This is our last week of classes and finals begin on Friday, Dec 4th. We are not having any organized practices as prescribed by NCAA regulations. However, as I look out my window I can see runners going by from time to time.
Once finals are over, our runners will head home for the holidays, taking their training schedules with them. We'll have a time trial at the end of the first few weeks of training in January to get a reading on fitness levels and to help set goals for the upcoming season.
Apparently everyone had a very nice Thanksgiving holiday. Training reports looked good and everyone seemed healthy, except for one nagging IT band on the guys' team.
Jonathan Sellers had an excellent Thanksgiving Day run in the Atlanta Half-Marathon, finishing 4th overall in a time of 1:11.25 for a average pace of about 5:27 per mile. He is clearly still quite fit after the cross country season and is excited about the possibilities he has in the upcoming track season.
Right now, as a coach, my fingers are crossed that everyone does a good job on their final exams and we can have both teams achieve cumulative GPAs of 3.0 or higher. One of our teams, and I won't say which, has consistently met that mark and one hasn't. I am hoping for both to make it this time around.
That's about it for now. Take care.
Tuesday, December 1, 2009
Wednesday, November 18, 2009
men's team falters at end of season
Our men’s team had a disappointing end to what promised to be a very successful season. We started the year off on a big note by winning the Southern Miss Invitational. Our times for this opening meet were pretty good and everything seemed to be lined up for a good season.
However, the rains came and caused 2 rain outs – one at Mississippi State and one at Ole Miss. Both meets were made up - the MSU meet was held on an oval 1000m gravel horse track and the Ole Miss turned into a 5000m time trial/dual race with Christian Brothers. We did not run well in either of these meets – I don’t know if it was the change from real cross country venues to more “artificial” surfaces or something else. We just didn’t run well or with much passion in these 2 mid-season meets.
I thought we came back and ran quite well at Jacksonville State. We had several PR’s in that race and we seem poised and ready – in good shape – for the final two meets of the year – the championship meets.
However, once we got to those meets, we once again seemed to lose our intensity and pretty much went through the motions. It’s hard to understand and harder to explain, but the result was that we finished a disappointing 7th in the conference meet and a very disappointing 12th in the NCAA South Region meet. We dropped out of the top 10 rankings in the South Region after rising to as high as 6th earlier in the region.
The guys were pretty disappointed at the end of the season – those last two races left a bitter taste in their mouths and I am hopeful they will bounce back when we start our winter training and return with a renewed passion and vigor for running. We have the talent on hand to be successful and it falls to me as the head coach to put the runners in position to capitalize on that talent. We are going to go back to basics in our winter training – good hard volume and tons of hills in our runs – placing the focus on developing a very high level of aerobic fitness before turning to more specificity in our track workouts.
I am hopeful that the guys’ disappointment from cross country will be a motivator for them in the upcoming track season.
However, the rains came and caused 2 rain outs – one at Mississippi State and one at Ole Miss. Both meets were made up - the MSU meet was held on an oval 1000m gravel horse track and the Ole Miss turned into a 5000m time trial/dual race with Christian Brothers. We did not run well in either of these meets – I don’t know if it was the change from real cross country venues to more “artificial” surfaces or something else. We just didn’t run well or with much passion in these 2 mid-season meets.
I thought we came back and ran quite well at Jacksonville State. We had several PR’s in that race and we seem poised and ready – in good shape – for the final two meets of the year – the championship meets.
However, once we got to those meets, we once again seemed to lose our intensity and pretty much went through the motions. It’s hard to understand and harder to explain, but the result was that we finished a disappointing 7th in the conference meet and a very disappointing 12th in the NCAA South Region meet. We dropped out of the top 10 rankings in the South Region after rising to as high as 6th earlier in the region.
The guys were pretty disappointed at the end of the season – those last two races left a bitter taste in their mouths and I am hopeful they will bounce back when we start our winter training and return with a renewed passion and vigor for running. We have the talent on hand to be successful and it falls to me as the head coach to put the runners in position to capitalize on that talent. We are going to go back to basics in our winter training – good hard volume and tons of hills in our runs – placing the focus on developing a very high level of aerobic fitness before turning to more specificity in our track workouts.
I am hopeful that the guys’ disappointment from cross country will be a motivator for them in the upcoming track season.
active rest
We are in the middle of a two week period of active rest, following the end of our cross country season. Our plan is to have the athletes do 3 runs during the first week of active rest and 4-5 runs during the second week. All of the runs are meant to be done comfortably, with no specified pace or distance. In fact, we advised our runners to not wear watches during the runs. These are meant to be mentally relaxing as well as physically non-demanding. All of the runs are done OYO (on your own) at the runners’ convenience. We have seen some running in the AM and more in the beautiful fall afternoons.
We have already noticed several of our men and women runners “itching” to get back to training – a good sign that the active rest period is working. Most of them have commented upon how nice it is to be able to sleep late in the morning while, at the same time, saying they would like to be doing some training in the AM.
We handed out their individualized winter training programs at our team meeting on Nov 16th. The training “officially” starts during the week of Thanksgiving break – immediately creating the challenge of training alone – most all the runners will be a their homes. We’ll have a meeting upon their return from Thanksgiving break and check everyone’s running logs to see how successful they were in completing all of the scheduled runs.
Once the runners get back from holiday, we’ll have a goal setting meeting for the upcoming track season. I’ll try to post everyone’s goals on the blog so readers can follow our progress during the season.
Here is a list of our runners who will be competing during the upcoming track season:
MEN
Austin Enriquez 1500m
Jonathan Sellers 5000m-10000m
Spencer Gray 5000m
Daniel LoVette 5000m
Craig Warlick 5000m
Peter Kazery 1500m-5000m
Camden Holmes 5000m
Evan Lemons (unattached) 800m
WOMEN
Carolyn Mancuso 1500m
Amy Benoit 800m-1500m
Anne Enoch 800m
Hannah Gray 5000m
Jessica Gonzalez 5000m-1500m
Kirstie Lusignan (unattached) 800m
We have already noticed several of our men and women runners “itching” to get back to training – a good sign that the active rest period is working. Most of them have commented upon how nice it is to be able to sleep late in the morning while, at the same time, saying they would like to be doing some training in the AM.
We handed out their individualized winter training programs at our team meeting on Nov 16th. The training “officially” starts during the week of Thanksgiving break – immediately creating the challenge of training alone – most all the runners will be a their homes. We’ll have a meeting upon their return from Thanksgiving break and check everyone’s running logs to see how successful they were in completing all of the scheduled runs.
Once the runners get back from holiday, we’ll have a goal setting meeting for the upcoming track season. I’ll try to post everyone’s goals on the blog so readers can follow our progress during the season.
Here is a list of our runners who will be competing during the upcoming track season:
MEN
Austin Enriquez 1500m
Jonathan Sellers 5000m-10000m
Spencer Gray 5000m
Daniel LoVette 5000m
Craig Warlick 5000m
Peter Kazery 1500m-5000m
Camden Holmes 5000m
Evan Lemons (unattached) 800m
WOMEN
Carolyn Mancuso 1500m
Amy Benoit 800m-1500m
Anne Enoch 800m
Hannah Gray 5000m
Jessica Gonzalez 5000m-1500m
Kirstie Lusignan (unattached) 800m
SEASON SUMMARY FOR WOMEN'S CROSS COUNTRY TEAM
We have created Tiger Running Notes so that other runners can check in and see what is happening in Tiger Land as far as our cross country and track programs are concerned. We welcome all runners and other interested folks to read about us and what we are doing. Please feel free to write to us on the blog if you wish.
I’d like to start by giving you some information about our recently concluded cross country season.
The UWA women’s cross country team just completed its most successful season ever this past weekend at the NCAA South Region Championships in Brandon, FL. The information comes from an interview given to the Sports Information Department at UWA.
The harriers finished 9th in the NCAA South Region Championships to earn the first regional ranking ever in school history. “This has been such a good year, it is difficult to know where to start pointing out the highlights,” gushed head coach Don Medeiros. “It might just be easier to list them in bullet point format so I don’t forget any”.
· 5th place finish at the GSC meet – highest team finish in school history.
· 160 point total at the GSC meet – best team score in school history
· 9th place finish at NCAA South Region meet- highest team finish in school history
· 194 point total at the NCAA South Region meet – best team score in school history.
· 19:05 run by Carolyn Mancuso at Southern Miss Invitational – new school record for 5K.
· 23:15 run by Carolyn Mancuso at South Region meet – new school record for 6K.
· 8th place finish by Carolyn Mancuso at GSC meet – highest individual finish in school history.
· 15th place finish by Carolyn Mancuso at NCAA South Region meet – highest finish in school history.
· 2 athletes qualified for academic all-American – Carolyn Mancuso and Polina Babkina.
“We had set a goal of finishing in the top 10 at the region meet this year but I knew we could, with a good race, move up to the 9th spot and, with a great race, maybe higher. When I saw the results I was almost speechless. We were only 6 points out of 8th place, only 11 points out of 7th place, only 15 points out of 6th place and only 23 points out of 5th place. I suddenly realized that we had made a much bigger jump from last year than I thought. If we have a good track season, we’ll definitely be positioned to move up in the rankings next year. I am very proud of our women’s team and how they battled in the 2 most important meets of the year. They were real warriors and I can’t wait for next year to roll around”.
Medeiros noted that “Carolyn’s year has been phenomenal. She reached all of the major goals she set and has stamped herself as the finest female distance runner at UWA to date. I know she is excited to see how far she can push herself and how fast she can eventually go”.
Polina Babkina was the next runner to draw Medeiros’ attention. “What can I say about Polina? She came to us as a tennis player who had never run cross country before but enjoyed running. What she achieved has been nothing short of remarkable. She became our second runner as the season drew to a close, beating our other runners who had more experience and training. To finish 28thin the South Region meet after finishing the same 28th place in the conference meet is almost unbelievable. I would love to take the credit for her success, but she is such a competitor that I think she could have run just as well on her own. I am grateful to coach Fanelli for allowing Polina to be a part of our team and I think she can do even better next year since she will have some race experience to draw upon”.
“One of the major reasons for our success has been our pack”, Medeiros pointed out. “Jessica Gonzalez and Kelli Hartley really stepped up during our two most important meets. They did a great job of controlling their race pace until it was time to start passing other runners and, as a result, they both had great success in the major meets. In the same vein, Amy Benoit and Hannah Gray worked well together to solidify our # 5 spot and it paid off for us at the end. Both of them had PR’s in the last race and that put us over the top as far as making the top 10 list”.
“It’s only 364 days until the NCAA South Regional in Huntsville”, Medeiros said.
“We can’t wait until next year”.
I’d like to start by giving you some information about our recently concluded cross country season.
The UWA women’s cross country team just completed its most successful season ever this past weekend at the NCAA South Region Championships in Brandon, FL. The information comes from an interview given to the Sports Information Department at UWA.
The harriers finished 9th in the NCAA South Region Championships to earn the first regional ranking ever in school history. “This has been such a good year, it is difficult to know where to start pointing out the highlights,” gushed head coach Don Medeiros. “It might just be easier to list them in bullet point format so I don’t forget any”.
· 5th place finish at the GSC meet – highest team finish in school history.
· 160 point total at the GSC meet – best team score in school history
· 9th place finish at NCAA South Region meet- highest team finish in school history
· 194 point total at the NCAA South Region meet – best team score in school history.
· 19:05 run by Carolyn Mancuso at Southern Miss Invitational – new school record for 5K.
· 23:15 run by Carolyn Mancuso at South Region meet – new school record for 6K.
· 8th place finish by Carolyn Mancuso at GSC meet – highest individual finish in school history.
· 15th place finish by Carolyn Mancuso at NCAA South Region meet – highest finish in school history.
· 2 athletes qualified for academic all-American – Carolyn Mancuso and Polina Babkina.
“We had set a goal of finishing in the top 10 at the region meet this year but I knew we could, with a good race, move up to the 9th spot and, with a great race, maybe higher. When I saw the results I was almost speechless. We were only 6 points out of 8th place, only 11 points out of 7th place, only 15 points out of 6th place and only 23 points out of 5th place. I suddenly realized that we had made a much bigger jump from last year than I thought. If we have a good track season, we’ll definitely be positioned to move up in the rankings next year. I am very proud of our women’s team and how they battled in the 2 most important meets of the year. They were real warriors and I can’t wait for next year to roll around”.
Medeiros noted that “Carolyn’s year has been phenomenal. She reached all of the major goals she set and has stamped herself as the finest female distance runner at UWA to date. I know she is excited to see how far she can push herself and how fast she can eventually go”.
Polina Babkina was the next runner to draw Medeiros’ attention. “What can I say about Polina? She came to us as a tennis player who had never run cross country before but enjoyed running. What she achieved has been nothing short of remarkable. She became our second runner as the season drew to a close, beating our other runners who had more experience and training. To finish 28thin the South Region meet after finishing the same 28th place in the conference meet is almost unbelievable. I would love to take the credit for her success, but she is such a competitor that I think she could have run just as well on her own. I am grateful to coach Fanelli for allowing Polina to be a part of our team and I think she can do even better next year since she will have some race experience to draw upon”.
“One of the major reasons for our success has been our pack”, Medeiros pointed out. “Jessica Gonzalez and Kelli Hartley really stepped up during our two most important meets. They did a great job of controlling their race pace until it was time to start passing other runners and, as a result, they both had great success in the major meets. In the same vein, Amy Benoit and Hannah Gray worked well together to solidify our # 5 spot and it paid off for us at the end. Both of them had PR’s in the last race and that put us over the top as far as making the top 10 list”.
“It’s only 364 days until the NCAA South Regional in Huntsville”, Medeiros said.
“We can’t wait until next year”.
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