Fleet Feet Kickoff 2012

       On Wednesday, DeSmet made a good showing at the Nike Fleet Feet Cross Country Kickoff at Parkway Central with the JV and Varsity teams both winning the team titles. The JV team lead by Patrick Callahan (race winner and JV course record holder now) didn't have much of a problem fending off 2nd place by 15 points. The Varsity had a bit more trouble, though. Fox High School and DeSmet tied, both with 50 points, so it went to the tie breaker: the sixth man. Who would be up for the task? Blake Waters AND Matt Barkofske were up to the challenge. Both juniors beat the opponent's sixth runner, securing the victory. Collin Sullivan and I both cracked the top ten finishers, and M Callahan, Glen McGann, and sophomore Nick Dolan (in his first varsity XC race) rounded up the top 5 on the team. We made that one interesting and luckily came out on top, but we can't be satisfied.

Nike Cross Country Kickoff

       This morning, the varsity team had practice at 6:30 a.m. before school. The plan was to get the workout in before school, so we would not have weather complications afterwards from Hurricane Isaac. We all arrived at Conway Park knowing the workout: 3 mile tempo, 2 minute rest, 2 mile tempo. Usually, we would have 3 minutes rest after the 3 mile tempo, and we were all wondering why it was shorter rest, but when Michael Callahan asked Coach Traughber, he responded with, "Because we want to get better." That is a what we need to do. Wednesday was a solid start to the season, but if we want to achieve the goals we set for ourselves, we need to get better!

       After the early out at school today, the coaches gathered the team in the wrestling room to go over the plan for Labor Day Weekend. There will be no formal practices for the next three days, but you are encouraged to run with your friends! Everyone was emailed a spreadsheet with each individual's schedule for this weekend. Remember to plan around Isaac's rain. 

       After the meeting was finished, everyone who ran this morning hit the weights, and the other runners got ready for tempos on the track!

       Thank you to sophomore Jake Fouts for enlightening me on the track workout. Everyone either ran a 2 by 2, 3 by 1, or 2 by 1 tempo on the damp track as it was raining on and off all day. They endured the chance of a storm breaking out at any second to get the workout in. Way to go, guys!

                               Thank you for reading, have a great Labor Day!

Tomorrow is the Day

       The big day is almost upon us, my friends. We are less than 24 hours from finishing our first cross country race of the 2012 season. The location of this event, you ask? Parkway Central High School. The time? 5:00 p.m. The plan? Dominate. The Nike Cross Country Kickoff, which we will be running tomorrow, is a 2-mile race instead of the typical 5k for the first meet of the season, and the more support we have, the better!

       Today, the team circled up on the track (a very large circle) while Coach Traughber and the rest of the coaching staff laid out what the plan looked like for tomorrow, and unfortunately, informed us that we would not be practicing on the course at Central today. After they finished, everyone ran through the race day procedure with his training group on the track (warm up, stretches, etc.) minus the race part. The soccer team had a lot of pressure with the whole cross country team running circles around their practice the whole time, but they provided nice entertainment for us during our laps.

       During the cool down, different groups were running in opposite directions around the track, so we exchanged high fives as we passed. The enthusiasm in the high fives looks like our team spirit will be through the roof this year, but I have learned from some alums that this is a "no fun team," so we can't have too much fun along with the team spirit (not really). Then after our stretching in the cross country corner, we were devastated by the news that the milk machine was empty. Luckily, coach was prepared and had some throwback chocolate milk cartons for 25 cents, just like the old days.
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       Again, we have a meet at Parkway Central tomorrow, August 29th. JV and Freshmen run together at 5:00 p.m., and Varsity runs after them at 6:00 p.m.
       Runners, remember to bring spikes, uniform, warm ups, and snacks, just like coach said, and let's have a good start to the season!
     Here is a quote you have probably heard sometime throughout your DeSmet cross country experience so far. Hopefully it helps everyone run a bit faster tomorrow, good luck!

"To give anything less than your best is to sacrifice the gift." - Steve Prefontaine

On a side note, you can like the Milk Table Facebook page if you have not already to get updates whenever the blog is updated.

                      My work is finished for today, thank you and farewell.