Yesterday's relay meet is always a fun way to hit (close to) the midpoint of the season.  With our first 5k coming up next weekend (10/4 at FUMA), this is a good stepping stone into the 3.1 mile race, getting to cover 3 miles of a course with a 20-25 minutes break between each mile.  For more of an individual sport, this is also a nice way for us to come together more as a team with our trio of relay quartets.

 

We will start with our 3 veterans as they once again continue to show their improvement from last year.  Davis chipped away at his mile average from last year by a few seconds, thanks to a strong final loop.  His mile average ranks 8th all-time among STC runners on this course.  Teddy and Ely continued their "ridiculous" time drops as we have seen in the first few meets of the season.  Both boys were well over 2:00 faster per mile compared to last year.

 

And, although the final mile averages did not line up exactly as an A, B, and C team, the consistency and final lap burst from some boys was exciting to see.  Charlie, Teddy, and Paul each had very consistent splits, with Charlie as the only STC runner to run his fastest on the final loop.  Along with Charlie, Teddy was one of three STC runners to run a faster final loop than second loop.  Hudson was the other member of that trio, running 20 seconds faster on loop 3 compared to loop 2.  Davis, James, LB, and Ely were all close between loop 2 and loop 3, each only adding a few seconds.  These strong final loops show the endurance and mental toughness that these guys have built.  We hope to add more to that club as we continue to move through the season.

 

In terms of finish place, we did not make a customary B and C team by ability, rather going with the grade level teams, but we put together what we thought would be our best 4 to try and beat the other A teams from various schools.  It was clear early on that Grove Christian and Endorphin were just too strong, but we had a good back and forth battle for 3rd with Collegiate and St. Edward's.  After yo-yo-ing back and forth between 3rd, 4th, and 5th place, we showed our strength on the final loop with Hudson kicking it in at the end to hold off a charging Collegiate squad, grabbing 3rd place for us.  Although schools that have beaten us in other meets were not there, like Veritas, Hunter, and St. Bridget, it was nice to beat Collegiate, as well as other team that beat us last week like St. Edward's and Seven Hills.  I think this shows something I had mentioned earlier in the year in that we can usually outwork many other teams with what we do in our practices.  This is an indicator that that is indeed happening.  Just think about what two more weeks of training can do before the next Roslyn meet.  We did only have 4 in the relay today, so as long as we can get our 5th man close to our 4th man, that should also help.  With 6 guys under 7:40 today, a stronger 5th (and 6th) runner is certainly looking like more of a possibility for us.