Catching Up With Coach Rob

Boys I am excited to announce that I have conducted an exclusive interview with Rob Garwitz via Facebook chat. I hope you enjoy this as much as I did. Without further ado here you go...

Hows the job going at Nike and have you done any traveling lately? Whats the new hip Nike product?
The job is going well! March is busy season with Track & Field beginning and the weather getting warmer, so yes I have been on the road a bunch! My travel destinations include: Portland, Chicago, Lansing, Detroit, Canton and Youngstown. Some places are more exciting than others.

And YES...there is always cool stuff coming down the pipeline. The new FLYKNIT shoes (Google it) for the Olympics will be coming out at the end of July. There is a lot of buzz around these shoes.

Hows the marathon training going and where are you expecting to run next?
Training is hardly training these days. Life and work have gotten the best of me the past month or so. I am averaging 35 miles a week or so and am hoping to up my mileage as the weather gets nicer.

Have you heard any news from Coach Leeman?
Coach Leeman and I have not spoken unfortunately. Get that man on Twitter!

Now that Mizzou choked who will you be rooting for in the tournament?

Sore subject, Waller. Since the Mizzou Meltdown, I have been avoiding the NCAA tournament altogether. Needless to say, I took the loss very hard. As far back as I can recall, I have never been more disappointed after a sports defeat. I still believe we were one of the most talented teams in the field of 68, but they call it March Madness for a reason. As far as who I am rooting for, hmm...anyone but KU.

Rumor has it (from Coach Tom) that you are dating Miss Morris. How is that working out for you?
Is that the rumor, huh? It is perhaps true. And it is, perhaps working out well for myself and "Miss Morris." But I am sure Danny and Jack already told you that. Speaking of those two, you better make sure those two are taken care of or I will come after you.

Will you be making a trip back to Saint Louis anytime soon and should be expecting a visit?
I have yet to book a flight, but I have thought about coming back to spend Easter with my family. Anyone up for a run?

There has been a lot of speculation of a Garwitz vs. Albes mile competition (Pacquiano vs. Maywether). Will this ever happen or is it just Twitter talk?
Last time I checked, I am 1-0 vs. Tom in head-to-head competition. Our camps have discussed a few potential showdowns this summer, but not race has been confirmed. I will take that scrub anytime, anywhere, any distance.

Oh, and for all the fellas that don't follow me on Twitter, holler @RealRobbyGee. Happy Running dudes!

Fun in the Sun

Yesterday was the first varsity track meet of the year, the Gateway Invitational at Washington University. There were a lot of good teams and talent there so the boys were pushed to run to bring their "a" game. Starting out in the 4 by 800 we finished fourth. I ran a 2:04-2:05 and was followed by solid legs by Matt, Potter, and a sprinter named Tristen Morgan finishing 8th out of 16 teams. In the mile Glenn and Plassmeyer both ran great races with big prs. Glenn came in at 4:47 and Plaz ran a 4:51. I was quite impressed.  The big news of the day Austin throwing down a big pr in the two mile with a 10:01 two mile finishing second behind Billy Leighton. It was pretty fun to watch.

In other news the 4 by 100 relay of "Sick" Nick Anderson, Duron "finna be hawkin" Neal, Kevonn "KV" Mabon, and Creig "Reverend" Durham broke the school record with a sizzling fast 43:10 second race. It was awesome to watch and we are all extremely proud of them. De Smet finished second overall in the meet behind our friends from SLUH and C.B.C. took third. This Thursday is the conference relay meet at Chaminade so it will be fun to run against them again.

Fun tidbits of knowledge:
-Coach Tom has been downgraded to questionable in his fantasy running status after breaking his wrist playing indoor soccer.
-MCs friend Emily showed me a picture of him in a dress that the entire distance team found quite hilarious
-I'm not sure about you but I got a nasty sunburn yesterday at the meet
-The De Smet track alumni made a strong showing at the meet as we were joined by Johnnel Williams, Alex Potter, and Ethan Stack. Its always great fun to catch up with them

First Meet Was Sweet

Hey guys its time for your spring break update. I've got a lot to talk about so I'll try to touch on some of the more important events that have occurred the last two weeks. The track team has been working hard at practice and last Friday was our first oppurtunity to showcase that week during our JV scrimmage with SLUH and CBC. In the mile Austin Del Rosso ran an easy 4:42 with Sully coming in at 4:51. In the two mile Glenn Mcgann finished first with a 10:36 and MC and Martini came in shortly behind him. Finally in the 8:00 I won with a 2:05 and Matt came in second with a 2:10. Matt ran a fast 400 meter relay split of 54 seconds also which I found quite impressive. All in all it was great day for the entire team and we had a lot of fun. In attendance was the man himself, Mr. Brain Scherping who came home from college for a short break and watched us run. Brain is beginning his track season at Missouri S&T. We wish him the best of luck.

Speaking of esteemed alumni, the following morning was pancake breakfast at coach's house for the guys that ran a lot over the winter. We were met by Kevin Abernathy who was home for spring break. Kevin ran on Grant's Trail with us and stayed after to eat pancakes and tell stories after the run. We had a lot of fun as pancake breakfast is always a good time and good for team bonding. Anyway yesterday Glenn, Austin, Coach Tom, and myself met for an informal long run in which we traversed the entire Westwood Country Club. I had never run their before so that was quite enjoyable.

On Saturday is our first varsity meet of the year at Washington University. The team is super excited to run against some good competition, at least I am. Anyway I'll make sure to update the blog after that meet to report on results and such. That's all for today. Enjoy your break and don't forget to run as always!

March Madness

I am pleased to announce that with the help of Coach Tom we will again be having a March Madness Bracket Challenge. This bracket is for bragging right and there is no money involved. If you have any sprinter friends that are sports fans they are more than welcome to sign up along with cross country and track alumni. It should be a good time. The brackets will be announced Sunday night and the first games will likely be on Thursday and Friday so make sure you have your brackets filled out by then because they will close when the first game starts. I will enjoy the competition as I try to defend my title from last year. The password is running and the group ID#er is 21828 to keep out riff-raff. Finally if you'd like you can make a funny bracket like Nick Martini did last year....With that said here is the link. Enjoy and may the best man win!

http://tournament.fantasysports.yahoo.com/

Lovin' The Loops

This week kicked off the first week of track practice. We started the week in the cafeteria with a goals meeting that included repeating this year at Conference, repeating the All Catholic meet, and trophy-ing for the first time ever at State. Coach Williams and Russo talked about how awesome are team could be this year if we compete and work hard. Hopefully all of our hard work will makes these goals a reality.

On Thursday the long distance guys competed in the first mile time trial of the year. Austin set the tone early by running a 4:42 mile and proving that all of his hard work during the winter was working. Team Junior turned out not to be deficient after all while posting some big PR's across the board. Breaking 5:00 in the mile for the first time ever were Sullivan, Glenn, MC, and Plassmeyer. Good work boys! Afterwards we took a walk around the school and then came back to run three miles at tempo pace. Yes, I'm still sore if you were wondering.

Today was our first long run of the year and we decided to run seven loops at Malcolm Terrace Park. Terrace is one of our favorite places to run and I have a lot of fond memories playing tag and other shenanigans at that park. Anyway, Matt showed up to practice sick today and by the end of practice today his face was looking paler than usual, which is quite pale. Poor Matt.

Other important stuff:
1). Tom will be creating an NCAA tournament game open to all De Smet runners and De Smet alumni. I will post a link to the game on the blog when he makes it. This will be the third year of the tournament with past winners Andrew O'Connor (2010) and myself (2011). 

2.) After practice on Thursday Matt and I helped Nick set up his classroom for the El Camino retreat in Coach Russo's room. We built a pretty awesome tent...just thought you should know.

And So It Begins

Hello, and welcome back one again all you Milk Table afficionados. Hopefully all of you are enjoying your winter. As February begins to wind down, track season begins to creep slowly closer with first day of practice only two weeks away. With winter training coming to a close I wanted to give our readers and update on our offseason training and look ahead to what you can expect from the 2012 De Smet Track and Field Spartans.

Team junior has put together a big offseason as they look to come into the track season in great shape. Leading the charge will be Michael Callahan, Glenn McGann, Collin Sullivan, Justin Potter, and Matt Beers. The juniors are out to prove that they can  succeed through hard work and dedication. All of these guys will be competing for the four varsity spots in the mile and two mile with Potter hopefully being able to also help out with the 800. In fantasy track news Michael Callahan's arm was broken while he was playing recreational basketball, and he has been listed as probable for first meet of the season.

On the sophomore level Double duty Del Roso has put together a huge offseason this winter. With his focus only on running this spring look for Austin to do some serous damage in the mile. I'm not sure he is ready to break Kevin's record yet but he's going to be pretty dang good if he can stay healthy. Also, Steven Plassmeyer has been running a lot and should compete with the juniors for a varsity spot.

On the senior level Nick, Matt, and I will be back as senior captains taking over where we left off in the fall. Matt's offseason running has been a mystery but he will contribute in the 400 and 800. Nick has been training with the juniors and hopes to compete in the two mile this year, which I believe he will. As for myself I've been battling tendinitis in my foot the last month which has slowed my training but I am back to almost 100%. Ive spent a lot of time in weight room while recovering and I hope to compete in the 800 this year.

Anyway, the sprinting squad this year will be absolutely stacked and will hopefully help us to repeat as conference championships and compete for a state championships. I won't bore you with the details but they will be lead by Tim Pickel, Durron Neal, Kevonn Mabon, MVD, Chris Moore, Justin Genova, and many others. Tim placed 8th last year at state in the 400, Neal placed 8th in the 200, and Kevonn will be joining us after sitting out the last two years. Keep your eye on Kevonn as he could win state in the 200, 400, and maybe even the 800 if healthy and motivated.  Like I said the sprinters are amazing this year and the jumpers and throwers will be solid as well. Thanks for reading and stay tuned for updates throughout the track season. Hopefully it will be a memorable one!

STATEBOUND

In case you live under a rock and didn't hear the news...we made it to state for the 17th straight year. We finished fourth in our district beating Parkway Central at districts by 8 points. Our district then swept the sectional with us finishing fourth again last Saturday. Stellar performances all around. Our super soph Austin "Triple Duty" DelRoso...yes he has a girlfriend now, broke 17 for the first time. I'm so proud of him. After the race we stopped at LaGrand's in South City for some delicious sub sandwiches.

Anyway, the state race is this Saturday at our state capital, Jefferson City at the Oak Hills Golf Center. The boys race at 12:05 so if you have any interest in attending we would love to see you there. There will be a bus leaving from De Smet Saturday morning for all De Smet kids and other aficionados that want to attend. The girls race is at 1:05 and then the awards ceremony will be at 1:30. My friend Claire Minnick is looking to go all-state in the girls race after top 5 finishes at districts and sectionals. She's pretty legit.

Check the facebook page because there is a lot of updated picture albums from conference, districts, and sectionals. Also, expect some pictures in the near future of our shaved heads and I have one from halloween at the Lewis and Clark statue of us in our halloween costumes. Good stuff. We will be breaking in the white jerseys this saturday so that will also be very exciting. That's all for now thanks for reading and G-O-S-P-A-R-T-A-N-S. Gooo Spartans! (*Kevin Abernathy)