MXC Weekly Update - Oct. 31

MXC Banquet - Nov. 15 Our season ending banquet is Tuesday, November 15 at 6PM.  Everyone has to signup for the dinner. Download the form here - http://www.moorestownxc.org/2011/MXCBanquetForm2011.pdf Turkey Trot! The Moorestown Turkey Trot has become a true annual community event for our town.  Last year about 800 people came out on Thanksgiving morning to run and have fun and see old friends.     Joyce Nece is again leading the charge as our race director.  As usual, we need lots of help from other parents to coordinate food and drinks, register people that morning, act as course monitors, etc. If you can help, please let us know.   Also, we are looking for someone to learn the "system' this year to take over as Race Director next year since Evan will be graduating.  Please let me know if you are interested in helping out.     More info at http://www.moorestownxc.org/mdrc/TurkeyTrot.html.  This Past (2) Week(s) Yes, I missed a week.  Lots has happened over the past couple of weeks.  We'll review in chronological order.  Also, remember to go to www.moorestownxc.org and lick on the Pictures links on the right hand side.  Steve Kramer has shot hundreds of great pics.  Hopefully we have at least one of each of the guys on the team.  He captures the spirit of this sport so well. (Thank you Steve!) South Jersey Frosh/Soph Meet - This meet was held down at the GCC course where we had been for the South Jersey Shootout.  We were happy that almost the entire team was able to improve from their races in September - testament to some hard work.  Significant improvements were made by Munilla, Coneby, Ing, Handlan, LaLumia, Bauscher, Malta and Gross.  On a hilly course, we had PR's by Gross, Malta, Nick Poaletti, LaLumia and Coneby. Divisionals - This was a tough meet, and it had nothing to do with the fact we lost.  I expressed my disappointment with the team the next day as we seemed to have strayed from our Guiding Principles (http://www.moorestownxc.org/2010/Principles.html) - Work, Learn, Fun, Team.  The good news is that we actually returned very quickly to our foundation after this race and learned a lot from the experience.  The past week and a half has been fantastic in terms of team support, and level of effort.  The Top 8 has done some awesome workouts and run much better in packs as a team.  And as the next paragraph will show, the Frosh/Soph guys really responded with blow-out performances. Burlington County Frosh/Soph Championships - Best meet of the year.  Truly amazing performances from everyone.  We had 16 PR's out of 21 5K runners - Caffrey, Barsoum, Ems, Coneby, Ing, Sam Spirgel, Voyack, Testa, Handlan, LaLumia, Pollock, Dugan, Nick Poaletti, Malta, Gross and LaGatta.  That is just what we try to do as a team - work hard all season, then taper a bit and put everything together for the final races.  Malta, Dugan, Pollock, Sam Spirgel, Munilla and Ing all had improvements of almost a minute.  Caffrey provided the highlight with a Varsity qualifying time of under 19:00.  It was also cool to see some guys really emerge who put themselves in reach of a Varsity award next year if they put in some good work - Barsoum, Munilla, Coneby, Ing, and Sam Spirgel are near or under 20 minutes.  This provides the foundation for us up top in the future. Spirit Week - We had some great participantion by the MXC team in Spirit Week. Joe Inglis brought down the house in a dominating unicycle performace.  Kramer was a close second in ping pong.  And we held most of the positions for Ultimate Frisbie.  Devin Connelly's Soph's beat Mike Connelly's Seniors - some serious bragging rights in that house... Saturday Rain-Sleet-Hail-Snow Workout - This was probably the most epic, memorable workout we can recall in 7 years of coaching.  The 5 X Paul Drive hill provides over 1,000 meters of uphill to provide a challenge.  Add to that the goal of dropping time on each interval.  Add to that the total mileage from this workout is 10 miles.  But the kicker was the weather.  Freezing temperatures. Heavy clothes from all the rain.  And the harshness of everything Mother Nature could throw at us culminated in a true Cross Country experience.  This team is ready for Sectionals and a hoped-for-trip to States! This Coming Week -  Sectionals - Saturday, November 5. http://www.njsiaa.org/tournaments/2011/11b&gCC.pdf.  We are the last race of the meet at 12:55 at Delsea.  We want everyone who can to take the bus down and cheer on the team.  Only the top 5 teams will qualify for States the following week - and we are right on the bubble.  Check with other team members later this week for bus time.