Peoria FTTF Recap - September 13, 2014

Peoria First to the Finish Invitational
at Detweiller Park
Saturday, September 13, 2014

[Girls Overall Results] [Boys Overall Results]

[Westmont Girls Results] [Westmont Boys Results]

After the unusually cold weather that invaded the Chicago area on Thursday and Friday, Saturday’s conditions at historic Detweiller Park could not have been more perfect for racing. On the bus ride down (dark and early!), we encountered some fog, as is usual when heading down to Detweiller Park in September. That fog quickly cleared out as we neared our destination, and by the time we arrived at Detweiller Park, the skies had cleared and the sun had come out for the first time in two days and set the stage for a beautiful day of racing.

Unlike most of the other invitationals on our invitational schedule, in this meet we are allowed to run an unlimited number of runners. This meet is run almost exactly like the IHSA State Meet in November—there is one race for girls and boys in each class, and an open race at the end of the meet. We ran all of our athletes in the Class 1A races, and we saw tons of great performances in loaded fields.

Ladies Pack It Up Again for 23^rd Place Finish in Field of 45 Teams

Once again, a dozen of our ladies kicked off the day’s racing in the first race of the day. After the starter’s pistol went off precisely at 9:00 AM, a field of 454 runners from 51 different schools charged down the hill and headed for the first turn. The name of the game at Detweiller Park is speed from the moment the starter’s pistol is fired all the way to the finish, and today was no exception. You have to get out fast or you will be buried quickly. Our ladies got out well, and every single one of our ladies set season bests. There were a couple of lifetime best performances from our ladies yesterday!

Two freshmen and one senior would finish literally side-by-side. Freshman Emilia Maslany was our top finisher yesterday, quickly followed by fellow freshman Lisa Niemiec and senior Imogene Asa. The three ladies finished just 0.1 seconds apart, taking 117^th, 118^th, and 119^th places, all in 21:29! For the second weekend in a row, junior Brittany Eiermann and sophomore Michelle Launi would run nearly side-by-side during the entire race, and the duo would finish just six seconds and seven spots apart, in 164^th and 171^st places, respectively. That meant that our 1-5 split, according to the official results, was just 40.7 seconds! Two more freshmen ladies would round out the seven scoring spots: Hannah Abbatacola finished 196^th, and Peyton Nash finished 205^th. Our top seven finishers combined for an awesome 1-7 split of 1:14! Although they did not count in the scoring, five more of our ladies all ran extremely well and all of them set season best times! Lily Arndt finished 239^th, Halle Nash was 319^th, Victoria Thomas 329^th, Amanda Yates 373^rd, and Michelle Gorman 395^th.

The ladies scored 104-105-106-142-148-(169)-(177) for 605 points to finish 23^rd in a field of 45 teams plus 6 more incomplete teams. Congratulations on a great performance yesterday, ladies!

Three Medal Winners Lead Men to 10^th Place Finish in Field of 48 Teams

Forty minutes and a few degrees warmer after the ladies’ race began, the starter’s pistol sent 534 young men from 63 different schools charging down from the starting line towards the first turn. The boys race, as is typical for a cross country meet at Detweiller Park, got out fast and didn’t let up all the way to the finish.

On this day, just as we did in the girls race, nearly all of our boys set season bests, and in a couple of cases, lifetime bests were also set! Seniors Nick Dea, Anthony Alessi, and Mitch Perrotta set the tone early for our boys and moved up very nicely in the homestretch to each earn medals at yesterday’s meet. At the First to the Finish, medals are handed out to the top 50 finishers in each class plus the open race. Coach Wolf had Nick, Anthony, and Mitch running 47^th, 48^th and 49^th just as they were entering the final stretch. All three runners would throw down nice kicks to finish 33^rd, 38^th, and 47^th respectively to earn their medals. Congratulations on your medals, men!

Freshman Jasper Requiron and senior Tony Cordero started the race together and finished the race together. Jasper would finish just ahead of Tony in 131^st place, and Tony just a step behind in 132^nd place. Sophomore Sam Asa and freshman Ryan Pleva would finish thirty seconds apart in 233^rd and 288^th place to round out the seven scoring places. Freshman Jake Juska followed a minute later in 377^th place. Perhaps the highlight of the day was sophomore Jacob Nader running a lifetime best by over two minutes for three miles to finish 402^nd! Freshman Tom Dea, after a rough week of injuries in practice, ran a fine race to finish 500^th.

The boys scored 29-34-43-122-123-(195)-(233) to finish in 10th place with 351 points in a field of 48 complete teams plus 15 more incomplete teams.

***

Overall, we had tons of fantastic performances by everyone. Coach Wolf, Coach Marose, and Coach Dunne are very proud of all athletes. We are very excited about our potential to do some real damage come October and November. In the meantime, we are going to continue to work hard to meet our goal of returning to Detweiller Park for the State Meet in November. The journey continues....

Be sure to go for a cleanout run tomorrow, and record it in your training log! Also, don't forget that we expect you to have sweats on hand for every practice for the remainder of the season now that cooler air has arrived.

Looking ahead: On Monday, we’ll get back to work (Week 6 Workouts will be posted soon). Tuesday, we will travel to Plano for an away dual meet. On Saturday, we are at the Bureau Valley Storm Invitational – another top 1A meet.

Enjoy the rest of your weekend and enjoy the beautiful weather!