MXC Update Oct. 20, 2013

Burlington County Championship Race Summary:   The County Championships are always bittersweet for the cross country team.   For the non-championship roster juniors and seniors, the race is the end of the line.   Therefore, a number of guys were in their last official XC race for Moorestown.  And, as we've come to expect from a class full of guys with class, they raced boldly and courageously, ending their careers on high notes.   Special shout-outs to:

• Senior Paul Entwistle, who capped a great year of training and racing to finish as our #1 runner in the Open Race, carving over a minute off his Mill Creek time last year. 
• Senior Greg Munilla, who actually sat in 2nd place through the mile before fading to 9th in the Open Race.
• Senior Greg Rothman, who, while he came up short in his quest to break 19m, boldly pushed to the front of the JV team, the third Moorestown finisher. 
• Senior Nick Novak, who saw a summer full of training again side swiped by injury, running his first race in weeks aggressively, finishing in 20:00.
• Senior Kevin Harris, who, finally healthy, raced his 3rd 5k in near-PR pace.
• Seniors Ryan Wheeler, Shayan Malta, Dominic Insalaca, and Chuck Spirgel also ran well. 

Thanks to all of our seniors.   You are a beloved class and your day-to-day impact will be missed!

Other performances of note:

• Brian Wright continues his late season surge, narrowly missing breaking the 20m make but still PRing and medaling in
• Mikey Vanaria has now thrown together back to back good efforts, again pushing his PR lower in the process.
• Vidas DeFilicis overcame acorn-gate to drop significant time off his 5k PR, lowering it to 22:25.  Bonus credit for finding the racing chip that fell off his shoe after the race.

The Varsity:

Kudos to Northern Burlington, as our league rivals ran away with the County title.   Moorestown ran well, regardless, finishing in 4th, only 4 points behind Cherokee and 10 behind runner-up Lenape.   The squad, as usual, was anchored by strong performances by Joe Inglis and Kevin Horten, who bested last year's times at Mill Creek to finish 5th and 7th overall.   Christian Cramer continued his solid string of performances, finishing 16th overall as our third finisher.   Harrison Morris, miraculously back after what seemed like a season ending injury last week, finished in a gutty 17:50, pushing through knee pain and tightness on the last mile.  And Nick Paoletti, the only varsity finisher to PR, finished right behind him in 17:51.  Frosh Kevin Fox continues to figure out how to race, this time show a killer kick to come in 6th on the team and 41st overall.   Mike Barsoum held down the 7th spot, running a solid race in 18:36.   All should feel good about the team effort, especially considering we trained through the race, working the guys hard for the sectional meet in November even at the expense of the Counties....

See Full Race Results here.

Upcoming this week:

We will be transitioning to the Championship portion of our season.  This means only the top dozen guys will continue to run, along with Freshman and Sophomores (who have two races left). So we big a fond farewell to the non-Championship Squad junior and seniors. Freshman and Sophomores are invited to continue to race through next week, with the SJ Frosh/Soph Championships on Monday, Oct. 21st and the Burlington County Frosh/Sophs the following week.   Continuing is NOT mandatory, as we only want runners focusing on strong finishes to their seasons.  

Divisional Championship - Thursday, Oct. 24.  We will be the last race of the day.

MXC Season Banquet is scheduled for Nov. 19th.  Everyone should plan on attending (all runners and their Parents), so please mark your calendars.  Robin Rothman is again spearheading the effort - Thank You!. Please fill out the formto let us know who will be attending. 

MXC Update - Oct. 6, 2013

Shore Coaches Race Summary:   Another beautiful Saturday had the team at Holmdel Park for the 2013 Shore Coaches Invitational.    The race is the traditional kick-off to the championship season, as teams began to take stock and see how they stack up against the rest of New Jersey.   Moorestown runners continued to acquit themselves nicely, with strong performances across the ranks.   Here is the recap. Frosh:  The first race of the day again belonged to the freshman.   And the squad again set a high standard for the rest of the team.   Especially with the performance of Kevin Fox.   Kevin again ran like a runner with tons of experience, starting off in the top 20 of the 200 person field before slowly moving up on the lead.   Another strong kick had him crossing the finish line 6th in a stellar 12:03 for the 2 mile course.   Tim Fleming had his best finish as a Moorestown runner, finishing second on the team when he finished strong in 13:36.   Special shout-out to Bavish Gummadi who came back with the first battle wounds of the day after taking a tumble in the woods.  Varsity:  The Top 7 toed the line next.   With several of our expected Top 7 testing (SATs) or injured, the team relied heavily on runners attacking the Holmdel course for the first time in a varsity race.   Of course, that is not the case with senior captains Joe Inglis and Kevin Horten.  The two went into the race determined to prove that they are amongst the best runners in the state.   Today, they did so, going out aggressively with the top pack and running exceptional races.   Joe found himself in 2nd after the bowl and held his spot with a fantastic 16:40 on the course, making his the 2nd fastest Moorestown finisher at Holmdel.  Kevin wasn't too far behind, finishing 6th overall in a course PR of 16:56.  The rest of the top guys, rookies to the varsity race, ran well, too.   Christian Cramer continued his string of solid weekend performances, breaking 18 minutes and finishing 3rd on the team.   Harrison Morris survived a fall with 1000m to go and gamely finished as our fourth man.   The 5/6/7 crew was paced by Mike Barsoum, who cut a minute off last year's Holmdel time to finish fifth for our squad.    Overall, the team finished 7th in the Varsity "B" race, but earned valuable experience that will hopefully help key improvement as the season progresses. Junior Varsity:   After a long wait, the JV finally headed to the start for their 4:30 race.   They, too, had grand ambitions for their tour around Holmdel Park.   And they, too, ran races to be proud of.   Up and down the line-up, kids ran gutty races to achieve personal goals.  Kirk Zimmer, desperate for a medal, went out fast in the top 20 and showed grit and determination holding over the final mile, holding on to first on the team and 29th place overall - good enough for a medal.   Max Argentieri, looking to continue his surge up the team ranks, did just that, finishing 2nd on the team in another medal winning performance.   Sam Spirgel, determined to push through a troublesome hip injury, looked strong and pain-free as he knocked 30s off last year's Holmdel time.   Paul Entwistle ran through a troublesome head cold and still broke 20 minutes.   Jim Burns and Andrew Voyack obliterated last year's times and looked strong and fresh.   Jim flash a big smile and put on a burst of speed with 1000m to go, Voyack on his tail.   (Later stories would also reveal Jim's mental toughness at the top of the bowl, which he made sure to share with everyone around!).   Voyack set a life PR -  a particularly difficult task on a tough course.  Not to be outdone, Brian Wright finished next, also with a life PR, as he continues a late season push for faster times.    Nolan Maier and Sam Infanger, running together the whole race, picked up 7 guys in the last 1000m.  Overall, tremendous individual attitudes and efforts.   Even with the pathetic cool down, the JV effort today makes even really long days at Holmdel totally worthwhile for the coaches!  A couple other notes: Full Results - http://nj.milesplit.com/meets/147774-2013-shore-coaches-xc-invitational Thanks to alum Anthony Horten for working with the top guys all day.   Kevin Harris and Ryan Graham continue to prove themselves great teammates, spending a long day at Holmdel supporting their teammates and coaches.   Thanks for taking times.  Welcome back to the "basketball" crew.  Thanks for your attitude and effort today.   Back to work on Monday! Shout out to Coach Eagles for not leaving anyone at McDonalds! This Coming Week We have a HUGE Batch meet on Tuesday at 3:45 at the Rancocas Valley Sports Complex - NOT the High School.  See the Website under Races and Course Directions.  We will be racing very tough RV and Northern Burlington squads that based on Saturday's performances project to beat us.  So we will really have to step up our game.  Come out and cheer us on! Saturday will be the South Jersey Open down at Delsea.  This is a flat and fast course for everyone to get a good PR.  For the Varsity 7, this is where Sectionals will happen on November 9 - so an important day for everyone. Learn more here - http://home.comcast.net/~ecolona/2012xcsjopenz.htm. The Varsity will race at 10:20, Frosh at 11:20, and JV at 11:50.