Well, as most of you can tell, it has been quite some time since I have posted on this blog. I never realized that I would be so busy that I would not be able to post on our team blog! With all the responsibilties I have not set aside time to let you know what is going on. I apologize for that!
A lot has happened in the last 3 + weeks since I last posted. First, we traveled to Notre Dame for the National Catholic Championships. We did this to promote excitement on the cross country team. We also did it to compete against great cross country teams. It is often hard to find quality XC meets in Texas. That is why we travel more. We had two big trips this season - Notre Dame and Oklahoma State. These type of meets prepare us for what we will face at the Regional chamionships and hopefully nationals. In comparison, we don't have to travel (nor can we because of size) far to find good competition. Any school with a decent track is going to host meets. For instance, we are planning to go to UT several times this spring because it is close, it is a world class track facility, and the competition is always excellent.
Before briefing the Notre Dame and OK State meets I want to quickly mention the track team.
Another reason for the absence of posting is because we have been staying busy kicking off the track pre-season training. We started track practice this Monday with a record number of athletes coming out! We would like to start a few weeks earlier but I always like to give everyone a good 5-6 weeks to get acclimated to the fall semester and give us (the coaches) time to mesh our ideas and visions for what we hope to be a great year. Coach Candace and I have been fervantly working on our Mesocycle (annual plan - periodization scale) for the sprinters and jumpers. The extra few weeks allows us to set everything up and get all athlete's schedule meshed and ready to go.
Track practice has been good thus far. Everyone seems excited to be working out again and be togther once again. We always have a great comraderie among the men and women sprinters. I work hard not to bring in primodonas, egos, and attitude problems. I want the team to be a family that supports each other and encourages each other to reach for the stars. With the additional coaching staff this year I believe we are going to be more competitive and see more Cardinals and Lady Cardinals at the national meet in California this year.
The men have made it a point to qualify either a 4 x 100 or 4 x 400m relay team this year. With the newcomers I believe that we have a stronger 4 x 400m team at this point. The freshmen and transfers have all had more success at their previous schools in the 4 x 400m.
For instance, twins George and Christian Alicea were the first and second legs on Judson's 4th place Texas class 5A 4 x 400m team. Freshman Marcus Edwards was the anchor leg on Reagan's (San Antonio) 3:18 team that finished 4th (I believe) in Region IV-5A this past spring. In a lot of regions, they may have picked up one of the state qualifying spots.
Taylor Echevarria, freshman from Warren HS (San Antonio) was also on a solid 4 x 400m team and was a regional finalist in the open 400. E J Rusher (transfer from Oklahoma Baptist) was on OBU's 3:12 4 x 400m team last year before succumbing to a hamstring injury. Chacho Madera (Graduate student from Corpus A & M) was the 4th leg on a 3:13 team last spring. His compadre Lalo Flores was the 4th leg in 2006 (the year before he transfered to UIW) at Corpus A & M and is hungrier than ever after redshirting last spring.
John Zavala (freshman from Auscuncion, Paraguay) is in his first semester at UIW after anchoring the Under-20 4 x 400m National team for Paraguay that set a national record in 3:17. David Martinez (Sophomore from SA) is back and stronger than ever. His strength gains over the summer are noticable as he is already maxing out at more than he finished out last spring at. I expect David to lead a resurgant men's sprint core into the future. Finally, there are a few newcomers that are going to redshirt this year for development and a few spring transfers that will make our sprint group that much stronger.
David and Mark Olivares are lifting heavy right now as they concentrate on adding more muscle for the Javelin and Discus. David's goal is to qualify for nationals in the Javelin with a toss of 200+. In his first season (actually half season) of throwing the Jav he set a PR of 160'. Adding 10 lbs (from what I can tell) of muscle will only make him throw further!
On the women's side our newfound depth offers excitement. Hayley Watts, Morgan Moszee, Dana Littleton, Miel Harris, and Laura Castro return from the '07 team. Brittany Black, Jenada Morrison and Jenovia Morrison bring state experience to the women's sprint group. We will be thin once again among the women sprinters but the girls are focused on putting together some solid relays and showing what they can do. In addition, Bianca Aguillon (freshman from Antonian) gives us our first shot/discus/javelin thrower in school history. I look forward to her throwing well this year.
Now...back to the in-season sport...
The Notre Dame trip was a success on several fronts. The course was beautiful and the weather was great. When we got there Thursday morning we drove to South Bend to see the course and the campus. The weather was gourgeous and a nice reprieve from the blazing Texas heat! However, Friday was a different story. The temperature was pleasant but the Chicago area (South Bend included) lived up to its reputation as 'the windy city.' Needless to say, they were running into some heavy wind. That didn't slow us down much.
The women ran first. Yvonne Rodriguez, in her first big meet action since 2004 shot out to the lead from the gun. My first inclination was to tackle her...but Bree calmed me down and told me that taking the lead right away was her style. This didn't ease my nevervousness much. After leading the first mile in 5:38 the wind took its toll on her. However, she hung with the lead pack and finished 24th overall in a field of over 300 runners. Even more important, she was the second finisher in the non-division I race.
Rose Caldwell was our second runner. This was her first collegiate cross country race. Coming off of compartment syndrome surgery, Rose nearly bested 20 flat in her first real 5K action. Melissa Martinez (freshman from IWHS) followed closely behind in 20:25 (also her first-ever 5K). Alma Santos surprised us with her strong finish of 20:50, followed closely by sophomore Maggie Callahan (21:00). Overall, it was a good start for our women's team. They ran well, ran inspired, and worked together to finish 16th out of 37 overall teams and 8th out of 25 Division II, Division III, and NAIA schools.
The men also exceeded expectations. As usual, Shayn Weidner led the men's team. Shayn set a school record and a personal record with his 26:15 finish. He finished 38th out of a field of nearly 300 finishers. Adrian Carrillo, in his first 8K action rocked the house with a 27:22! What a debut. What makes his time even more impressive is that up until about 4 weeks before that we thought we would have redshirt 'ole Adrian because of a nagging IT band injury. Just when I thought we might lose him he turned the corner and started to show why he missed all-state in 4A XC by 1 second last fall.
Roman Jacobo also came out ready to prove something in his first-ever 8K with a solid time of 27:52. Roman's was just cleared earlier that week. We almost didn't have Roman because of a snaffu with his HS transcript. Through great haggling by his great mother and lots of prayer Roman was cleared and released his frustration in the mean time!
Finally, Estevan, Blake and Michael finished out our top 6 finishers...
Estevan started off in the back and worked his way through the pack on his way to catching Michael and Blake. Estevan finished in 29:22 to better his previous week's 8K by nearly one-minute! Blake also improved on last season's opening 8K by finishing in 29:24. Finally, Michael, in his first-ever 8K just missed the 30 minute mark with a 30:02.
Overall, the men finished 20th out of 34 teams and 10th out of 20 something teams in the non-division I field. A better finish from our fourth and fifth guys would have propelled us to a top 15 overall finish. However, the men know they have not reached their full potential to this point.
Well...I would love to finish this blog but it is late and I have exhausted my writing facilities this evening.
I will try to finish the OK State summary and the MVR (Most Valuable Runner) as well as the track team's MVR tomorrow.
Until next time...
P.S. I will also try to discuss some of our current training for any recruits who may be interested in what we do at The Word...
A lot has happened in the last 3 + weeks since I last posted. First, we traveled to Notre Dame for the National Catholic Championships. We did this to promote excitement on the cross country team. We also did it to compete against great cross country teams. It is often hard to find quality XC meets in Texas. That is why we travel more. We had two big trips this season - Notre Dame and Oklahoma State. These type of meets prepare us for what we will face at the Regional chamionships and hopefully nationals. In comparison, we don't have to travel (nor can we because of size) far to find good competition. Any school with a decent track is going to host meets. For instance, we are planning to go to UT several times this spring because it is close, it is a world class track facility, and the competition is always excellent.
Before briefing the Notre Dame and OK State meets I want to quickly mention the track team.
Another reason for the absence of posting is because we have been staying busy kicking off the track pre-season training. We started track practice this Monday with a record number of athletes coming out! We would like to start a few weeks earlier but I always like to give everyone a good 5-6 weeks to get acclimated to the fall semester and give us (the coaches) time to mesh our ideas and visions for what we hope to be a great year. Coach Candace and I have been fervantly working on our Mesocycle (annual plan - periodization scale) for the sprinters and jumpers. The extra few weeks allows us to set everything up and get all athlete's schedule meshed and ready to go.
Track practice has been good thus far. Everyone seems excited to be working out again and be togther once again. We always have a great comraderie among the men and women sprinters. I work hard not to bring in primodonas, egos, and attitude problems. I want the team to be a family that supports each other and encourages each other to reach for the stars. With the additional coaching staff this year I believe we are going to be more competitive and see more Cardinals and Lady Cardinals at the national meet in California this year.
The men have made it a point to qualify either a 4 x 100 or 4 x 400m relay team this year. With the newcomers I believe that we have a stronger 4 x 400m team at this point. The freshmen and transfers have all had more success at their previous schools in the 4 x 400m.
For instance, twins George and Christian Alicea were the first and second legs on Judson's 4th place Texas class 5A 4 x 400m team. Freshman Marcus Edwards was the anchor leg on Reagan's (San Antonio) 3:18 team that finished 4th (I believe) in Region IV-5A this past spring. In a lot of regions, they may have picked up one of the state qualifying spots.
Taylor Echevarria, freshman from Warren HS (San Antonio) was also on a solid 4 x 400m team and was a regional finalist in the open 400. E J Rusher (transfer from Oklahoma Baptist) was on OBU's 3:12 4 x 400m team last year before succumbing to a hamstring injury. Chacho Madera (Graduate student from Corpus A & M) was the 4th leg on a 3:13 team last spring. His compadre Lalo Flores was the 4th leg in 2006 (the year before he transfered to UIW) at Corpus A & M and is hungrier than ever after redshirting last spring.
John Zavala (freshman from Auscuncion, Paraguay) is in his first semester at UIW after anchoring the Under-20 4 x 400m National team for Paraguay that set a national record in 3:17. David Martinez (Sophomore from SA) is back and stronger than ever. His strength gains over the summer are noticable as he is already maxing out at more than he finished out last spring at. I expect David to lead a resurgant men's sprint core into the future. Finally, there are a few newcomers that are going to redshirt this year for development and a few spring transfers that will make our sprint group that much stronger.
David and Mark Olivares are lifting heavy right now as they concentrate on adding more muscle for the Javelin and Discus. David's goal is to qualify for nationals in the Javelin with a toss of 200+. In his first season (actually half season) of throwing the Jav he set a PR of 160'. Adding 10 lbs (from what I can tell) of muscle will only make him throw further!
On the women's side our newfound depth offers excitement. Hayley Watts, Morgan Moszee, Dana Littleton, Miel Harris, and Laura Castro return from the '07 team. Brittany Black, Jenada Morrison and Jenovia Morrison bring state experience to the women's sprint group. We will be thin once again among the women sprinters but the girls are focused on putting together some solid relays and showing what they can do. In addition, Bianca Aguillon (freshman from Antonian) gives us our first shot/discus/javelin thrower in school history. I look forward to her throwing well this year.
Now...back to the in-season sport...
The Notre Dame trip was a success on several fronts. The course was beautiful and the weather was great. When we got there Thursday morning we drove to South Bend to see the course and the campus. The weather was gourgeous and a nice reprieve from the blazing Texas heat! However, Friday was a different story. The temperature was pleasant but the Chicago area (South Bend included) lived up to its reputation as 'the windy city.' Needless to say, they were running into some heavy wind. That didn't slow us down much.
The women ran first. Yvonne Rodriguez, in her first big meet action since 2004 shot out to the lead from the gun. My first inclination was to tackle her...but Bree calmed me down and told me that taking the lead right away was her style. This didn't ease my nevervousness much. After leading the first mile in 5:38 the wind took its toll on her. However, she hung with the lead pack and finished 24th overall in a field of over 300 runners. Even more important, she was the second finisher in the non-division I race.
Rose Caldwell was our second runner. This was her first collegiate cross country race. Coming off of compartment syndrome surgery, Rose nearly bested 20 flat in her first real 5K action. Melissa Martinez (freshman from IWHS) followed closely behind in 20:25 (also her first-ever 5K). Alma Santos surprised us with her strong finish of 20:50, followed closely by sophomore Maggie Callahan (21:00). Overall, it was a good start for our women's team. They ran well, ran inspired, and worked together to finish 16th out of 37 overall teams and 8th out of 25 Division II, Division III, and NAIA schools.
The men also exceeded expectations. As usual, Shayn Weidner led the men's team. Shayn set a school record and a personal record with his 26:15 finish. He finished 38th out of a field of nearly 300 finishers. Adrian Carrillo, in his first 8K action rocked the house with a 27:22! What a debut. What makes his time even more impressive is that up until about 4 weeks before that we thought we would have redshirt 'ole Adrian because of a nagging IT band injury. Just when I thought we might lose him he turned the corner and started to show why he missed all-state in 4A XC by 1 second last fall.
Roman Jacobo also came out ready to prove something in his first-ever 8K with a solid time of 27:52. Roman's was just cleared earlier that week. We almost didn't have Roman because of a snaffu with his HS transcript. Through great haggling by his great mother and lots of prayer Roman was cleared and released his frustration in the mean time!
Finally, Estevan, Blake and Michael finished out our top 6 finishers...
Estevan started off in the back and worked his way through the pack on his way to catching Michael and Blake. Estevan finished in 29:22 to better his previous week's 8K by nearly one-minute! Blake also improved on last season's opening 8K by finishing in 29:24. Finally, Michael, in his first-ever 8K just missed the 30 minute mark with a 30:02.
Overall, the men finished 20th out of 34 teams and 10th out of 20 something teams in the non-division I field. A better finish from our fourth and fifth guys would have propelled us to a top 15 overall finish. However, the men know they have not reached their full potential to this point.
Well...I would love to finish this blog but it is late and I have exhausted my writing facilities this evening.
I will try to finish the OK State summary and the MVR (Most Valuable Runner) as well as the track team's MVR tomorrow.
Until next time...
P.S. I will also try to discuss some of our current training for any recruits who may be interested in what we do at The Word...
