10/20/12: IHSAA
Semi-State Two of our Mustangs earned the honor of competing in the IHSAA Semi-State meet this past Saturday at Brown County. Freshman Hannah Sears represented the girls squad and senior Michael Mest represented the boys squad. Their strong seasons came to an end with solid performances, with both posting their second fastest times ever. Unfortunately we saw their seasons end short of the trip to the state finals. With the top fifteen positions advancing to the state finals Sears and Mest finished 38th and 31st in their respective races. Hannah came into the season after having a great deal of success at the junior high level, and had some adjustments to make as she learned how to race a complete 5K needed to compete at the high school level. I think it is safe to say that she made huge strides with her preparation and race day execution. She had races early in the season that saw her come in at around 22:30 or 23:00. Her final three races were 20:22, 20:08, and 20:11, placing her third on the all-time 5K list for Mustang girl runners. The extremely competitive race saw Columbus North’s girls win, lead by an individual victory by Mackenzie Caldwell in a time of 18:06. Columbus also took second and 5th, en route to an overall team title. This race was just such a fast pace right from the gun, and it was difficult to pick up positions if you were boxed in prior to the one-mile mark. Hannah did an excellent job of fighting back during the second half of her race and picked up between five and seven spots during her final mile, and ended with probably her strongest push in the finishing chute that I saw all season. The other girls that she ended up jockeying with for positions during the final stretch were either sophomores or juniors, so for her to push them all the way to the line like that will be a valuable experience for her to build on. The same could be said for the whole season. To make it this far is a really impressive way to start out her high school career. For the past seven fall cross country seasons, Michael Mest has worn “Edgewood” across his chest with pride. Being his coach for his three years in junior high and his four years in high school has truly been my honor. His continued improvement over that time had put him in a position to go into the semi-state meet on Saturday, and have a chance to go to the state finals. Trying to draw from last year’s experience (where he finished 46th) he knew that the pace would go out quick…and quick it was. Eventual winner Conner Sorrells from Barr-Reeve (15:17), came through the 1K mark in under 2:50. Though Mest was quicker than his usual first 1K, the field just had such a quick pace that it set him behind the 8-ball as the pack entered the woods prior to the 1-mile mark. When he approached the halfway point, he was still trying to work back up into a position to really compete during the second half and this is where he did most of his damage on the day. He ran one of his strongest last miles of the season, picking up somewhere between 8-10 spots during that section of the race. To pass that many people in the final mile of a race at this level showed a great ability to keep his composure and fight back, posting his second fastest time his career (16:29). Immediately after the race it was clear that he recognized that this was his final cross country race for Edgewood High School. When someone pours as much into a sport the way that he has, it can sting a little bit. My biggest hope for him now, as the reality sinks in, is that he takes time to reflect on the good he has done in his time in this program. Michael has been such a consistent performer over the course of his career, and especially this season. A lot of the team’s improvement this year is a direct result of his leadership. We had five freshmen and four sophomores on this year’s team. Having his senior leadership undoubtedly brought those younger guys along. He set the tone with a positive attitude and work ethic, and they followed in step. There is not a guy on this team who was not made better by having him for a teammate. Though we are sad to see this season officially come to an end for these two, we are certainly proud of their accomplishments. Congratulations to them both!
Mest and Sears on to Semi-State! Congratulations to both Michael Mest and Hannah Sears for earning All-Regional honors and a spot at the Semi-State meet at Brown County on Saturday the 20th. The boys and girls squads both finished seventh at the Regional meet. The meet was tightly contested and both teams were within a few points of 6th and even within striking distance (about 20pts) of the advancing 5th place spot. This was a huge step over where the teams ended up last year. For comparison, last year the girls squad did not advance to the Regional meet and the boys finished 8th, 70 pts away from advancing. This is a really tough regional. Of the four that feed into the Brown County Semi-State, you could make an argument that this one was the toughest. We knew for both races that we had a shot to get beyond today, but would also need to catch a break or two with the schools who figured to be just ahead of us. On the girls side, we have one runner who had ever run a 5K coming into this season, and they continued to improve as the season progressed. Elizabeth Zimnawoda was the veteran presence on a team filled with inexperience. Olivia Ashba and Amelia Weller are seniors who had never run cross country before, but gave it a shot this year, and were really strong 2nd and 3rd runners for most of the season. Freshman Hannah Sears and Stacy Nethery both improved their times by a few minutes over the course of the season. We had obstacles throughout the season, and these girls just kept bouncing back, which is why they even had a chance to run in the Regional meet. I think at the beginning of the season, if you would have told any of us that this is where we would be at this point, we would have been pretty pleased. Hopefully this is something that people will take notice of and recognize the quality of work that these kids put into this. The lineup of Michael Mest, Michael Gossett, Hank Phillips, David Hardy, Nathan Weller, Jayce Lloyd and Tre Bower gave a valiant attempt. I can say that today I know that these guys gave it everything they had. They can come off the course and know that they didn’t have anything left in the tank, and that is the kind of effort that is going to see this team do even better in the future. At this point of a season, it is not all about a time, it is about a position. I was proud of the way that they continued to fight for positions during the race. We have come such a long way with respect to competing for a full 5K distance, that the guys are hardly recognizable as the same squad that started the season. Both squads were led by their lead horse. Hannah Sears ran a composed first half of the race and a strong second half of the race, which was needed to pick up the additional spots necessary to advance. She was smart out of the gate and just kept herself around striking distance of the positions she needed. Hannah is learning how to race against this level of competition and the past few weeks we have seen her starting to put together more complete races. She keeps getting faster because she is trying to apply what she is learning from previous races. Mest led the boys with an eleventh place finish. This a really tough regional to advance out of on both the boys and girls sides, so for Michael to place 11th is a pretty big accomplishment. He improved from his position in last year’s race and has positioned himself to go into the Semi-State meet knowing that he has a chance to advance. Last year it was really about learning from the experience and trying to finish out with a strong run. This year though he belongs in the conversation about people who have a legitimate shot to advance out of this Semi-State. He has worked his tail off for a number of years now, and it feels good to see him running well. One cool thing about it is that when we talked about his season goals, we planned on being at this point, and built his progressions and his schedule to be ready for this meet. I think he is poised to have a big run, and give himself a good shot. As a team, we know that we would have had to catch a break or two to advance, but we know that it was possible. It will be tough to see them go to the starting line without their teammates standing next to them on Saturday, even though we will all be cheering them on like mad. We are really proud of those two for the way they have consistently led their teams all season, and are excited for them to have earned this opportunity. 10/9/12: IHSAA SECTIONALS
The Girls edged their way in a tight race, but just beating out Eastern-Greene by 5 pts. The girls ran all right today. Top to bottom not our total best, but we didn’t fall apart either, when early in the season that might have happened. We have grown a lot in that respect. We know that overall, being a little more tough during the race and responding to others trying to pass us will be needed going into the Regional meet on Saturday. Of course Hannah's run helped our cause, but even she knows there is more in the tank than what we saw today. This was the first time this season though that she was the one to point out to me where she recognized she needed to work on for next time out. That is a sign of growth as a competitive runner. Ashba, Nethery, and Weller really held serve today. We did not do anything crazy, as far as big drops in time/position, but we did not fall back either. It is a good sign for the girls that when we don’t run our best race, we did not fall apart. We are becoming more consistent. Elizabeth Zimnawoda was probably the standout of the race for our girls though. She has been running in the low to mid 24's and today she ran under 23:30. That was huge for us. Those ten spots she gained during the second and third miles really were the difference today. On the boys side, Michael Mest led the way for our guys who felt the sting of a less than expected performance at the WIC meet. They came into today focused, and top to bottom guys were competing and fighting for spots. Mest finished sixth, by beating out some really good, state-caliber runners. He has gotten to the point now where we are now focused on competing during the race. He definitely will be looking to get out there on Saturday and challenge this group again, as well as the one coming in from the Terre Haute Sectional. The other guys continue to follow his lead. Michael Gossett Just ran a heck of a race to go out and challenge guys like he did. He took off in the seventh or eighth position at about the mile, before starting to slip back to 12th. He fought back though to close back up for a top ten spot. Hank Phillips went out strong and honestly looked like he might be done at the mile, and something happened in the next quarter mile, and he was rejuvenated. He said that he felt himself settling in, and just decided that today he was tired of doing that, so he made a move to break out of it. He was fighting for a top 15 spot for most of the race and was passed by four people with about a 1000m to go. In a real show of fight, he bounced back to get all four of those spots back in the finish. David Hardy and Nathan Weller ran well together, running right with some guys who had finished well ahead of them in some previous meets. We know there is still more there for them to find, but to have consecutive solid runs on this course gives us some momentum heading into Regionals on Saturday. To have PRs by Jacye Lloyd and Tre Bower, was nice too. Those guys are starting to round into the kind of runners that we want to see on our varsity roster. For us to take the next step as a team, we know that all seven of our guys will have to be focused and fighting the whole way. 9/29/12: WIC
Championship @ S. Vermillion 6 Mustangs earned All-Conference honors this past weekend. Congratulations to Hannah Sears, Olivia Ashba, Amelia Weller, Michael Mest, Michael Gossett, and Hank Phillips! The girls ran extremely well this past Saturday at South Vermillion. Fueled by a championship performance by freshman Hannah Sears, who led wire to wire, the girls squad did what was necessary to bring home the team championship. Their 39 points placed them well ahead of the second place team, who scored 65. Seniors Olivia Ashba and Amelia Weller were 3rd and 5th respectively, giving the girls three out of the top five positions. All three earned all-conference honors for their races. Freshman Stacy Nethery turned in her fastest race of the season to finish 12, and Elizabeth Zimnawoda came in 18th in the 43 runner field. To place all of our girls in the top 20 in a competitive race was a big challenge. Only having 5 scoring runners, it just increases the pressure because there is no 6th or 7th runner there to pick up the slack if someone has a bad race. The girls responded to that pressure, as they executed the game plan to perfection. All of the girls had some decision points in the race, and they responded with by using their surges in all the right places. In the case of Hannah, those surges were used to hold off defending champion Rose Guingrich of Brown County. Though she went on to win by a margin of 23 seconds, the race was much closer than that during the middle stages. Taking the lead from the start put her out front by herself, and a few different times in the race she felt the pressure of a defending champion closing in on her, but she used her surges to pull away again. Olivia really took a chance by going out and running with the front two girls. For someone who is still pretty new to 5K races, that can end up turning into a rough race, but Olivia showed a lot of guts by continuing to drive when the front two pulled away and she held off the 4th place finisher. Amelia Weller also went out quick but was able to use her surges to finish her race strong. There were two competitors closing on her at about the two mile mark, and when one went by she made a surge to stay with her and dropped the other competitor. Stacy and Elizabeth both responded during the race to use their surges every time the pack started to get away from them, they surged to stay with it. By the time they were closing in on the final mile, they were both really exhausted, but they were in a position to be racing people which always helps to pull you along. It would have been easy to let that pack get away from them early in the race but these two just kept fighting the whole way. Thought they improved over last year’s fourth place, the boys did not fare as well in their race as we felt we could. We came into the day knowing that it would be a tough race, but felt we had a solid gameplan to attack the course. Unfortunately it just looked like they weren’t mentally prepared to execute that plan, and that falls on me as the coach. I know the boys were physically ready for the challenge, but I have to do a better job at making sure that they are prepared to deal with the challenges that present themselves during the course of a competitive race. This is just a tough day when we see our top three earn all-conference honors, yet it is not enough to come home with the win. Senior Michael Mest once again led the way for the boys with a second place finish. There was a point in the race where he had dropped back to third, and it looked like he might fade, but during the final mile he came back strong to take the second position and continued to close on the eventual winner Nic Yocum of Northview. Mest has always been a strong finisher, and today was no different in that respect. This was a case of just not making a move early enough to give to give himself enough time to track him down. Sophomore Michael Gossett continued his development by challenging for a top three spot. He spent the final mile of the race tracking down Alden Wescott, the top runner from Brown County, to close within 8 seconds of a top three spot. Wescott is a quality runner who has been way ahead of Michael in some previous races, but Gossett has hit a groove recently and felt he had a chance to top him. Though he ran out of time to do it, his gutsy performace was one of the strongest by the boys on the day. Hank Phillips struggled a bit during the middle stages of the race but came back with one of his best finishes of the season to hold off Eddie Ryan of Brown County for the 7th position. The trio of David Hardy, Jayce Lloyd, and Nathan Weller finished 19th, 22nd, and 26th respectively. This group has started to run together during some meets, and that has helped them continue to push one another. Today though it seemed like there was some uncertainty during the early stages of the race in relation to moving early enough to stay with the pack that we felt they needed to be in to win as a team. They are young, but they are smart kids and we will no doubt learn from this experience. Tre Bower rounded out the Mustang runners finishing 30th. Tre ran a time that was close to his best time, so there is really not much more that could be asked for from him. Tre is really committed to improving, and he is still relatively new to running and he has not even begun to see his ceiling yet. As he continues to work, he will certainly continue to improve. 9/22/12: Ted Fox
Memorial @ BNL The teams showed up on Saturday with a singular focus: Take the next step toward becoming the best team we can be this year. They did just that. This was the best our team has executed a race plan so far this season. Each course, is different, and conditions on one day may be different than a previous day on that course, which is one of the challenging things about cross country. This young team is beginning to learn how to race, and beginning to understand how to strategically attack a particular course. Freshman Hannah Sears set that tone for the girls by getting after it early. She attacked the parts of the course she needed to, and it put her in a position to fight for a top 25 position in a big meet. In doing so, she ran the fastest 5K time any freshman girl has run at Edgewood (20:26). This effort was also seen in Elizabeth Zimnawoda, who has been recovering from a bout with a minor sickness that had her down for a couple of weeks. But she took a step today in getting back to the way she knows she can run. Her time of 24:10 was her fastest of the season, and sets her up nicely to be able to drop some more time next week at the WIC meet. Newcomers Amelia Weller and Stacy Nethery could have easily folded in this race, yet we saw the kind of fight that they need to display to go into next week ready to challenge for the WIC title. Stacy had a segment of the race where it looked like she might really fall off the pace, but she made a decision to make a surge and get back into the race she knows she can run. On the boys side, senior Michael Mest showed that he now believes he belongs at the front of the pack. He was in the front group 800m into the race, and surged to take the lead by the 1K. He held that lead through the next two kilometers, before being overtaken by a few guys. His finish of 6th place was the highest that any Mustang has finished at this meet, and really solidified his position as one of the top runners in our area. The only guys that were ahead of him are all guys who are expected to be competing at the state finals in late October. Sophomore Michael Gossett really had a breakout race, finishing 24th with a time of 16:57. He is the 5th sophomore in Edgewood’s history to break 17 minutes (Mest was the last to do it, in 2010). Classmate Hank Phillips ran a strong race as well, and came in at 17:25 in the tough field. His time was good enough for 49th place, but just to show how tough the field was, that time would have placed him in 31st last year. Nathan Weller and David Hardy continue to solidify their position as our number 4 and 5 runners, turning a great time of 18:32 and 18:36 respectively. We have talked all year about having to see those guys get down into range to break the 18 minute mark, and now they are getting down to that point where that is a realistic possibility. The JV race also had a breakthrough race for the Mustangs. Sophomore Jayce Lloyd ran a time of 19:15, showing the kind of fight that will be needed for him to continue to improve. His previous best of 19:55 was a big step for him, and now he appears to be ready to blow by that 19 minute mark and start shooting for the low to mid 18s. We have some potential, and they are starting to realize that potential through their dedication to their workouts and their races. 9/18/12: Home
Meet vs. OV In our only home meet of the season, the Mustangs did not disappoint. The girls took three of the top four positions, including the top two by Hannah Sears with the win and Olivia Ashba with a second place finish. Senior Amelia Weller battled OV’s top runner throughout the race, only to be edged in the end. The next two finishers for Edgewood were Stacy Nethery and Elizabeth Zimnawoda, who also had some individual battles throughout the race. It was fun to watch the battles going on during the course of the race, and we saw the girls win with a score of 21, to OV’s 34. Sophomore Christina Reinhardt ran her first 5K ever, completing the distance, which is a big step for her. The Mustang boys dominated their race. The top seven spots belonged to Edgewood runners, as did the 9th and 10th positions. To go into any race and take 9 of the top 10 spots is impressive. And since this was a new course, it was not like there was an incredible home field advantage either, as none of this team had raced on this course before. David Hardy had an outstanding race, jumping ahead of Nathan Weller, who he had previously been just behind. For our team to accomplish what we need to by the end of the season, those four through seven runners have to close the gap on our top three. They seemed to do that a little bit today, with David making the jump. 9/15/12:
Crawford County Invitational The teams made the long trip down to the hills of southern Indiana. The meet is scored a little differently than most races we run. There are separate races for Freshman & Sophomore girls then boys, then races for Junior & Senior girls then boys. To compile a team score, the five fastest times (regardless of class) are added together for a team total time. This is a course what we consider a true cross country course, complete with woods, hills, curves, etc. It is challenging, yet is a fun race. The girls were led by Hannah Sears, who took fifth in her race as the second Freshman across the line. Her time of 20:41 was a PR, which is a pretty amazing feat given the challenges of the course. She continues to gain in confidence as she continues to put more complete races together. Stacy Nethery was the second of the Edgewood runners in that race, and she did a great job keeping her composure after a quick start, to come through in 24:28. Senior Olivia Ashba set a new PR of 21:12, taking 6th in the race and 2nd in the senior class. She ran this race much more evenly paced than the first one she ran last week. It will be interesting to see her continue to progress as her endurance builds. Junior Elizabeth Zimnawoda ran her strongest race of the season, to come through in 24:22. The past couple of weeks she gutted out her runs, and it was great to see her get a quicker time on a tough course. This could be a sign that she is starting to progress in the direction she had hoped to the past couple of weeks. Though no team score was compiled for the girls today, had Senior Amelia Weller run, I expect that our score would have put us somewhere between 4th and 7th place, out of the 19 other teams. Last year at the same meet the girls were 17th out of 21 teams. The boys’ day was started off with a strong run by sophomore Michael Gossett. He was in the front of the pack during his race, then took a risk to take the lead towards the end of the first loop. He held the lead for a while, then was overtaken by the race’s eventual winner. When you take a risk like that, there is always the chance of it blowing up but he did a great job maintaining his composure to keep his race going after getting passed back. The result was a PR of 17:17, fast enough to come in first among the sophomores. Teammate Hank Phillips hung tough through a flu-bug yet still powered his way through the 5K in 17:42, good for 4th in the sophomore class. The freshman trio of Nathan Weller, David Hardy, and Kyle Rund ran well again today, taking another step in the right direction. These guys are still looking to find the kind of speed/turnover that will be needed when we get to the postseason races, and we could see some flashes of that today. David and Nathan have been working really well together, and Kyle has continued to close up on those two. He has been joined by sophomore Tre Bower, who is only beginning to figure this thing out. All four have really gone all in, and are on their way to being a solid pack. Michael Mest was the boys’ top finisher in the Junior Senior Race. His run of 16:54 was about 30 seconds faster than last year’s time, continuing the trend we have seen at just about every race this season. The biggest thing to take away from his race was that he recognizes a few things he might have been able to do during the race to improve the next time around. Brandon Huisenga ran the type of race we have been hoping to see for a couple of weeks now, finishing in a season best time of 19:01. He is a kid that I know has the potential to drop a lot of time as we move toward the postseason, and it will be important for him to do so for our team to achieve its full potential. The boys finished 4th out of 24 complete teams. It is notable that at the same meet last year we were 15th out of 27 teams. This is just another sign that our teams are continuing to improve. 9/8/12: Eagle
Classic at Brown County The Mustangs hit the wet ground running at Brown County for the Eagle Classic this past Saturday. Facing a course that was pretty muddy in parts, this was a race that was true to the spirit of cross country. This meet is scored a little differently than most we compete in. There are a total of 43 teams at this year’s event, comprised of schools with less than 1,000 students (Class A), and those with more than 1,000 (Class AA). The varsity race is run together, but scored by class. There is also a separate boys race for Freshmen and Sophomores, which is not divided by class. There is no separate Frosh/Soph race for the girls side. The Mustangs were hoping to build off of the momentum they have felt during the past few weeks. Of the 16 runners competing, 13 ran PRs and 2 ran season bests, under less than ideal conditions. Additionally, the team strategy from the Clay City meet appears to have paid off. The pairs of Gosset/Phillips; Weller/Hardy; Rund/ Bower/Lloyd; Huber/Huisenga, were communicating with and pushing one another during the race today. This, coupled with the kids’ improved mental preparation and focus before the race appears to have had a significant impact on the results. The girls were led by Hannah Sears’ 8th place finish. Her race saw a quick start, then she faced a crucial decision at the 2K mark. At this point, she appeared that she might settle into a comfortable pace, but she directed her attention to the runners ahead, and looked much more aggressive as she came through the 3K. Senior Olivia Ashba’s first cross country race was a definite learning experience. She hung tough for the first 3000m, then started to fade as she got close to the 4K mark. Though she continued to fight, she just didn’t have much left in the tank at that point to pick the pace back up. Her 14th place finish was an excellent start to her cross country running though. Senior Amelia Weller and Freshman Stacy Nethery each had another huge improvement in their finish times, both setting new PRs by more than a minute. Weller finished 18th and Nethery 51st. Junior Elizabeth Zimnawoda ran a stronger, race than last week as she showed signs of getting over the sickness she has battled for a couple of weeks. We opted to enter a full squad in the Frosh/Soph race on the boys side, since we have such a young team. The boys fared well with this option finishing 4th as a team, in the 13 team field. Michael Gossett and Hank Phillips ran really well together, pushing and pulling one another throughout the race, en route to a 3rd/4th finish, with a time of 17:20 and 17:24. They both just looked really hungry as he saw the possibility of a top five finish within his grasp. At about the 3K mark, they both made a decision to push through the discomfort they were facing and ran a strong 4th K to put themselves in a position to hold onto their positions. The next pair across for Edgewood was Nathan Weller and David Hardy, who came through in 36th and 39th. One really cool thing to see during the race was David jump ahead of Nathan, and pull his teammate up with him. About 1000m later Weller jumped back ahead of David, and Hardy responded with a surge to stay with him. This was truly team racing at its best, and both saw PRs as they crossed the finish line as a result. The final three finishers for Edgewood in this race was the trio of Tre Bower, Kyle Rund, and Jayce Lloyd. The three finished within 20 seconds of one another, taking 49th, 55th, and 63rd. Rund set a new PR by almost a minute, which was a big step for him as he has battled back from an injury that interrupted his training schedule for a significant portion of the summer. Lloyd was coming off of a 2nd place finish in the JV race at the Clay City meet, and was looking to take another step, to challenge for a varsity spot as the next meet nears. This race put him solidly in that completion. The Mustangs were represented by four runners in the varsity race, so they did not yield a team score, though all four ran well. Michael Mest led the way for Edgewood with a 7th place finish. Mest looked real strong during the first 2Ks and had a phenomenal finish. The exciting thing for Mest (outside of earning another medal), was that he knows he still has more in him. He ran strong, but he could identify the spots in the race where he can still find seconds to take off of his time. This awareness is the result of his years of dedication to continued improvement, which has resulted in continued improvement over his running career. He is poised to do some even more awesome things as this season starts to wind down. Zane Huber and Brandon Huisenga finished just 11 seconds apart, as both were looking for bounce back races. Huisenga ran better today and Huber set a new PR and was almost 1:30 faster than his previous season best. Perhaps the biggest jump today was made by Freshman Nick Trowbridge. Nick shattered his previous PR of 23:08, by running a 21:56. This was such an incredible drop, especially given the sloppy footing that the runners were navigating. The big hope for our team now, is that we celebrate our accomplishments today by building on it and continuing to improve. There are still a few weeks left in the season, which is enough time to see this final training progression tap into even more of the potential that is within this team. Woooo-IP!! 9/6/12: Clay
City Invitational The teams traveled to Clay City for our first mid-week meet of the season. This meet provided a good opportunity for the team to practice a strategy based on pack running, and working together during a race. The girls race saw the shorthanded Mustangs start out strong. Hannah Sears, Stacy Nethery and Amelia Weller were the only three competing for Edgewood, and tried to hold together for the first 3000m. Through the first K, they were a solid group. Towards the end of the second K though, Nethery started to fall off the pace a bit and the plan had to be adjusted on the fly. At that point, Weller and Sears had to adjust the strategy mid-race, and took off to try to pass as many competitors as possible during the final three K. Sears did an excellent job adapting to a mid-race strategy shift, and moved up through the field, to finish in the fourth position. Weller hung on as long as she could, eventually ending up in 11th place out of the field of 32 runners. For Nethery, her race became a battle of will, to overcome the obstacle she was facing. She came back around during her final K to have a strong finish. This will certainly be a race that she will learn from, and can be a source of improvement moving forward. On the boys side, they were also trying to hold the pack together at the 3K. This task was accomplished pretty well, and then it was up to the guys to finish the race with whatever they had left. Michael Mest and Hank Phillips continued to work together as they moved through the field during the final 2Ks, finishing in 5th and 6th respectively. Michael Gossett (who was under the weather) and Nathan Weller also pulled one another along at different points in the final 2K to finish in 12th and 13th respectively. This was an important step for Nathan as he saw himself run right with Gossett through the final stages of the race. Freshman David Hardy was the fifth runner across the line for Edgewood, taking 18th place. Tre Bower was 25th and Kyle Rund was 41st to complete the varsity lineup for the boys. While placing the scoring five in the top 20 at an 8 team meet would often equate to a victory, the Mustangs tallied 54 points to South Putnams 48, which gave our boys the second place finish. It would have been really nice to have come out of there with a victory, but that was secondary on this day, to learning how to race together. We also saw the gap between our number 1 and 5 close significantly over previous weeks, which will be essential as we head into the final weeks of the season. In the JV race, sophomore Jayce Lloyd finished second, showing he was still in the fight for one of the varsity spots in upcoming meets. It was exciting to see Jayce get out there and take the lead in his race. He has a some potential that he has not even begun to tap into yet, and hopefully this race will be a spark for him in the coming weeks. Freshman Nick Trowbridge ran a PR by 4 seconds, on a day when all times seemed to be rather slow compared to past meets. This is his first season running, and he really worked his butt off this summer to get ready. Today’s race is a sign of his continued progress. Next up for the Mustangs is the Eagle Classic at Brown County this Saturday. 9/1/12: Artesian classic: Martinsville Boys: 2/16 Girls: n/a (2nd??)
The 2012 Mustang cross country squad continued to improve, having a strong showing at the Artesian Classic in Martinsville. This was the third meet of the season, and in all three the boys placed significantly higher in the final standings than last years squad. This year’s group finished second in the small-school division, out of 16 scoring teams. By comparison, last year we were 8th out of 15 teams. It should also be noted that two of the teams we finished ahead of (Indian Creek and Silver Creek) traditionally have some of the stronger programs of schools our size, and are even included in the state level rankings for medium sized schools. This is all just taken as a sign that we are continuing to become more and more competitive, as we continue to put in the quality work that we have been doing all summer. The team was led by a gutsy race by senior Michael Mest, who finished in 16:48. He pushed the pace right out of the gate and led through 3000m. Before the 4K mark, he was over taken by two competitors, who started to pull away. At the 4K mark though Mest rebounded and closed extremely well, passing for second and positioning to challenge for the win in the final 200m. The duel down the stretch saw Mest just barely run out of room, to finish within 1.5 seconds of the win. It is tough to run at the front like that, and it would have been real easy to pack it in when those other two guys passed him, as he could have easily cruised in for a third place finish. But Mest’s fight erased the 12 second gap and was a great example of the kind of fighting spirit we want to see in our teams. This team is not about a one-man show though, and the sophomore duo of Michael Gossett and Hank Phillips had outstanding races, placing 6th and 11th respectively. The quick pace at the start of the race did not catch these two off guard, as they did a great job of settling in by the 1K mark and finding a smooth stride for the remainder of the race. The 17:28 by Gossett (a 27 second PR) was especially exciting to watch. He has gone out like that in races before, only to fall off the pace as the race goes. Today though, he just ran with such control, and it was one of those kinds of races where you see an athlete really elevate themselves to another level. The fourth and fifth scoring runners for Edgewood’s boys was the freshman pair of Nathan Weller and David Hardy, who finished in 43rd and 50th in the field of 107 runners. David looked real strong today. He did appear to hesitate for a moment before passing teammates who have been ahead of him for most of the season (namely Weller). Once he did though, Weller responded by picking up the pace, and the two worked well as a team to move up in the rankings. Though Weller ended up finishing 16 seconds ahead of Hardy, that move by David re-energized his teammates, proving that this group of young men is starting to learn how to actually race as a team. Tre Bower improved his time by a minute from his previous 5K two weeks ago at Terre Haute. Tre has barely been running competitively for a year, and is starting to show signs that he is entering a new realm of running and racing. Kyle Rund led the Mustangs in the JV race, and is continuing to improve as he comes back from a broken collarbone that had him out for a number of weeks. Our sport is so dependent upon consistent training, that his injury really set him back. But he has continued to fight through the challenges and as a coach, it was great to see him put together a complete race. He was very consistent through the first 4000m, and even dropped his final K down to under 4:00, to finish in 20:39, about 40 seconds faster than his previous outing. Other boys who competed were Brandon Huisenga (21:01), Jayce Lloyd (21:51), Nathaniel Welch (21:58), and Nick Trowbridge (23:08). The girls were led by freshman Hannah Sears, who continues to adjust to the training and racing at the high school level. Her 13th place finish in 21:38 was especially striking, since she did not appear to be in a groove like we have seen her get in during some of her previous runs. This can partly be attributed to a nagging injury that she has been battling, but we will continue to expect to see big things from her as she fights to work herself back to full strength. Senior Amelia Weller, a first year high school runner, continues to impress, turning in a 24th place finish in a time of 22:57. Her improvement of a full minute is wholly attributed to her aggressiveness with this race. She went out quicker than we have seen, and then she just gutted out the last half of the race. She took a bit of a risk today, and saw it pay off as she put herself in a pack with some faster runners, and used them as a way to pull her to a faster time. Freshman Stacy Nethery also improved by over a minute in her race, continuing to build on the momentum she started to gain towards the end of our summer training. Her consistency with her workouts has been the key to her improvement, and now that she is starting to see faster times on race day, one can only assume that her fire will only be fueled to continue. Junior Elizabeth Zimnawoda was struggling today, yet held on for a 46th place finish, ending up slightly out of the top half of the field, which is no easy task in a race this large. As with the first two meets, the girls were without enough runners to field a complete team score. This situation that will be remedied over the coming weeks as Olivia Ashba will be competing in some upcoming meets, in preparation for the WIC meet and the state series. The girls who ran did well enough that a team placing of second would be a reasonable expectation when Olivia joins the group. 8/25/12: Danville Hokem Karem Boys: 9/20 Girls: n/a The Mustangs took another step in the right direction this past Saturday at the Danville Hokem Karem. Unlike the 5K races they normally run, this meet is a 6mile relay, of two-person teams. Runners in each pair alternate miles, so each person runs 3 times. For the new runners, this is a good meet to follow up their first 5K, which was run the prior weekend. For the veterans, they see this as a nice change of pace. The four girls competing ran very well. The first Mustang pair to cross the finish line were Stacy Nethery and Hannah Sears, coming in 19th out of the field of 54 pairs, with a time of 42:28. Elizabeth Zimnawoda and Amelia Weller were not far behind, coming in 22nd 43:17. For Weller and Nethery, this was a potential breakout race. Both looked much stronger in their runs than we saw last week, as they appear to have immediately begun adjusting to the competition of a high school cross country meet. It will be interesting to see how they respond next week at Martinsville, where we return to the 5K. The boys were led by a 12th place finish from the pair of Michael Mest and Hank Phillips. Though both were a bit sluggish from the first week of school, they still set a positive tone for the Mustangs, by improving over last years top pair of Mustangs. Michael Gosset and Brandon Huisenga came in 32nd out of the 84 pairs. Gosset ran an outstanding race, improving his time by well over a minute from last year’s race. This tone was followed all through the boys pairings, as Mustangs finished in 9th place out of 20 teams, and were within striking distance of the next three teams ahead. Last year at this meet we were 13th out of 18. The team was extremely young last year, and has developed a lot over the past twelve months, so I was extremely glad to see the results show up in the final standings. We are really looking to build on what was established last season, and improve each week. Rounding out the scoring pairs for the boys were Nathan Weller and Tre Bower (50th), David Hardy and Zane Huber (56th), and Kyle Rund and Jayce Lloyd (76th). Next Saturday the team will be competing just a short drive north, at the Martinsville Invitational. 8/18/2012: Early Bird Meet: Terre Haute Boys: 8/17 Girls: n/a
The Mustangs cross country teams were in action this past Saturday at the Early Bird Invitational in Terre Haute. The meet is hosted by Bloomington North and is held on the Bird-Gibson Championship Cross Country Course. It is a deceivingly tough course and can present some real challenges if the runners are not mentally prepared for it, and this young team handled the challenges nicely. The boys finished 8th out of a strong field of 17 teams, improving on last year’s 11th place finish. Senior Michael Mest led the way for the boys with a 12th place finish. This was especially nice, considering that he spent the first 2000m pacing some of his less experienced teammates, to help them settle into the race. This was a real show of leadership on his part, as he sacrificed some of his own potential individual performance for the betterment of his team. Even running that type of race, Mest turned in a time that was 42 seconds faster than he ran on this course last year. Senior Brandon Huisenga ran a race that showed some fight that this team has been looking for him to show. He really bounced back after struggling in the middle part of the race, to have a strong finishing kick. Our sophomore group really improved over last year’s run, as all of them saw their times improve. Hank Phillips and Michael Gossett led the sophomore charge by taking 40th and 47th respectively, in the field of 195 runners. Tre Bower has only been running competitively for a year now, and actually set a new PR of 20:43 on a tough course, which is quite a way to start off his second cross country season. Nathan Weller was the first of this year’s Mustang freshmen to cross the finish line, in a time of 20:29. It was evident that the transition from a 3000m race to a 5000m race threw him for a bit of a loop. Look for big things from Weller as the season progresses and he gains more experience. David Hardy turned in a solid run, showing some promise at the 5K distance, after turning in a great summer in which there was a lot of growth as a runner. The girls did not have a complete scoring team at this meet, as two of our five were not competing. Freshman Hannah Sears looks to build on a stellar junior high career, and took a big first step today. She placed 44th in the field of 189 runners. She was the 9th freshman to cross the finish line, indicating that as she continues to develop, she has some big things in store for her as she gets more accustomed to the added 2000m. Senior Amelia Weller ran her first 5K ever, and showed promise. Coming in at 23:56, she was the 72nd runner across the line. Stacy Nethery was the third Mustang across in the girls race, with a time of 26:06, good for 128th. Stacy is a freshman that still has a lot to learn about competing at this level, but has recently started to reveal some of the competitive, fighting spirit that will give her the opportunity to see major improvements as the season unfolds. PRE-SEASON PREVIEW This year’s version of the Edgewood Mustangs Cross Country team has undergone some significant changes and has quite a few new faces. First of all, the boys and girls programs have combined under Head Coach Micah Mobley. Of this year’s 17 runners, 9 are either freshmen or were not on the team last year, so there are a lot of new faces. As the summer has progressed though, this collection of individuals has continued to develop into a singular unit, cooperating to make it through the tough summer months that comprise a competitive cross country training regimen. Though the learning curve will undoubtedly be steep with this year’s group, in all they are in a good position as they move toward the first meet on August 18th at Terre Haute.
Senior Michael Mest is expected to lead the boys side, as he looks to put himself in a position to solidify his spot as one of Edgewood’s all-time great runners. He will not be alone though, as sophomores Hank Phillips and Michael Gossett return, following an outstanding freshman campaign. Both have taken strides in their training through the summer and are poised to build on what they started last season. Brandon Huisenga and Zane Huber are the other two seniors on this year’s squad, and have both put themselves in position to improve over their previous seasons. Sophomores Tre Bower, Nate Welch and Jayce Lloyd are all three having stronger summers than last year, and are expecting to see large improvements with a full year of high school competition under their belts. The boys are rounded out by a solid incoming freshman class, consisting of Nathan Weller, Kyle Rund, David Hardy, and Nick Trowbridge. Trowbridge is new to running but has started to catch on in recent weeks. The other three had some success at the junior high, and are looking to take the next steps in their progression as runners.
Elizabeth Zimnawoda is the only returning girl for this year’s squad, and her consistency and calm demeanor has helped the other girls ease the transition to a new coach. Newcomers Amelia Weller and Olivia Ashba are the only two seniors on the girls side, but both have some running talent that should prove to be beneficial for the team by the end of the season. Stacy Nethery and Hannah Sears make up the freshman class for the girls. Nethery has some potential but is pretty new to the competitive side that makes up high school running. She has recently started to show some signs of breaking through that mental barrier. Hannah Sears comes in with somewhat of a target, as she flew through the conference competitions in the past two years at the junior high. Now, she will be competing against more experienced girls who will not be caught off guard by her extremely competitive drive. Watch for her name not only this year, but over the next few.
Currently, there are no home meets on the schedule for the Mustangs this year, but there are plenty of races which are just a short drive to come out and support these young adults as they put themselves out there as an excellent group of representatives for our schools and our community. When you see them out on the roads of Ellettsville, know that all those miles they are covering are in hopes of bringing positive recognition to themselves and our community. Edgewood Mustang Cross Country is on the build. Encourage this young group as they strive for excellence! |
Past Seasons' Results > 2012 >