distance Medley Relay- 1200, 800, 400, 1600), and 4xMile teams.
Quote of the Day: “You could get five milks for that much.” “Just take one. They are all exactly the same.”- Coach giving trouble to kids buying (or not buying in the first case) chocolate milk.
Joke of the Day: “You can only use pronouns today- no nouns.”- kabes during skips. If only we could have pulled it off. “he” “it” “you” “that” were all used some many times in a matter of like 5 minutes. Coach didn’t understand what we were doing. He read off everyone’s name for attendance. He should have said: “He. He. He. He….”
Be sure to check out Alex’s post on the Wash U meet.
Yesterday, we appreciated our seniors who didn’t have school but were still at practice. The team had a hills-track combination workout to build strength and speed. An all-around solid effort; it seemed like everyone to care of themselves of break.
Once again we had some not-so-spring-like weather. It was the long run for the week so guys were out on the Ladue Loops. I didn’t hear what happened out there so I guess no news is good news. Remember if you ever have anything you want to be included in a post just talk to me or shoot an email- milktable@gmail.com or kabernathy@desmet.org
Little OC, Jacob, and I did our run on the track today. We had a nice run topped off with some indoor cardio work. The topic of the run was ACT test strategies. Matt’s girlfriend asked me to tutor Matt. He wasn’t so thrilled- running and tutoring isn’t an exciting combination. But it actually went really well. Jacob and I told Matt what worked best for us and just talked about the different tests, mainly science which can be a tricky one.
There is a lot of excitement and hype for the upcoming MCC Relays meet this Thursday. Check back for complete details of the meet. The distance squad will be running freshmen-sophomore 4x800, varsity 4x800, DMR (Distance Medley Relay- 1200, 800, 400, 1600), and 4xMile teams.
Quote of the Day: “You could get five milks for that much.” “Just take one. They are all exactly the same.”- Coach giving trouble to kids buying (or not buying in the first case) chocolate milk.
Joke of the Day: “You can only use pronouns today- no nouns.”- kabes during skips. If only we could have pulled it off. “he” “it” “you” “that” were all used some many times in a matter of like 5 minutes. Coach didn’t understand what we were doing. He read off everyone’s name for attendance. He should have said: “He. He. He. He….”
Be sure to check out Alex’s post on the Wash U meet.
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