Captain.

Regardless of a little wind, there wasn’t a better day to run up at Holmdel this past weekend. The guys fell one spot short of qualifying for the Meet of Champions but walked away feeling pretty satisfied on the day.

It would have taken 17:12 a man or better to move on to Meet of Champs, a team average that may not have been there this year but is certainly feasible for next season and beyond. The infrastructure is set in place – a core group of individuals that are dedicated, courageous, and excited for the future. What will get us over the hump? A killer instinct – the development of a bunch of frontrunners and as 7 of our top 9 are returning, that will come too.

All in all, it was a par for the course performance up there on a day when almost every team in South Jersey faltered to some degree. The guys came home possessing the 4th best South Jersey team time on the day and the 23rd best performance in the whole state. Six of the seven guys registered Holmdel PRs but CBA, Don Bosco, and Pope John were too strong and ran relatively flawless team races. They were several teams off the wildcard spot coming out of a tough group but no luck in 2011. As a whole, this year has yielded some impressive improvement and there’s a core group here that could prove to be a special team in 2012.

There were no real complaints all around, maybe a lingering sense of dissatisfaction, but these guys know they did pretty damn well on the year winning back the SJ Parochial title and setting themselves up for a bright 2011. On the day, Dan Marino deserved the MVP award – destroying his Holmdel PR and closing impressively in the last 1.1 miles to move from 30th to 22nd. Chris Booth also ended the year with a healthy Holmdel PR capping off a great end of the Championship season for him.

We’ll be back with the End of the Season awards, Regional results, much more by way of pictures, and a recap of 2011 to date!

20. MacFarlane 17:11
22. Marino 17:26
28. Verna 17:35
30. Patterson 17:44
35. Balzer 17:50
36. Booth 17:55
78. Gallagher 18:42
4th out of 20 Parochial A squads, team average 17:33

Guys, remember this THURSDAY, 11/17, starting at 6:30PM is the Paul VI OPEN HOUSE. Be there to help out! 

To all Paul VI supporters/alums/parents, etc., please wish our XC squads luck for tomorrow’s race!!! The guys go off at 12:30PM, the girls at 11:40AM.

2011 South Jersey Parochial Champs with Sister Marianne!

Those racing tomorrow:

Gallagher

MacFarlane

Verna

Booth

Balzer

Patterson

Marino

Alternates: Durante-Koller, Cleary

Fear is the strongest driving-force in competition. Not fear of one’s opponent, but of the skill and high standard which he represents; fear, too, of not acquitting oneself well. In the achievement of greater performances, of beating formidable rivals, the athlete defeats fear and conquers himself. – Frank Stampfl

“I have no control over how fast my opposition can run. It’s not like I can tackle them. All I can do is work harder. Smarter. Train when my opposition doesn’t. In blood-chilling temperatures. Rain. Sleet. Wind.”

“What counts in a battle is what you do once the pain sets in.”  – John Short

As we’ve said, gentlemen, the work has been done. 6 months of prep. Both Coach Rankin and I are excited to see what you can do up there! Enjoy it. Run like there is NO next year.

You can never predict the exact outcome of a race and that’s precisely what makes cross country and sports, in general, so damn fun. Saturday was no exception…

The Seniors this past weekend enhanced their four year career with inspired runs and huge PRs to ensure that Paul VI took back the South Jersey Parochial title from a tough Bishop Eustace squad. We knew it would take a lot of personal bests to beat them but between the two teams, roughly 90% of the squads registered PRs.

Captains Adam Verna and Neil MacFarlane led the way but this time, there was a new PVI stud in tow. Junior Dan Marino went for it – and certainly didn’t look too stressed – finishing 6th place and almost breaking 17 minutes for the first time. Both Mike Patterson and senior Chris Booth dug a hole early on with a slower start than the rest. In truth, however, it may have played to their advantage as they moved up impressively over the last mile and half of the course. They were in a battle the whole way with Eustace’s number 4 and 5 as well as Camden Catholic’s number one and, in the end, they did what they had to do to win. Chris Booth, in short, destroyed his PR in the process finishing in the top 5 for the first time this season. It was a gutsy race that we were glad to see pay dividends! Peter Gallagher was not too far off, running a PR as well and finishing in the top 20 for the first time at this meet. His race, especially, meant a lot as there are few as dedicated as him in this sport. He “just raced” and it showed – no filler, no analysis, just plain guts.

Sophomore George Balzer may have had an off day but all of his results this year point to him bouncing back next week at States, hungry and more ready than ever. And last but not least, first year runner and senior Brian Lang registered the biggest PR of the day, beating his previous time by 39 seconds to run 18:38. Shame we couldn’t have gotten to him sooner!

All in all, a good day of PRs and breakout performances – something a coach can never get used to (in a good way). All were happy to be able to win for the Paul VI school officials in attendance! Thank you to Sister Marianne and Mr. Chambers for making the trip and all of their support. And as we’ve been saying all season, this parent support is unbelievably unbelievable and something that enhances this program immensely (pictures of the smorgasboard post-race will be evidence of that). So thank you parents!

On to States…as this team gets ready to tackle a deep and talented Parochial A! There will be many pictures and additions to come so check back! Holmdel, here we come…

3. MacFarlane 16:40 (-:09 PR, #5 All Time at Delsea)
4. Verna 16:57 (-:01 PR, #9 All Time at Delsea)
6. Marino 17:01 (-:19 PR, #10 All Time at Delsea)
11. Patterson 17:15 (-:08 PR, #18 All-Time at Delsea)
13. Booth 17:17 (-:29 PR, #19 All-Time at Delsea)
19. Gallagher 17:26 (-:14 PR, #21 All-Time at Delsea)
31. Balzer 17:53
32. Durante-Koller 17:58 (#30 All-Time at Delsea)
37. Cleary 18:08 (#34 All-Time at Delsea)
50. Lang 18:38 (-:39 PR)
58. Boldurian 18:55
65. Feeney 19:09 (Course PR)
1st out of 9 teams, team average 17:02

Location: Pennypacker Park, Haddonfield

Distance: 5,000m

Awards: Medals to the Top 25 in the Sub-Varsity Race, Top 15 in the Freshman Race

Itinerary:

2:55-3:00PM Leave from Paul VI HS for Pennypacker Park, Haddonfield

4:00PM BOYS SUB-VARSITY 5k (Durante-Koller, Cleary, Feeney, Boldurian, Lang, A. Munns)

4:30PM FROSH BOYS 5k (Rottler-Gurley, Schmidt, Packi, P.Munns)

5:30-5:45PM Arrive back at Paul VI HS

1. The Haddonfield Sub-Varsity Invitational this week is on WEDNESDAY, October 26, 2011. NJRunners has the date wrong.

2. Thank you to all of the alumni (and as always, the amazing parental support) that came out to the Blue and White this past Saturday held at Pennypacker Park in Haddonfield, NJ. It was a great turnout for the first year, something we hope to build upon year after year.

On to Friday’s Olympic Conference Championship recap:

Verna.

The Paul VI guys meant business on Friday afternoon, placing 4th out of 15 teams (their best finish in almost a decade) at the Olympic Conference Championships and taking a huge step towards their Championship season goals. Led by Neil MacFarlane, the Paul VI pack weathered a quick start to register their best team performance of the season so far. Only 25 seconds separated the top five as their team average on GCC’s tough ‘C’ course dropped dramatically (a remarkable 21 seconds a runner!). The overall outcome? Four First Team All-Conference performers in MacFarlane, Verna, Marino, and sophomore Balzer and two Second Team All-Conference selections in Patterson and senior Chris Booth. Not bad for the day. Captain Adam Verna made an impressive move during the 2nd mile that the guys behind him covered putting them into great positioning for the last mile. Mike Patterson, about 5 seconds off of Balzer and Marino at 2 miles, showed his resilience in the last mile passing several key runners and linking back up with the pack in the straightaway.

Varsity (4th of 15 teams)

14. MacFarlane 16:58 (Course PR)
17. Verna 17:09 (Season PR)
24. Marino 17:20 (-:18 PR)
25. Balzer 17:22 (-:17 PR)
26. Patterson 17:23 (-:03 PR)
43. Booth 17:48 (- :02 PR)
56. Gallagher 18:18 (Course PR)

The Varsity squad’s performance clearly rubbed off on a few of the JV guys as the PRs continued to pile up during the last race of the day. Sophomore Jake Durante-Koller charged from 12th place at two miles to 3rd place at the finish, a hair from 2nd, for a huge PR of 18:02 (33 seconds). He was followed by the consistency of fellow sophomore Robert Cleary and junior Mike Boldurian. The second big PR of the day was registered first-year senior runner Brian Lang who put himself in an unfamiliar place early on only to see big results in the end (79 second PR!). The frosh duo of Ben Rottler-Gurley and William Schmidt worked together the whole way with Schmidt walking away with a 62 second personal best, one we felt was definitely coming.

Junior Varsity (5th)

3. Durante-Koller 18:02 (-:33 PR)
18. Cleary 18:42
22. Boldurian 18:53 (Season PR)
46. Feeney 19:22 (Season PR)
50. Lang 19:29 (HUGE -1:19 PR)
62. Rottler-Gurley 19:58
68. Schmidt 20:16 (HUGE -1:02 PR)
120. P. Munns 22:30 (Course PR)
141. Packi 24:48 (HUGE PR)

We should have pictures from both the Olympic Conference Championship and the Blue and White up shortly. You can else see them on Facebook – just request to join the group PVI XC.

Details for the Haddonfield Sub-Varsity Invite will be up on the site shortly!

Location: Gloucester County College, ‘C’ Course

Itinerary:

1:43PM Students are dismissed at the END of 7th period; get dressed and immediately head out to the bus

2:00PM Bus leaves NO LATER than 2PM to get to Gloucester County College

2:30PM Approximate arrival time at Gloucester County College

3:35PM VARSITY BOYS (MacFarlane, Verna, Balzer, Patterson, Gallagher, Booth, Marino)

4:35PM SUB-VARSITY BOYS (Durante-Koller, Feeney, Cleary, Rizzo, Lang, Boldurian, A. Munns, Rottler-Gurley, P. Munns, Packi, Schmidt)

5:30-5:45PM Approximate departure time from Gloucester County College for Paul VI HS

6:00-6:15PM Approximate arrival time at Paul VI HS

“Pressure is word that’s misused in our vocabulary. When you start thinking of pressure, it’s because you’ve started to think of failure” – Tommy Lasorda

“The principle is competing against yourself. It’s about self improvement, about being better than you were the day before.”
- Steve Young

“Experience tells you what to do; confidence allows you to do it.” – Stan Smith

That last one is nothing but the truth. Let’s be ready to go.