Home vs. IC and Naz (Rescheduled) Recap

Home Meet vs. Aurora Central Catholic, Immaculate Conception, and Nazareth Academy

Tuesday, September 8, 2015

Whoops. False start on this recap. Mother Nature wasn't being very nice yesterday. Let's try this again.

Home Meet vs. Immaculate Conception and Nazareth Academy (Rescheduled)

Wednesday, September 9, 2015

SPLITS | MILE SPLITS | RESULTS: [BOYS] [GIRLS] | UPDATED FINISH TIMES | PHOTOS

UPDATED ALL-TIME HOME COURSE LISTS: [BOYS] [GIRLS]

There we go.

After Mother Nature ruined our scheduled home meet for Tuesday, we rescheduled it for Wednesday. Unfortunately, Aurora Central Catholic was unable to make the trip out for the rescheduled meet, which resulted in a triangular meet against Immaculate Conception and Nazareth Academy.

So, on a gorgeous, crystal-clear, blue sky, sunny afternoon, we finally got the meet in.

*****

GIRLS RACE: PRs, PRs, PRs, and did I mention PRs?

Nine of our Sentinel ladies toed the line for the girls race, which kicked off at 4:45 pm. We were without Halle for today -- but the rest of the ladies stepped up their game with one of our top runners out for the meet.

Lisa and Peyton led the way out for the ladies in the first mile, as the ladies went out hard -- and it paid off. Lisa fought hard for the lead for much of the first two miles and eventually finished a very strong third place, behind two Nazareth girls in a time of 21:38, which is a season best for this year and ties her career personal best time on our home course from last year. Peyton, in her first meet of the year, ran strong and just missed breaking 22:00, hitting that time right on the dot and taking home a fifth place finish. Peyton's 22:00 is a career best time on the home course as well, as she ran 22:06 in the "Westmont 500" last year.

Behind Lisa and Peyton came a four pack of Sentinel ladies that took seventh, eighth, ninth, and tenth places: Brittany Eiermann claimed seventh in 23:06 and Lily Arndt followed just a few seconds behind in 23:15 for eighth place. Behind that duo, another duo ran with each other for virtually the entire race -- and it paid off: Frankie Fabry finished in ninth place with a lifetime best of 23:39, and Hannah Abbatacola was just steps behind her in 23:43. All of those times are PRs for this season for those four ladies. Ashley Eiermann also set another PR by finishing 21st in 25:48, and Katie followed with yet another PR of 27:57 in 25th place. Whittney Ruiz rounded out the Sentinel attack in another PR of 43:01.

So many PRs were set by our ladies today that our updated finish times list is literally a solid yellow for the column for today's meet!

The ladies would win against Immaculate Conception, as Immaculate Conception did not field a complete team. However, the ladies lost a tough battle to Nazareth by a score of 24-32. The ladies move to 2-1 on the season.

Congratulations on a GREAT meet today ladies! Let's keep the momentum rolling through Saturday at Peoria -- it should be a lot of fun!

*****

BOYS RACE: Shorthanded today, but lots of PRs in a tough battle with IC & Naz!

In the boys race, we were without Sam, Robbie, Tom, and Pierre. Although that left us shorthanded, the boys were determined to do battle with Immaculate Conception and Nazareth Academy. In the end, the boys dropped decisions to both teams, but nonetheless, the boys posted a slew of PRs of their own, following in the girls' footsteps (pun intended).

The gun fired -- at which point eight Sentinel men stepped off the starting line and began their race. Jasper and Paul quickly established themselves at the front of the pack, and by the halfway point of the race they had taken control. Jasper Requiron won the race in 18:17 -- a career best on this home course of ours, and Paul Gordon followed in second for 18:28, also a lifetime course PR. The duo would finish almost thirty seconds before the Nazareth and Immaculate Conception conga line to the finish line began.

Our next finisher was Ryan Pleva in 13th place in a 20:47, which is also a lifetime course PR for him as well on our home course. After Ryan, Connor Alessi had another awesome race to finish 19th in 21:39! Following Connor was a trifecta of Sentinels: Brandon Abington finished 25th in 22:47, Jake Dooley was twenty seconds behind Brandon in 23:07, and Jacob Nader finished 29th in 23:46. Ben Padgitt rounded out the Sentinel attack in 34th, in 25:02.

Although the guys were shorthanded and dropped decisions to both of our guests -- Nazareth finished 30 points) and Immaculate Conception had 45 points, while we scored 52. The guys' record moves to 0-3 on the season.

*****

Almost every athlete today that raced today set either a season PR and/or a lifetime course PR on our home course. As a coach, you can't ask for more than that -- especially this early on in the season. Great job, Sentinels!!!

*****

LOOKING AHEAD: PEORIA "FIRST TO THE FINISH" INVITATIONAL ON SATURDAY

Saturday is one of our favorite meets of the year...aside from maybe the very early departure time of 5:00 am.

On Saturday, we'll be traveling down to race on the state meet course -- Peoria's Detweiller Park, one of the most well-known and famous cross country courses in the entire United States -- for the First to the Finish Invitational, still sometimes referred to as the Peoria Woodruff Invitational.

Athletes should be at school by 4:45 am, as the bus departs at 5:00 am. This is our earliest bus departure of the season. The ladies will race at 9:00 AM in the Class 1A Girls race, and the boys will follow at 9:30 am in the Class 1A Boys race. Many of the top ranked teams from around the state will be there, so this is a great test for us to see where we stack up.

The current forecast is calling for mid to upper 40s (it can get that cold??? :)) on Saturday morning when we get to Peoria so ALL athletes that are going to Peoria MUST HAVE THEIR SWEATS WITH THEM! No excuses -- don't forget your sweats at home!!!

We will leave Peoria after the boys have completed their cooldown and stretches. We will stop for lunch on the way home, so athletes should bring some money along with them.

Saturday looks like it's going to be an absolutely perfect morning for a very fast race at Peoria. Get excited, it's going to be tons of fun!