Nov. 26, 2014
This past weekend we traveled to Indiana for the culmination of our season, the NCAA Division II Midwest Regional Championships. Thirty teams toed the line to spend thirty minutes duking it out for four available spots to nationals. We were unranked coming into the weekend (they rank the top ten) and set a goal as a team to finish in that top ten, maintaining our goal from the beginning of the year to be in that top four and qualify for nationals.
If you’re reading this, I’m assuming you already know how we did but I guess I’ll tell you anyways. We got tenth. So we accomplished one of our goals, finishing in the top ten, but fell short of our preseason goal. It’s hard to compare our team from the beginning of the season to our team at the end of the season. We changed a lot over the course of the season, as any team as young as ours would. The ones given the task of leading this young team were a group of four seniors.
Matt “Cheeks” Cheney came into Cedarville with high expectations out of high school as the New York cross country state champion. During his last few seasons he has been plagued during races and workouts with intense side cramps. Despite the frustration of visits to countless doctors all over the country with no answers and intensification of the cramps as time went on, Matt has shown incredible perseverance. He was a big part of last season’s team that placed fifteenth at nationals. This season Matt was a captain and a much more vocal leader for our team than in years past. He also became a spiritual leader in our team Bible study and keeping all of us focused on the reason we run. Matt has taught me so much in the last year and a half but the biggest thing that stands out is how he’s dealt with the physical adversity he’s endured: he always kept his attitude positive and knew that his identity was in his relationship with Christ, not in how fast he ran.
Ben “Turtle” Tuttle is another man that has taught me about perseverance, especially in the past year. Ben is a great example of hard work paying off. He bought into coach’s high mileage system and saw the rewards, being part of national teams each of the last two years. This season we were counting on him to be out front for us, and he was at the first two meets of the year. Unfortunately, God had other plans for Ben’s season and he has spent the last few months sidelined with what we now know to be a stress fracture. Like Matt, Ben has been a great example of someone who knows where his identity lies. There’s a peace about Ben even though he can’t race that can only come from an identity rooted in Christ. Not the most vocal captain by nature, I’ve appreciated Ben’s leadership in leading by example. He’s always working hard, even when he’s hurt. He has a passion for running that is contagious and challenges those around him to work as hard as he does. Ben is applying for a medical hardship that could give him another season of eligibility so hopefully we haven’t seen the last of Ben Tuttle.
Clay “You Gotta Want It” Watson came to Cedarville as a walk on and is leaving a highly decorated individual and a member of two national qualifying teams. Clay is always challenging those around him to push themselves to do more (more may be running faster or putting ice down someone’s shirt). His“you just gotta want it” attitude has helped him compete at levels no one ever thought he could. Clay loves to have fun and is always up for something crazy. He emerged as a leader of our team both on and off the course this year. Clay has challenged me to push the limits of what I think possible for my own life and exudes a calm confidence to those around him. Clay still has some schooling left so even though his eligibility is up, he’ll still be hanging around with us next year.
Last but most certainly not least, Joel Dennison. Joel has taught me how to be patient. He ran 28:31 in the 8k and 36:00 in the 10k as a freshman. He spent three years steadily adding mileage and improving without ever making the top seven until his senior year. This year he ran 26:41 for 8k and 33:31 for 10k. That improvement came as the result of four long years of hard work. Joel was a leader by example for our team who didn’t really care what was going on around him, he was going to show up and work hard every day. I’ve learned a lot from Joel and have had some great conversations with him. If you ever get the chance to get him by a campfire after midnight for a conversation, do it.
These four guys are the last of a generation of Yellow Jackets that saw the transition to NCAA Division II and went to two national meets. We’ve appreciated their leadership and instruction in this, their final year, not to mention their contributions in each of their four years here. They will be sorely missed and I wish them the best in everything they do after graduation.
And just like that, another cross season has come to a close. It’s always hard to evaluate a season so soon after it concludes because emotions are still high and we haven’t had time for everything to settle down so we can look at it objectively (at least, as objectively as one can look at something with which they were so intimately involved). The one thing that I can say for certain is that this team had a lot of fun. Our season consisted of almost as many laughs as miles (and not for a lack of miles). Despite our frustrations we grew together as a team and I wouldn’t trade my brothers for the world.
Thank you all for reading and putting up with my non-english-major-ness (I’m sorry, that’s the worst I’ve been all year) all year. Thanks for your support all season and we look forward to doing it all again next year.
Remember that it’s ALL FOR THE GLORY OF GOD,
Tyler
Nov. 16, 2014
Well, it looks like Ohio has finally decided that it’s winter. It was 66 last Tuesday and we went for our (probably) last shirtless run of the year. Two days later we did our “glorified striders” workout in a surprisingly hard snowfall. Speaking of snow, I hear we’re supposed to get 3-5 inches tonight, so that should make this week interesting. There isn’t supposed to be any snow this weekend for Regionals, with temperatures being in the 30's and 40's, but wouldn’t that be something?
I’ve never actually run a cross country race in snow. I’ve run a track race in snow, but that’s a story for another day. I’ve always wanted to run a cross country race in the snow, just a light dusting to make everything look white but not enough to cover the grass and make everything completely white. I think that’s what makes runners different from regular people. I say I’d love to race when it’s 25 and snowing, meanwhile when I tell people cross country is still going, their inevitable response is “Ooh, that sounds miserable! Don’t you get cold running outside?” I know I’m weird in that I wear shorts everywhere in all temperatures (last year when it was -30, I was in shorts) but I think all runners would love the opportunity to run in conditions like that because of the challenge it presents. Yes, we get cold, but there’s no feeling like peeling off the layers seconds before race time to face the elements and the competition. Runners relish the chance to prove their mental toughness by subjecting themselves to physical agony in the worst imaginable conditions. I know how crazy that sounds, but it’s what we do.
We found out earlier this week that we will be able to bring the entire team to Regionals with us. We only get to run seven guys in the race, but I don’t think anyone would debate that this team has 15 guys on it and it’s just not the same when everyone isn’t there. We still have the whole team training every day because you never know what can happen and who may have to step in and race.
The last weeks of the season are always the hardest as student-athletes. A lot of people put a big emphasis on the fact that we are students first and athletes second, and while that’s true, we are also athletes who want to compete at the highest level we can. During most of the year it’s pretty easy to sacrifice running for school. Staying up late to study and devoting a large majority of our mental capacity to school work isn’t even a question. But, these last weeks preparing for Regionals, it becomes harder to make those decisions. We’re trying to do all the little things to be at our best for this Saturday. That means staying after practice a little longer for more stretching, getting to bed earlier, and spending more time as a team and individually mentally preparing. The problem is that all this extra preparation leaves less time for school. Finding that balance is hard, especially for a team as young and inexperienced as ours.
All that said, this is the week that we’ve been training for since May. As my high school coach used to tell us, the hay is in the barn. Nothing we do now will help us physically. There’s no workout we can do that will make us faster on Saturday. All that’s left to do is trust in our training and execute. Thousands of miles and countless hours all in preparation for a little over half an hour of actual race time. We leave Friday morning for Indiana where we’ll run the course and spend the night, then race Saturday morning. There are live results available at http://www.gousieagles.com/sports/2014/5/29/MXC_0529144909.aspx.
Remember that it’s ALL FOR THE GLORY OF GOD,
Tyler
Nov. 11, 2014
Funny how things don’t always work out the way you thought they would. This is the third year that the G-MAC has been in existence. We won pretty easily the first two years. As a matter of fact, we scored a perfect 15 both years. At the beginning of the year we assumed that G-MAC would go pretty much the same this year. This year has been a little different, though. It seems like everything that could go wrong so far has gone wrong: injuries, illnesses, bad races, you name it and we’ve had it. But, in championship season, all that matters is that you win. It doesn’t matter how pretty or ugly the win may be, just as long as you win.
We were without Ben Tuttle for the fourth straight meet and were also without Wyatt Hartman, who got sick the day before the race. This was the first race back in a few weeks for Clay Watson after an ankle injury over fall break. He led our team with his runner-up performance in 25:32. Zac Bowen ran an incredible race, PR'ing by over 30 seconds and snagging the Freshman of the Year Award finishing fifth. Daniel Michalski, Matt Cheney, Matt Pelletier, and Joel Dennison also earned All-GMAC honors. We had talked about running as a pack for weeks and finally got it done. Our pack started a little slow but worked up and pushed Trevecca’s fourth and fifth guys back far enough to give us the team title by a mere four points.
Despite a lack of PR's on the course (besides Zac), I think there’s still a lot we can take out of this weekend. I mean, we did win the meet, and that’s what we went there to do. We came together as a team both on and off the course in ways that we haven’t so far this season (we fit nine guys in the bus bathroom, if that’s not coming together I don’t know what is). We also got to have a ton of fun and show our AD, Dr. Geist, what we’re all about as a team. Not to mention the special celebration we had after we got back to campus for married-man-to-be Matt Cheney.
Now that we’ve learned how to run as a team, we have one more chance to do it well. Regionals is now less than two weeks away. We’re primed and ready to bump up from 8k to 10k and see our high mileage from the summer pay off. Hopefully we’ll have Ben back ready to tear it up and we’ll lay it all on the line for a shot at nationals. We need to finish in the top four to qualify. We accomplished our first post-season goal this weekend and now we’re focusing on accomplishing the second.
Remember that it’s ALL FOR THE GLORY OF GOD,
Tyler
Nov. 4, 2014
Most people don't think of running as a team sport. In a way, it's not. Each athlete goes out individually to compete against all of the others and try to beat as many of them as possible. This is especially true at the highest level of running. In the Olympics and the professional circuit, there are no team scores, there aren't even any teams.Athletes represent their countries or sponsors, but often that only serves to create rivalries between athletes competing for large contracts.However, we are at a stage where the team still matters.In fact, for many of us the team is ALL that matters.Most of us will never make it to nationals on our own. We just don't possess that much God-given talent.The only way we can make it, then, is with the help of our teammates.
Running with a group of guys day in and day out for months on end forms special bonds.The problem is that we often leave these bonds at the starting line on race day. It's so easy to see our teammates on the course the same way we see everyone else: as competitors we need to beat.But that's not at all the way it should be if we want to reach our full potential as a team.
It's proven in cross country that running WITH, not against, people makes you faster. The last two weeks we've done an inordinate number of tempo runs, which have given us great practice (yes, we're literally practicing running, as weird as that sounds) running together, as a team, in a pack (or "The Swarm" as Wyatt likes to call it). The beauty of pack running is the support that is right there for you. You don't have to feel good and push yourself to run fast, just stick on the backs of the guys who are feeling good and let them pull you along. With a group of eight guys running together odds are someone is going to be feeling good and push the pace. It also has advantages in drafting and pacing for younger guys, not to mention how demoralizing it is for the other teams' guys to get passed by eight guys all in gold at the same time.
Another advantage to running as a team is that it gives you extra motivation. I can push through the pain in the second half of the race because I know that I'm not doing it just for me, but for the fourteen other guys who are doing the same thing for me.That extra motivation of running for something more than just personal satisfaction can do amazing things. I was at the Ohio State XC Championships this past weekend, where five of the six individual state champions were on teams that finished in the top ten. I think they were able to win in part because they had an extra motivation: their teams needed them. Races aren't won on talent alone, but to quote Clay, "You gotta want it." Especially in the last half of the race, when the pain is at its worst and you have to decide whether to push through it or give in, the people who want it the most find a way to push their bodies further than the rest. My favorite part about sports is watching teams that don't have the talent, but they want it so badly that they find ways to do something special.
Becoming a team on the course isn't easy. I've said it before and I'll say it again, we are competitive guys and don't like losing, even if it is to a teammate. The way we get past this isn't to look in the first column of the results, but the second. In the first column, Ben Tuttle beat Clay Watson at Friendship. In the second column, Cedarville put two guys in front of Dayton's first. Heading into Championship Season with the G-MAC on Saturday, that's our focus. Not where we place individually, but where are we as a team. Beating each other doesn't lower the team score. Pushing each other to run faster and beat guys on other teams does.
We had a team meeting this week to refocus ourselves on what we want to accomplish and how we plan on going about doing that. We're pumped heading into the home stretch of our season. We have the opportunity to win our third straight G-MAC title and qualify for nationals for the third straight year. It's definitely doable but if we're going to do it, we're going to have to do it as a team.
Remember that it's ALL FOR THE GLORY OF GOD,
Tyler
Oct. 29, 2014
Running is kind of weird when I think about it.It reminds me a little of a game kids used to play when I was in middle school called slap boxing.Two people would continually slap the other's hand with increasing force until one person gave in and quit. If you replace this scenario with people running side by side you have a cross country race.Each runner tries to increase the pace to a point where everyone else will give in and slow down, admitting defeat.
There are two types of people in this world: those who are competitive and those who are not.I'm convinced that it is not possible to be a distance runner and not be competitive.I was talking with our team chaplain, Bud May, this week and he said the same thing."There's no other reason to do it," he said. He's right.It's self-inflicted torture (disclaimer - there are other good reasons why we run that make it more enjoyable than an encounter with the Spanish Inquisition).
If you spend time with our team two of the phrases you'll hear more than any other are "You won't" and "You gotta want it."The former is meant to challenge someone who just said they would do something (usually a foolish statement) to act on it.The latter is essentially saying that all you have to do to do something is want it bad enough.Noncompetitive people say: Why would I do something just because someone else said I wouldn't? or Just because I want something to happen doesn't mean I can will it to happen. Competitive people say: Watch me.I'll make it happen.
It's this kind of attitude that makes runners different. Other people may possess the same physiological skills as runners, but it's the competitive ones that can mentally get themselves up to train every day and endure the pain of a race.I've tried explaining the mentality behind racing to people before, but I've never been able to correctly put it into words.Your brain is constantly screaming "STOP YOU MORON!THIS HURTS!"It takes a competitive nature bigger than the brain to keep pushing in a race.
This past week's race was a test of our competitive natures.It's easy to get psyched up for a big weekend race. When there are distractions, trophies, and individual honors at stake it doesn't take much to overcome the brain because there are plenty of incentives.This weekend was more reminiscent of a middle school dual meet than a college invitational.In a meet dubbed the Cedarville Open, we toed the line with less than sixty others after a day of classes.It didn't matter for us.A race is a race.Each is an opportunity to run fast and be competitive.Shout out to Matt Pelletier for winning the race, running a new PR, and nearly breaking 26:00.Several other guys ran PR's as well and the team won the meet.
We're heading in the right direction heading into Championship Season.Slowly but steadily, guys are dropping time.This is a longer season than any of us have ever been through and we're trying to pace ourselves.We've done a good job in years past at peaking at the right time and Coach Orchard has us geared up to do it again.We have a week off before heading to Kentucky to defend our G-MAC title.Continue praying for our many injuries and that God would be glorified through our team.
Remember that it's ALL FOR THE GLORY OF GOD,
Tyler
Oct. 21, 2014
We're at that point in the semester when you feel like you just went twelve rounds with George Foreman.Midterms are over and the second half of the semester is in full swing.It's kind of like the fifth and sixth kilometers of an 8k.We're over halfway done, but it's starting to hurt and the end is still so far away that it's hard to be encouraged.Then comes Fall Break, every student's saving grace, an oasis in the academic desert of October.
One of the nice things about cross country is that we can practice on our own.Other sports teams often don't get to leave over breaks, especially during season, because they lose practice time.We, on the other hand, didn't have a meet this weekend so Coach "Coach O" Orchard was gracious enough to give us the long weekend. Many of the guys went home or somewhere else to see family and friends. Those of us who stayed on campus went to the women's race at Wilmington to support them and they ran AWESOME taking second.By all accounts it was a great weekend of relaxation for our guys.
Another plus of Fall Break is the mental notice it brings about where we are in the year. I'm not the kind of person who keeps track of the date.Whenever I take a test or turn in statics homework I always have to ask the person next to me what the date is. I keep track of time by two other means, my cross country schedule and my school schedule.For example, I'd know it was Tuesday because I went to physics lab that morning. In the same way, I know that last week and this week are the two most colorful weeks of the year because they are the weeks of high school districts and regionals.
Anyway, Fall Break means we're heading into crunch time.School-wise, there are six weeks until Thanksgiving and then a week and a half after that until finals. Cross country-wise, we only have one more meet, the Cedarville Open this weekend, until we head into Championship Season.Things are coming down to the wire and this is when things start to matter. Pretty soon we'll start dropping mileage and shortening and quickening intervals.Times should start dropping as we start peaking and the weather becomes even more conducive for fast times.This is by far my favorite time of the year. Cross country is coming down to it, the colors outside are amazing, hot chocolate season is starting, it's hoodie and shorts weather, the World Series is going on, football season is in full swing, and basketball and hockey seasons are starting (can you tell I'm a sports freak?).
Be praying for our team this week. Nearly half the team has an injury or illness of some kind.Heading into postseason we really need to be healthy if we want to accomplish our goals.Results aside, there's nothing more frustrating for an athlete than not being able to compete to your potential because of injury and that frustration can affect other areas of our lives so pray that we'd find our peace and identity in God during the coming weeks.Also pray that for all of us, that we'd keep our priorities right; that as how we do at the meets get more important they wouldn't become more important than bringing glory to God, our testimonies, and the message of the Gospel that we carry with us to every meet.
Remember that it's ALL FOR THE GLORY OF GOD,
Tyler
Oct. 15, 2014
I explained in an earlier post that as a general rule, we normally race every other week. To refresh your memory, we do this because we physically, mentally, and emotionally can't handle racing every Saturday. Racing five miles takes so much out of you physically that there isn't enough time in one week to recover from a race, get in a good workout, and recover in time to race again. It's also hard mentally and emotionally to get yourself psyched up week in and week out, week after week. This week we broke that rule, so we had to make some changes in our week to accommodate for the short turnaround. We only had one workout (which was really more like glorified striders) and spent the rest of the week getting much needed R&R (besides trying to keep up with the millions of exams, homework, labs, and projects that were due but hey, I'm not bitter).
One of my favorite parts about participating in college sports is the trips we take as a team. Some of my favorite (not necessarily good, but favorite nonetheless) memories from last year came on the road with the track and cross country teams. This past weekend was no different. Often on trips like this, we're limited on how many guys can come. Not this time. We got to bring everyone, including student-assistant (aka he used up his four years but still hangs out with us) Ryan "Gus" Gustafson and assistant track coach Jason Scott. We left Friday morning and drove four hours to Pittsburgh. We went straight to the park where the course was. After regaining the feeling in our legs and learning how to walk again, we saw the course, played football, enjoyed the view of the skyline, and Forrest Thayer had the opportunity to share the gospel with two people on his run! That night we celebrated Coach O's birthday at Outback before crashing at the hotel for the night.
We couldn't have asked for better weather for the race. It was sunny with a perfect fall chill and a light breeze. This was definitely one of the most unique courses I've run in my eight years in cross country. A straight out and back course on the same trail downhill going out and uphill coming back. For the second straight week we were without Ben "Turtle" Tuttle who was there cheering us on but couldn't race because of illness and injury. In his absence, Clay "You Gotta Want It!" Watson wanted it a lot, winning the race in a new PR of 25:05! Daniel "Michalski" Michalski and Matt "the Transfer" Pelletier (I'm still working on a nickname for him) also ran PR's, finishing side by side in 26:09. The team finished third overall and got to bring home a nice trophy to add to the stash in the locker room.
After the race we spent some time exploring the stadium district by the river before embarking on the journey home. The drive back was full of conversation, truly the worst movie I've ever seen (Gus's movie selection privileges have been revoked), football (my choice), and YouTube videos.
Looking back, the trip was a good opportunity for us to come together as a team. We didn't have much time together before school started and guys have been in and out of practices with crazy class schedules. This was our first time together as a unit for an extended period of time away from other distractions. We had fun, ran well (for the most part), and come back ready to tackle the last half of our season. We get this week off before getting back at it on October 24 on our course for the Cedarville Open.
Remember that it's ALL FOR THE GLORY OF GOD,
Tyler
Oct. 8, 2014
Oh where to even begin this week. What even happened? Then again, what didn't happen? An impromptu Reds game happened, All-Ohio happened, Homecoming happened, and Dubie's impersonation of Papa John happened (5 of the top 10 college football teams in the country lost and the longest MLB playoff game ever happened, too, but that's not what this blog is about). It was a week full of ups and downs for us amidst the busiest week of the year school-wise.
Homecoming week is always nuts. Alumni flood campus, there are activities (including a rather impressive fireworks show) everywhere, and just about every professor sees fit to schedule midterms this week. Amidst the chaos, we're supposed to somehow prepare mentally and physically for one of our biggest meets of the year. So what'd we do? Well, last Friday we finished our workout at 5:30 p.m. and on the spot decided to go to the Reds-Pirates game that was starting at 7:10 p.m. We hit a few stumbling blocks along the way but ended up making it and having a blast relaxing as a team away from the clamor of due dates and exams. That was an up.
Typical for Ohio, the weather was the hot topic for our meet on Friday. In the days before we didn't know if we would even be able to run at all because of forecasted thunderstorms. Thursday night the meet officials decided to combine the Championship and Open races, allowing our whole team to run in one race along with over 500 other runners. The weather ended up holding off and we had beautifully autumnal (that's my high school English teacher's favorite word and this is the first time I've ever used it) Ohio weather: chilly, overcast, and wind. As for the results, I go back to the question I posed at the beginning: what even happened? Ben "Turtle" Tuttle didn't race due to injury, Clay "You Gotta Want It" Watson, Wyatt "WHAAAT" Hartman, Alex "Shrocko" Shrock, and Zac Bowen all had nice PR's, and there were other good performances, too, but overall the team struggled. We finished twelfth overall, far behind our DII counterparts Malone and Ashland. But, we lost to them at All-Ohio but got the last laugh at Regionals last year so now we have motivation to do it again.
After the race we got to enjoy time with cross alumni at a bonfire with tons of food prepared by our very own Jacob "Dubie" Dubie. We had a lot of alumni and family come in this weekend, so I won't try to name everyone, but it was great to see all of them and catch up with old friends. This weekend we are off to Pennsylvania for a meet at Carnegie Mellon. Pray that we're all healthy and geared up to perform well.
Remember that it's ALL FOR THE GLORY OF GOD,
Tyler
Sept. 30, 2014
All for the glory of God. If you've spent any amount of time around our team (or read any of the blogs) you are undoubtably familiar with the phrase.It's our team motto, derived from 1 Corinthians 10:31. It's a phrase we yell at the starting line before races and after workouts (although I still don't know if we're all supposed to yell 1-2-3 or just one guy does that).More than that, it's a concept that we each strive to live out daily. Few days are as good for putting our theories into practice than the day of the Friendship Invitational.Friendship is our home meet and it offers us a unique day in that we are called upon to fulfill a myriad of roles.
We start off the morning as athletes, ours being the first of six races throughout the day.This week's race was MUCH better than the Queen City 5k.In coach's words, Queen City "was a death march." The weather was beautiful, we had good competition (including a few of our own alumni), and a beautiful course for the first 8k of the season.If you're dedicated enough to read this blog then you probably already know how we did (if you don't the results are on the website) but a special shoutout goes to Ben "Turtle" Tuttle for winning the race (he even beat Matt "Brooker" Brooker!) and nearly breaking 25:00! I also need to give a shoutout to all of the people who came to support us. It seemed like every 50 meters there was a parent, student, or some random person I didn't even know cheering for us, which was awesome, so thank you!Overall it was a good day for us, lots of encouraging performances, but we definitely have improving to do if we're going to accomplish everything that we want to this season.
We get about an hour or two after our race to cool down stretch, and relax after our race before we are put to work. During this time the women's race is going on so we combine our cool down with cheering them on. This is the most relaxed time during the day when we're transformed into friends and teammates.
All too soon we become workers for the high school and middle school races. We set clocks, work concessions, work the chute, and do whatever else the coaches tell us to do to make the meet run smoothly. This is by far the hardest part of the day. The last thing anyone wants to do after a five mile race is work, but if everyone pitches in it makes the work a lot easier and more fun.
By the end of the day you end up with a group of exhausted runners and coaches (yes, they work hard, too) just trying to stay awake enough to carry flags and tents back to the sheds. But, in that span of just six hours, we had the opportunity to be center stage, in the audience, and backstage and to glorify God in each role we played.We glorified God through our efforts during the race and interactions with other runners afterwards, in our interactions with each other and encouraging our sisters in Christ during our cool down/their race, and in becoming servants to the 2,000 other people at the meet (I must say, nothing makes one feel more like a servant than untying the shoes of exhausted middle school boys and girls; the whole washing of the feet thing, totally get it now).
We get an off week this week before hosting the All-Ohio on October 3.We'll spend a few days recovering from this weekend (I'm massaging my aching calves as I write this) before getting back after it and doing what we need to do to get better.
Remember that it's ALL FOR THE GLORY OF GOD,
Tyler
Sept. 23, 2014
All for the glory of God. If you've spent any amount of time around our team (or read any of the blogs) you are undoubtably familiar with the phrase. It's our team motto, derived fromI Corinthians 10:31. It's a phrase we yell at the starting line before races and after workouts (although I still don't know if we're all supposed to yell 1-2-3 or just one guy does that). More than that, it's a concept that we each strive to live out daily.Few days are as good for putting our theories into practice than the day of the Friendship Invitational.Friendship is our home meet and it offers us a unique day in that we are called upon to fulfill a myriad of roles.
We start off the morning as athletes, ours being the first of six races throughout the day.This week's race was MUCH better than the Queen City 5k.In coach's words, Queen City "was a death march." The weather was beautiful, we had good competition (including a few of our own alumni), and a beautiful course for the first 8k of the season.If you're dedicated enough to read this blog then you probably already know how we did (if you don't the results are on the website) but a special shoutout goes to Ben "Turtle" Tuttle for winning the race (he even beat Matt "Brooker" Brooker!) and nearly breaking 25:00! I also need to give a shoutout to all of the people who came to support us.It seemed like every 50 meters there was a parent, student, or some random person I didn't even know cheering for us, which was awesome, so thank you!Overall it was a good day for us, lots of encouraging performances, but we definitely have improving to do if we're going to accomplish everything that we want to this season.
We get about an hour or two after our race to cool down stretch, and relax after our race before we are put to work.During this time the women's race is going on so we combine our cool down with cheering them on.This is the most relaxed time during the day when we're transformed into friends and teammates.
All too soon we become workers for the high school and middle school races.We set clocks, work concessions, work the chute, and do whatever else the coaches tell us to do to make the meet run smoothly. This is by far the hardest part of the day.The last thing anyone wants to do after a five mile race is work, but if everyone pitches in it makes the work a lot easier and more fun.
By the end of the day you end up with a group of exhausted runners and coaches (yes, they work hard, too) just trying to stay awake enough to carry flags and tents back to the sheds.But, in that span of just six hours, we had the opportunity to be center stage, in the audience, and backstage and to glorify God in each role we played.We glorified God through our efforts during the race and interactions with other runners afterwards, in our interactions with each other and encouraging our sisters in Christ during our cool down/their race, and in becoming servants to the 2,000 other people at the meet (I must say, nothing makes one feel more like a servant than untying the shoes of exhausted middle school boys and girls; the whole washing of the feet thing, totally get it now).
We get an off week this week before hosting the All-Ohio on October 3.We'll spend a few days recovering from this weekend (I'm massaging my aching calves as I write this) before getting back after it and doing what we need to do to get better.
Remember that it's ALL FOR THE GLORY OF GOD,
Tyler
Sept. 16, 2014
Who exactly are your good (dare I say best) friends? The people who make you laugh? The people who you share common interests with? How about the people who you spend a majority of your time with? While all of these things may be factors, I'd argue that your true friends are the people that go through the valleys of your life with you. I was reminded this week how lucky I am to have a group of Christian brothers I get to call teammates and friends. The conversations that happen on seemingly endless runs and nights like Monday night Bible study backed up by some crazy shared experiences that make them my friends. We can talk to each other about anything, good or bad, and when it comes down to it, we would do anything for each other.
The sad part about friendship is watching your friend suffer knowing that there's nothing you can do to help. Unfortunately, when you push your physiological limits day in and day out like we do, you're flirting with injury. One of the nice things about not racing every weekend is that the off weeks provide opportunities not only to get in some good training, but to nurse our aching and breaking bodies. This week we had three people in particular that were dealing with physical ailments. Matt "Cheeks" Cheney has been dealing with side pains for a couple of years now and it has been having more and more of an effect on his racing, Jonathan "Bits" Bitner is waiting for test results that hopefully will explain his extremely elevated heart rates during runs and has had to sit out of several practices, I am waiting on results from blood work that may show low iron levels, and Wyatt "Waaat?" Hartman has had shin pain. We'd greatly appreciate prayers for these and for all the others nursing pains as the season wears on.
This Saturday is the Friendship Invitational meet, the first of three home meets slated for the season. We're all excited to get back to the 8K distance we know and love, ready to run fast after our first week of true speed work. Mother Nature has decided that it's fall, nightly lows dropping into the 40's. I even ran in a long-sleeved shirt the other day (and those of you who know me know what that means). It's supposed to be in the 70's all week this week, but if there's one thing I've learned in my nearly 20 years living in Ohio is that rarely is the weather actually what is forecasted. So we'll wait and see the cards we're dealt for the meet but regardless we'll seize the opportunity to race our hearts out to God's glory.
Remember that it's ALL FOR THE GLORY OF GOD,
Tyler
Sept. 10, 2014
Ah, the rankings. The days when the rankings really mattered was before my time at Cedarville, but I'm told that back in the NAIA days where you were ranked was a big factor in whether or not you would qualify for nationals. Those days have passed (thankfully) since we joined the NCAA II. For us, they're just a fun source of debate. In the NCAA, each region is given three berths to the national meet. An additional berth is given for each team from the region that finished in the top eight at nationals the previous year. Last year, only Grand Valley State finished in the top eight from our region, so our region has four berths to nationals this year. That means to make it to nationals, we must finish in the top four at Regionals.
According to the polls, released for the first time this week, we rank third in the region and sixteenth nationally. Last season we finished third at regionals and fifteenth at nationals. The ranking is a bit surprising since we graduated four of our top six runners from last year but, hey, we'll take it. John Wooden said that "Winning takes talent, to repeat takes character." He's referring in this quote to his basketball teams at UCLA that won seven consecutive NCAA basketball championships. We may not be trying to defend a national championship (or seven of them), but I mentioned last week that the classes before us have built a tradition of character and hard work that led to success for those teams and I believe that our ranking is reflective of that. The coaches who voted saw that character and hard work manifested in success and trust that they passed that tradition down to the younger classes and that we'll see similar results.
We also had our first race this past week at the Queen City Invitational in Mason, OH. You never really know what to expect from the first race. Although most of our races will be 8 kilometers, our first race is normally a 5k. We do this for several reasons. First, there is a BIG difference between racing an 8k and racing a 5k, and your body knows it. It takes 2-3 days to fully recover from an 8k compared to 1-2 from a 5k. That may not sound like much, but when you race every other weekend for three months, the races begin to take a cumulative toll on your body. Second, the emotions coming into the first race can be overwhelming. On one hand, we havent raced for five months and would give anything just to compete, but on the other hand, this is just the first race and we dont want to get too emotionally wrapped up in it because in the grand scheme of things its virtually meaningless for our season. We want to save our emotions for the important races later in the season. Finally, it takes the pressure off of comparing times from the first race to what we ran last year and were expecting for this year. All that said, the first race is a fun way to get the season started with as little pressure as possible.
So how did we do? Senior Benjamin Tuttle finished fifth overall in 15:26, freshman Dan Michalski also had a great first race finishing 30th in 16:03. Then we had a pack of guys from 16:20-16:30. If you want the rest of the results I refer you to the Yellow Jacket website. I should also mention that it was 93 degrees, sunny, 99% humidity (you think Im lying but thats what the guy on the radio said while we were driving down there), and we were on a golf course with very little shade. So it wasnt our best race as a team (first one worst one, right?), but there were some good performances and we got our first race under our belts and thats what we needed to do. From here, we get back to work and start preparing for the next meet, the Friendship Invitational is two weeks from now.
Remember that it's ALL FOR THE GLORY OF GOD,
Tyler
Sept. 4, 2014
We're back! After three months resembling a ghost town, Cedarville, Ohio is back to its bustling college town self. I love getting here early and watching the madness unfold as the population of the town doubles with the return of 3,000 students (and their parents for the weekend) to campus in 48 hours.
What's more exciting is being back with the team. When you spend hours upon hours sweating side by side with the same group of men every day for months on end you're forced to get to know people pretty well. The first weeks back on campus are special as we are reunited with endless stories of the summer's adventures to tell. We arrived a few days before the rest of the student body to get NCAA compliance meetings, physicals, and all the other boring paperwork stuff done. The rest of the time is spent together as a team because, well, there's no one else on campus and nothing else to do. Too much has happened in the last few weeks for me to go into much detail, but some highlights include trips to Young's and the Xenia pool with the women's XC team and a truly impressive display of athleticism in a game of knockout played in front of all of Cedarville's fall athletes before our compliance meeting.
Before I continue, allow me to introduce myself. I'm Tyler "Stumpy" Greenwood. I hail from 15 minutes north of Cedarville in Springfield, Ohio. Unfortunately for all of us, our team's sole english major and blogger the last two years, Greg "JJ" Johnson, graduated. That means you're stuck with me, a sophomore mechanical engineer and sports enthusiast, who is about as likely to quote poetry as I am to turn down a game of ultimate frisbee. So for all of you who enjoyed JJ's poetry, you're going to have to settle for the likes of Vince Lombardi and John Wooden.
Anyways, enough about me. We have seven new faces on the team this year. Matt Pelletier joins us as a junior transfer from Miami University (the one in Ohio). Jared Vega is a sophomore who ran track with us last spring and is making his return to cross country after taking last fall off. Also joining us are freshmen Alex Shrock, Isaac Wheeler, Zac Bowen, Dan Michalski, and Josh Perez. This group brings so much personality and fun to the team. And they're fast, too.
In other Cedarville XC news, senior Matt Cheney is now an engaged man! He proposed to Rachel McKinley over the summer. Also over the summer graduated senior Jon "JVD" Van Dyke married Elle Lintemuth and graduated seniors Joe "Nemo" Niemiec and Jasmin Banachowski got married. I wish you all the best and God's blessings on your future families.
Vince Lombardi once said, "Success is like anything worthwhile. It has a price. You have to pay the price to win and you have to pay the price to get to the point where success is possible. Most important, you must pay the price to stay there."
The classes before us paid the price to get our program to the point where success was possible. We've qualified for NCAA DII nationals as a team both seasons we've been in DII. That success didn't happen overnight. It took literally weeks worth of running by each individual that was part of those teams to make that happen. But, what makes college sports fun is that every year yields a new team and each new team gets to decide for itself what it wants to do. In reference to the Lombardi quote, each team has to decide how much it is willing to pay for success. How much were we willing to pay? The main payment for runners is, of course, mileage. Running 100 miles a week takes a little less than two hours a day. Fill in the rest of those two hours with stretching, strength training, etc. to get about 14 hours a week spent on training for one person. Multiply that by 15 weeks of summer for 16 athletes and our team spent about 3,360 hours training this summer. That's equivalent to 140 24-hour days! We've paid the price to get to the point where success is possible this summer, now we need to keep that intensity in training going throughout the season to stay there and achieve our goals.
We have some lofty goals for this season, including a third trip to DII nationals. Our first meet this Friday at the Queen City Invitational in Mason, Ohio will be a good indicator of where we stand in relation to that goal.
I'll stop rambling now so you all can get on with the rest of your day. Be sure to follow our Facebook page for news, pictures, and videos from the team as the season progresses.
Remember that it's ALL FOR THE GLORY OF GOD,
Tyler
Tyler Greenwood is a sophomore at Cedarville University from Springfield, Ohio and majoring in mechanical engineering.
