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BARRINGTON HIGH SCHOOL BOYS CROSS COUNTRY  September 26, 2011 More questions than answers after a week at Palatine This week we had two consecutive races at Palatine's Deer Grove East course. On Thursday, we faced the #8 team in the nation in a dual meet and followed up with the insanely stacked Palatine Invite on Saturday. In preparation for Saturday's race, Thursday, we worked on negative spliting and ran a conservative first 1.5 miles and tried to move up during the second half of the race. Conversely, Palatine's strategy was to burn the first mile the run controlled the last two. These divergent styles led to an ugly first mile as Palatine had 12 runners in front our pack at the mile. Our guys moved up nicely throughout the second half of the race and our front five finished with good speed as we lost to the host school 15-46 but got some much needed tactical practice. On a brighter note, led by Konrad Eiring and Adam Philliips, the frosh/soph group handed Palatine a rare underlevel loss. I will check with Coach Quick, but I believe Palatine has two frosh/shop losses in the last 10 years, both to us. We got them on our course in 2005 and again on Thursday. Its important to constantly measure our program against the best and for the last decade, Palatine has been the class of the MSL. We need to build on victories like this and strengthen our program in the years to come. On Saturday we ran the Palatine Invite in one of the toughest fields in history for this invite. The team placed 9th in a stacked field that included some of the best teams in the nation. Individually, Erik placed 4th in a race that was set up perfectly for his racing strategy. The front pack was 30 deep at the mile but as the race wore on, it was down to 5 runners with a half mile to go. Eventual champion Leland Later from New Trier put in a burst with 800 to go and Erik could not respond. I know our guys are experiencing heavy legs from the training and we are set up for our end of the year run. Just like at Peoria, I'm torn on trying to decide if we ran well or not. If I look at just our team, I'm happy with the results and with our progress as a group. Teamwise, we ran a faster team time that last year (a team that ended up 8th in the state). Individually, every single varsity runner improved from last year's time by at least 15 seconds with some improving by over a minute. Our individual and team progress has been great. When I look outside our team, I start to realize that, although we are running well, our Sectional is going to be stacked. This week's surprise was Prairie Ridge. They finished ahead of us at Palatine along with Lake Zurich and that puts us currently 6th in the sectional with an underrated Prospect team yet unmet. There are a lot of great teams in our Sectional and since only 5 qualify for State, I am convinced that 2 of the top teams in the state will not make it out. We need to work hard over these next few weeks to steel ourselves against the competition and prepare for the battle ahead. The real season is about to begin. For mor information, history, and analysis on the Palatine Invite: Chris Quick's take on the meet and some great analysis and perspective  September 18, 2011 Strong showing at Peoria Notre Dame Invite We made our annual trip down to Peoria Illinois for what we hope to be a dress rehearsal of a run on the state championship course. The team finished 8th with 311 points in a stacked field that included conference rival and state #1, Palatine as well as class 2A #1 Belvidere North and 3A #3 York. These three teams all showed why they are among the best in the nation and finished in the first three spots. Erik showed again that he has to be considered a serious contender for an individual state title by finishing second (14:24) to Malachy Schrobilgen (14:21) who is the top returner in the state this year. Schrobilgen made a great move just prior to entering the back loop and gapped the field and there was never a response. He ran a great race and moved at the right time. Erik knows that if he wants to win state this year he will have to be ready to respond to surges during the race. I thought we ran well behind Erik but we still have room for improvement. Ryan Burgoon finished 31st overall with a time of 15:10 showing that he is on the verge of being in the conversation for all-state this year. Behind him, Mike Rappleye (15:33) and Nolan Wojtowicz (15:41) both ran strong efforts but need to be closer to Burgoon if we are going to meet our goals this year. The race that made me the happiest was our 5th man, Kerry Frank. When Kerry was a freshman, his best mile was a 5:48. On Saturday he ran the Detweiller 3 mile course in 15:53, averaging 5:18 per mile for three miles. Kerry has dedicated himself to the sport and shows what hard work can accomplish. We pulled up our young stars Konrad Eiring, Adam Phillips, and Pitcher Seagrist for this varsity race with mixed results. This trio has been dominating the competition in frosh/soph races all year and we wanted to give them a taste of varsity experience and they were clearly a little wide eyed at how good everybody is on the varsity level. Still they competed well, Kornad and Adam ran 16:20 and 16:56 in their first varsity races. Pitcher is struggling with an injury and fell off the pace. It will be fun to see how these guys grow over the next few years. Phil Quarfoot had a great race in the open, finishing 8th with a time of 16:36. It was great to see him challenging the leaders and running a competitive strategy throughout the entire race. We are starting to gain the depth we thought we might be lacking. For mor information, see our team history page: Full results and recap All-time best times at Detweiller Park Team History at Peoria Invite Frosh/Soph shines and JV runs hard at the Argo Invite While the varsity ran at Peoria the rest of the team competed at the Dave Brady Invite hosted by Argo High School. The varsity finished 7th with 197 points behind meet champion Glenbard East (47 points). Strong races were turned in by Andrew McAuliff (37th, 17:11), Zach Watson (39th, 17:12), and Steven Blake (41st, 17:14) with some strong pack running. Behind them Andrew Geleske, Jack Rogers, Stephan Sampleanu, and Matt Geleske grouped well to put all of our runners in the to 60 of the field of 130 runners. Without the three runners we took to Peoria, the rest of the frosh/soph squad finished a respectable 4th place behind solid efforts from the whole team. We had 7 runners finish 21st through 33rd with a strong pack that stayed together well throughout the race. Ryan Perkins (17:16) led the way with David Tung, Kyle Monahan, and Ben Lanning getting valuable experience close behind. Although it wasn't scored, we had 5 runners in the top 11 in the open race in what surely would have been a JV championship. Phil Towne got the first win of his career followed closely by Ryan Sarkar (4th), Brad Thyfault (6th), Daniel Stermer (8th), and Charile Connors (11th) in a great team effort.  September 15, 2011 Varsity loses close one to Schaumburg, Frosh/Soph sweeps. In our last home meet of the season last night, Barrington lost a close battle with a very tough Schaumburg squad 26-29. Schaumburg proved they are deserving of their high state rank (#4) by displaying a tough pack that ran composed and together; something we have been trying to do but haven't quite figured out yet. Their race strategy last night was exactly what I hope our 2-6 runners can figure out by the end of the year. Still, our goal last night was to get out aggressive and prepare for the fast pace at Peoria this weekend and we did that well. Other than the first 100 meters led triumphantly by Jack Rometty, Erik Peterson took control of the race and never looked back. It's not his usual style to run out front but he gapped the field early and ran composed the rest of the way to win in a fast home course time of 15:33. Only two Broncos have run faster on our home course. Matt Barns ('08) ran a 15:31 back in 2007, and Nick Farina ('06) blazed a 15:08 in his now legendary dual with state champion, Steve Finley. (Finley set the 14:55 course record that day and is still the only runner to ever break 15:00 on our home course.) Click here for the best times ever run at Ron Beese Park. Behind Erik is where the real race unfolded. Prizy, Anderson, and the rest of Schaumburg's pack sat just off the pace through the fast start but really took control of the race about half way through. Burgoon and Wojo stayed with their one and two runners, while Rappleye battled their three and four. Kerry Frank and Schaumburg's Brian Flight fell back just a little to dual by themselves as the ever important 5th man. The two teams battled back and forth and with a half mile to go we were down by one point. Burgoon was holding on in second but Wojo and Rap had fallen about 10 yards behind Schaumburg's 2-4. In the end Prizy pulled ahead of Burgoon in a nice burst at the end and Nolan and Rappleye were a little too spent to challenge the rest of the pack. I was encouraged by the effort and we continue to learn each time we race. I'm looking forward to another tough test this weekend at Peoria.  On the frosh/soph level our front three continued to look dominant. We put 9 runners in front of Schaumburg's first man for a 15-50 shut out. Konrad Eiring set a new freshman course record with the win and Seagrist and Phillips came in close behind setting the 3 and 4 best sophomore marks ever for a Bronco. The rest of the team ran well behind the front three. Ben Laning, Ryan Perkins, Connor Smith, and David Tung all continue to improve from week to week and are showing that they expect to keep our program at a high level for years to come. September 8, 2011 Barrington sweeps in rare MSL double dual Due to the meet cancellations last week because of excessive heat, we ran a rare double dual last night at Hoffman Estates' Barrington Pond. Both teams were able to win all three races. Varsity bested Wheeling (18-46), Hoffman (16-49), and Hersey (18-46) with a controlled team effort. The goal tonight was to pack up and pace for the first two miles, then work on a strong finish. We were able to take the first four spots in the race as Erik Peterson, Ryan Burgoon, Nolan Wojtowicz, and Mike Rappleye worked past the aggressive style of Wheeling and Hersey's top runners. Both teams showed fight and will not be easy wins as the year continues. 8th Annual Fund raiser is another success Saturday, we ran our 8th annual 2-man, 10-mile relay as our teams fund raiser and as one of our benchmark workouts for the year. Teams of two compete by running alternating 400m repeats until the team has completed 10 miles, or 20 400s each. Once again, everybody who was able to run completed the full 20 quarters and showed that they are learning to deal with the pain and discomfort that comes with great effort. They are also learning that a great effort is required to achieve great results. The duo of Erik Peterson and Nolan Wojtowicz set a new workout record with a time of 48:41 and Peterson became the first person ever to average below 70 seconds for the 20 400s. Congratulations to everyone for a great day and, more importantly, we raised over $1000 for a charity to be selected by the team.    September 1, 2011 Varsity wins Lake County Invite We opened our season last night with a nice win at the Lake County Invitational. We overcame an aggressive Grayslake Central team 55-82. Highland Park was 3rd with 95 and Stevenson 4th with 119. Deerfield showed that they will be a team to consider this post season as they finished 5th without their top two runners. Overall, it was a great team effort. We were hoping to finish with 3 in the top 10 and 5 in the top 20 and we were very close to that finish by placing 1st (Peterson 15:54), 9th (Burgoon 16:36), 11th (Wojtowicz 16:47), 15th (Rappleye 16:58), and 19th (Frank 17:02). We wanted to keep our pack together as long as possible which meant that Erik was asked to hold back a little. The guys responded will with all five runners in the top 15 early. About half way through the race, Erik and Burgoon went with the lead pack as Zygmunt and Brewster from Graslake pushed that pace. This broke us up a little but I was glad to see the rest of the front group respond and stay close. In the end, we finished strong and it was nice to finally be racing after months of training. Behind the front five, I was pleased with the efforts of the rest of our team as well. Quarfoot, Eiring, and Barns stayed close together to finish 46th, 53rd, and 62nd respectively while Zach Watson and Mark Gensburg did the same in 83rd and 90th. I'm glad these guys have embraced the concept of pack running but they know this second group has got to get closer to the front 5 if we are going to be effective in the post season. Still, this was the first "big meet" varsity experience for many of our runners and they showed up to compete. Its early and I'm optimistic that we will see improvement week after week. Check out our updated all-time best at the Lakewood course and our past team performances at Lake County by clicking here. August 17, 2011 Important dates coming up: Intrasquad race: August 20th, 7:45 at Ron Beese Park Parent Meeting: August 22nd, 6:00 pm in the student cafeteria Fund Raiser: September 3rd 7:00am at the BHS track August 1, 2011 The summer camps are completed and the team is fit and ready to race. We closed camp with the traditional "Skinny Kids Throwing Heavy Objects" competition and the alumni defended their title for the thrid year in a row. This was the widest margin of victory ever for the alumni proving that they take this increasingly popular event very seriously. Check out the 'Team History' section to see the results of this year's competition and the all-time records for each event. The results are listed under 'workout records'. After camp, the varsity group went to Devil's Lake for some awsome training and a lot of fun. The guys ran our traditional 1000's til failure workout and they showed that they are ready to count themselves among the best teams in Barrington Cross Country history. Coach Gorman and Coach Medansky recruited Ryan Burgoon and won a very heated mini-golf competition. We closed the trip with a great day at Mt. Olympus Waterpark and I'm proud t say the guys did not get kicked out for ramming the go-carts. The highlight of the trip had to be the new team mascot, Jamarcus the bull-head catfish. If he is still alive, I'm sure he is very confused in his new home in Barrington. July 20, 2011 The summer camp has been clicking along with record numbers and record heat. This is just a quick note to clarify a few miscommunications. First, the Intrasquad run has been moved to August 20th. Due to a large Barrington Youth Football event, wehad moved the race to August 27th. Because of our training and racing schedule, it is necessary to move this event up one week. Unfortunately, this means we will not hold the alumi run and program-wide picnic that have become traditionsat Beese Park. The time and location of the Intrasquad race will be given to the runners when more is known and we will get back to the traditional festivities next year. Second, CALLING ALL ALUMNI TO DEFEND YOUR TITLE! On Tuesday, July 26th we will be holding the 3rd annual "Skinny Kids Throwing Heavy Objects" competition. This has become our traditional way of celebrating the end of summer camp and it has become the unofficial alumni event as many alum go off to school too early to attend the Alumni run held in August. Well guess what? The alumni ended up winning two straight years with a handful of guys who happened to show up on the day of the competition. We are looking for a larger turn out this year for this fun and a little crazy track and field competition which includes favorite events like the discus roll, frisbee toss, and the marquee event, the shot put. We will start the event promptly at 7:30 at the high school track. See you there! Finally, remember that the season starts August 10th with practice at the high school track. Please get your physicals and have your pink sheets ready for the first day of practice. Athletes will not be allowed to participate until they turn in this form. June 15, 2011  Welcome to the main page for the Barrington High School boys cross country website. Please check here often for updates and changes. This is the third edition of the website and we are starting over and building from scratch. It is my hope that this site will become the home for Barrington Cross Country and provide everything you need. For now, you can click on the calendar to see our summer events and next year's schedule. Also, click on the link to summer school information. Let's get ready to work hard all summer to challenge the best in the MSL! |
