Home vs. Timothy Christian Recap

HOME MEET VS. TIMOTHY CHRISTIAN

Tuesday, September 1, 2015

As is tradition, after two and a half weeks of hard practices, we finally put our work to the test in our season-opening home dual meet against Timothy Christian on a very hot and humid September afternoon. Every year since 1996, Westmont and Timothy Christian have run against each other in the first meet of the season for both teams. Afterward, we satisfied all of our stomachs with a fantastic second annual Family Pasta Picnic... albeit indoors in the Commons in order to get out of the oppressive heat.

Before we get to the recap, we want to thank all of the families who donated dishes to share for our second annual Family Pasta Picnic. It was another great success, and the food was fantastic. We hope you all enjoyed your time with our cross country family last night!

*****

The weather certainly was on everyone's minds, especially after the relatively cool, cloudy, and even sometimes cold weather we had last week. No matter -- we ran a hard 3-4 x 1200 workout in preparation for Tuesday's meet in the heat. Although we did have some problems Monday adjusting to the unusually warm weather and have been battling some injuries, everyone who was available to run on Tuesday did so and didn't let the heat beat them.

GIRLS RACE

The ladies kicked things off first, as eight Sentinel ladies (Peyton was out with an injury, and Whittney was not yet ready to race) toed the line to put their hard work from over the summer and the first few weeks of this young season on the line. The efforts of these young ladies -- and yes, we're a very young team with only one senior and all the rest either freshmen or sophomores! -- has already begun to pay off.

Halle Nash was our first Sentinel across the finish line. She battled Timothy Christian's top girl from when the gun fired all the way to the very end, finishing second by just five seconds in a time of 21:43. Lisa Niemiec came home in third place with a time of 23:04. Lily Arndt and Brittany Eiermann ran within a few seconds of each other for virtually the entire race to finish in fourth and fifth places, respectively with times of 24:12 and 24:19. Brittany was slightly ahead of Lily for the first two miles, but ended up switching places as they finished. Hannah Abbatacola rounded out the scoring places with a ninth place finish in 26:05, and freshman newcomer Frankie Fabry was just a step behind her in 10th place in 26:06, an impressive debut. Ashley Eiermann then took 11th place in 27:00, while Katie Schultz also turned in an impressive high school debut, finishing 13th in 30:37.

The ladies scored 2-3-4-5-9-(10)-(11) for 23 points and secured the win against Timothy Christian. The ladies move to 1-0 on the season.

We'd also like to give a shoutout to one of our recently graduated alumni, Imogene Asa, for coming out to support us yesterday afternoon! Good luck at Northwestern, Imogene!

*****

BOYS RACE

On the guys side, us coaches haven't been quite sure what we're going to get this year -- we are an extremely young team and we lost a tremendous amount of experience with the graduation of Nick Dea, Anthony Alessi, Mitch Perrotta, and Tony Cordero.

Juniors Sam Asa and Jacob Nader are back for another year, as are sophomores Tom Dea, Jasper Requiron and Ryan Pleva, along with Jake Juska. Unfortunately, Jake won't be able to compete for us this season due to an injury, but you'll be seeing him out on the various courses taking pictures for us throughout the season! We also picked up a former soccer player, Paul Gordon, for his senior season. Joining those seven young men that were just listed are joined by six freshmen.

Jasper Requiron has looked very good throughout the summer and in early practices, and it showed as he was our top finisher today, matching Halle's second place finish on the girls' side with a second place of his own today in 19:06. Former soccer player turned cross country runner Paul Gordon dueled all meet long with Sam Asa for fourth place. In the end, Paul prevailed by two seconds in 19:43 as Sam settled for fifth in 19:45.

In between Sam's fifth place finish and our next finisher, Ryan Pleva, Timothy Christian took the next eight spots, sixth through 13th, effectively sealing the win the meet over the Sentinels. Ryan would finish 14th, in a time of 21:31. After that, a trio of Sentinels took the next three spots -- freshman Robbie Burns finished 15th in a very solid 22:22, after he went out a little too hard in the first mile and paid dearly for it. Tom Dea followed for 16th in 22:28, and Pierre took 17th in 22:31, also paying the price for a fast start.

Newcomer Brandon Abington -- having just practiced for the first time on Monday -- turned in a solid debut with a 23:08 for 19th place. Another freshman newcomer, Jake Dooley, then finished in 20th in 24:13. Jacob Nader, Connor Alessi, and Ben Padgitt then came in within a minute of each other to finish 26th, 27th, and 28th, respectively. Jacob turned in a time of 25:46, Connor was just a few steps behind Jacob in 25:53 (also paying the price for a fast start) and Ben finished in 26:27.

The boys battled hard, but the depth of Timothy Christian was simply too much to overcome on this day. The boys scored 2-4-5-11-12-(13)-(14) for 34 points to drop this meet to Timothy Christian by a score of 25-34. The boys' record on the young season is now 0-1.

There is a lot to work on, but there is also a lot to be proud of in this first meet! It's still early in the season. The fast times will come later, but this is a good starting point to work from. We're very excited about our potential for this season on both sides. 

Next up: Plainfield Central "Wildcat" Invitational on Saturday. Bus leaves at 7:00. Athletes will get the information sheet for Saturday's meet on Friday afternoon.