Depth

Just playing around with some of the numbers and results. While it wasn't a banner day for Marist cross country at Lehigh, there were plenty of positive signs. This team has a lot of depth.

Disclaimers:
1. I am factoring Vess' excellent debut race (albeit unattached) in these listings because he is on the team and a big part of what we do now and in the future, regardless of his redshirt status or not for fall 08, which is yet to be determined.
2. I know Paul Short is a fast track and an 8km PR factory, but you still gotta run it.

Having said that: Here are some of the numbers for you to illustrate our depth:

If you take our second 5 runners (runners 6-10), here is what you get:
Matt Flint 25:43
Tim Keegan 25:47
Nick Webster 25:52
Conor Shelley 26:01
Curtis Jensen 26:03
Comment: Average of 25:53.2. A pretty damn good team any year for us.

If you include Vess and Will in our varsity based on their times, here is what you get (for runners 1-5):
Girma Segni 24:27
David Raucci 25:12
Joe McElhoney 25:14
Adam Vess 25:15
Will Griffin 25:23
Comment: A spread of less than 1:00, and a top-5 average time of 25:06.2. Pretty darn good again.

If you simply pull out our freshmen and make them a "team," here is what you get:
Will Griffin 25:23
Matt Flint 25:43
Curtis Jensen 26:03
Tom Lipari 26:28
Brian Townsend 26:36
Comment: This averages to 26:00.6 per man, and would have placed you in front of 12 teams in the varsity race, including three MAAC schools.

I'm proud of these numbers and this depth. While our focus remains squarely on the upcoming month-and-a-half, as a longtime coach I'm always looking ahead and planning.

And as noted optimist Hopkins pointed out to me last week: The future looks bright.