This post-race analysis will not be as numbers-oriented as the women's analysis. This is because, the last time we ran this meet, it was on a vastly different course -- the traditional VCP course with a slightly different starting loop. And last year, the VCP course was radically different as well.
I would like to publicly commend the Iona College Cross Country staff for an excellent, well-run meet. They put together a great course considering the relative disarray of the park. The 5-mile course seemed true and accurate -- still a little harder than the "original" in that the hills were so condensed, but not too slow or too fast. Just right for an early-season meet. Nicely done.
Now, those that encountered me after the meet found me to be in a less-than-pleasant mood. Yes, I know we were not running several potential varsity runners. Yes, I know we have been working as hard as any Marist xc team in any time in recent memory. Yes, I know how you race on Sept. 18 has little or no bearing on the meets that matter in October and November.
But, the competitive part of me just flat out does not like finishing 15th out of 19 teams. No matter the circumstances. Ever. It just isn't fun, enjoyable or representative of what we are about.
OK. Having said that, and having looked at the numbers, what they reveal are that many guys ran decent, OK for being flat or actually somewhat well. A few guys just flat out had bad days. Put that all together, and you get what you get.
Here is a quick breakdown of each runner's race, in my opinion.
Ken Walshak 26:25.28: Fantastic debut over 5 miles and solid lead runner on this day. Can be better but for now we'll take it.
Tom Lipari 26:37.20: Not indicative of your fitness level, but you have never trained this hard. Solid effort.
Nick Webster 26:47.22: Ditto Tommy. Just a little flatter. You have confidence that October will be MUCH better. I share that confidence.
Pat Duggan 26:57.98: Above average effort on flat legs. I like the direction you are going.
Zak Smetana 27:08.38: Major bounce-back effort, and great building block for rest of season.
Nick Hughes 27:12.90: Not great at all. You thought you went out too fast. That's probably true. Honest freshman mistake. Let this be your one clunker effort at this distance.
Billy Posch 27:26.92: Terrible considering your superior fitness level. Think less, race more. You will do MUCH better with that strategy.
Joel Moss 27:37.75: Solid effort by you! While I believe you can go faster, this was good stuff.
Mike Nicoletti 27:38.04: So-so, but not terrible after a week of being sick.
Tim Keegan 28:37.57: The equivalent of a DNF. I believe your issues were a one-shot deal, but we will have to monitor it and try some things out.
Wild numbers coincidence: Walshak texted me a few minutes ago that today's top-5 finishers were almost exactly 10 seconds apart from man-to-man. Pretty interesting. My theory going in was that we as a team would work together in packs. It didn't quite work out that way visually. But in the end, it sort of did.
Lastly, for those keeping score at home: Fall Ball game was a crisply played 4-3 loss for the Hyde Park boys. Strong defense and pitching on both sides. An over-the-fence HR in the fourth was the deciding run. Good stuff. And not too cold for this wimpy old man.
Thanks for reading, and see you all soon.
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