Nov. 24, 2008 (Final Entry)
We finished off our season with a decent performance at NAIA Nationals. We were pretty banged up from the year. Josh Wiseman ended up getting sick Thursday night so he wasn't able to run. Seth Campbell took his place, but ended up getting a bloody nose in the middle of the race. Justin Herbert got out strong and was able to hold on fairly well for a personal-best time.
We went over to John Oswald’s house, an alum of Cedarville, on Saturday night. The family opened their house and fed us an amazing meal and the guys stayed up until about 3 a.m. playing Wii and just hanging out.
Overall the season was fairly successful, we got pretty banged up by the end of the year with different guys getting minor injuries and sicknesses that held them back. The team grew very close throughout the year and that will last longer than a good season.
Nov. 17, 2008
It was a very cold and nasty day to run at the NCCAA National Meet. Overall, we had a pretty average race. Rob Trennepohl stepped up and had another good race. It was a big lift for the team to have Bud May, our chaplain, come to the race. He has been struggling with a lot of health issues lately so he hasn't been to a meet since Wittenberg, our first meet of the year. He showed up and prayed with the team and really lifted the team up.
We had two of our top five runners out - Joe Cathey and me (Jud Brooker), because of injury. I'm on track for being back to run at NAIA Nationals and Joe is still recovering from a strained leg muscle.
The team is looking forward to nationals this weekend. We hope we can run well this year and prove that we deserve to be there. Our goal is to fight for a Top 10 finish. The weather should again be cold, but after Conference and NCCAA's being really cold and wet - we should be used to it.
Nov. 10, 2008
The American Mideast Conference meet was hosted by Ursuline College last weekend.
Well, the race, we got second, of course. The course was very muddy, I had half inch spikes in and was still slipping all over the place. As a team overall we had an okay race. T.J., Joe Cathey and I all had bad races due to injury.
T.J.'s heart raced again, he has a heart condition where it starts to race and he has to slow down, Joe Cathey's shin has been hurting him all week and could be a serious injury, and my back tightened up after one mile.
The team backed us up though, showing our depth. Rob Trennepohl stepped up big for us as well as Jordan Davies, Michael Lacey and Josh Wiseman who all stepped up to round out our top seven.
We are pretty banged up with some injuries and soreness so some guys might sit out NCCAA's this weekend so we are healthy for NAIA's the following weekend. This is the sixth straight year we made it to NAIA Nationals so we kept the tradition alive and need to get fully healthy so we can do well there.
Jud Brooker is a senior from Spring Mills, Pa. He has been an NAIA and NCCAA All-America distance runner during his four-year career with the Yellow Jackets.
