November 22, 2010
Well folks, it’s finally over; in more ways than one, actually. Yes, the season is officially finished, but for six of us, this it. The final countdown has come and gone. That’s all she wrote. Nationals was the last meet of the last season of our last year of college. I know for me the weight of these statements really hasn’t sunk in yet. Maybe a little bit, but I definitely don’t feel any different yet… . Now that that’s out of the way, NAIA’s was AWESOME!!
First, an item of clarification - I failed to mention that our own Neil “Schniggel” Klinger was an NCCAA All-American last week! Sorry, Neil. Please don’t hurt me anymore.
Yes, so NAIA Cross Country Nationals were held at Fort Vancouver Historical Park in Portland, Oregon this past weekend. What an eventful week! We all flew in last Wednesday. The first group rolled out of Cedarville at 3:30 a.m. in order to make their 6:15 a.m. flight. Thankfully, we didn’t all have to be on that flight! Once in Portland we revisited an acquaintance we made last year - the B52 Burrito - at The Burrito House (a restaurant next to our hotel). The B52 is no average meal. This monster gets its name from the fact that it has a volume of 52 ounces! We tag-teamed it and were barely able to finish… What an experience.
We did quite a few things out in Oregon. From belting out “Carry On My Wayward Son” in downtown Portland to killing hoards of zombies on Joe “Catwoman” Cathey’s X-BOX 360 to touring around IKEA before heading to the airport - it was all great! The most fun event was definitely the Portland Trailblazers game. We sat in the nosebleed section and watched while all the sections around us won fabulous prizes. It was all good, though. We cheered our heads off and Hollis “Balto” a.k.a. “The Married Guy” Troxel and Alex “S’mores” Moore got their faces painted (it was AWESOME) and Weezy and Balto made posters. It literally took all night, but we FINALLY got on the JumboTron!
The race itself was good, but not great. Certainly not our best. We came in ranked 21st and finished 15th, so that’s definitely a positive, but we could’ve run better. We beat Aquinas by three points but got beaten by Saint Francis of Illinois by one point! Needless to say, it was an incredibly close race. All in all it was a great experience.
The flight home was extremely rough, though. We flew out of Portland at 6 p.m. P.S.T. and arrived in Dayton at 8:30 a.m. E.S.T. We went from Portland to Phoenix to Charlotte to Dayton. Wild - the trip was literally coast to coast! I have currently been awake for 27 hours and have taken two exams (that explains why my comments have been all over the place).Thankfully, Thanksgiving is in three days!
Well, this time had to come eventually. The final paragraph of the final 2010 CUMXC Blog…
I’ve had a lot of fun writing this year. I was really excited to have this opportunity because I really enjoy writing but with my Biology major and all, I don’t get to do much creative writing. Story telling has always been a big thing in my family and I think it translates pretty well into this scenario. I’d like to give BIG THANK YOU to Jim Clark, who oversees all the athletic blogs and who really made this possible. Without him, none of these blogs would exist. Also, I’d like to thank Steve “The Godfather” Powers who after 11 years of faithful service as team manager/ assistant coach is retiring to greener pastures. We’ve loved having you around, and the investments you made in each of our lives are immeasurable. Also, to Coach “O” Orchard, thanks for all the time you’ve invested in this team as well. You’ve struck a great balance between trying new things (like AMP and Accelerade) and sticking with what works. I think that balance is clearly evident in our team this year.
Thanks again to all you faithful readers. Without you, this whole blog would be a waste of time (or, as they say down South, I’d be “spittin’ into the wind”). I thought I’d leave you with one more really good Southernism, but I can’t think of one which really applies…“don’t sit there like a bump on a log”, “if you’re feelin’ froggy, then leap,” “call the kettle black.” I guess I’ll just leave you with a little piece of advice my dad has passed along to me. It goes something like this:
-You want a tip, son?
-Yeah, sure Dad.
-Don’t take any wooden nickels.
Country
November 15, 2010
Wwwweeeeeee are the chaaampions, myy friieeeennnds…. Yes, that’s right folks, your very own Cedarville Yellow Jackets are NCCAA Cross Country National Champions! For the first time since 1985, our men were able to bring home the bacon (and the banner) from the meet which we have hosted for the past ump-teen years. They say it’s lonely at the top, but I don’t think that really applies to cross country because I definitely didn’t feel lonely posing for team pictures with the championship banner in hand.
The weekend was full of competition as several of our guys ran in the open race on Friday afternoon. It was during this very event that Jacob “Fresh Coast” Dubie layed down the performance of his life (with bare feet no less). Dubie ran that race wire-to-wire, getting out fast in the first mile and hanging on to the leaders. He let them go for a little bit but then came roaring back after they inadvertently took a wrong turn on the course. In the end he placed second in the open race (out-kicked in the final straightaway) and had a lifetime PR of twenty-six minutes and fifty-something seconds. This was more than a 30 second improvement over his previous best and the most amazing part was that he did it WITHOUT SHOES (by choice, not necessity).
Some might argue that this race was a little soft compared to previous years. Our team rested 6 of the top 7 runners and other teams also came in without their full starting lineup. While that may be the case, it doesn’t diminish the fact that WE WON!!!!!!! God has blessed us with an incredibly deep team, and one full of talent and that certainly showed this weekend.
After the meet we all showered and got (as they say down south) “gussied up” for the NCCAA banquet. It was an elegant event, with tables and chairs and candy corn. We were treated to raspberry tea, manicotti, chicken breast, rolls, pasta salad, corn, green beans, and apple and cherry pie. Ryan “Gust of Wind” Gustafson and T J “Peaches” Badertscher were given plaques for finishing #8 and #1 overall while the rest of those who competed received national champion medals.
All in all, this has been a pretty good season. We’ve seen some great performances and some truly awful ones, but by the grace of God, our team has been able to race well at every meet. Most of our team is through with competition now and a handful of us will be traveling to Portland, Oregon this week to compete in the NAIA National Championship Meet. I think that for those who are done, they can look back on the season with mostly satisfaction. We’ve developed some hilarious inside jokes (it has become somewhat of a tradition to nickname each new runner), had a great time, and run well. For those who ended the season on a low note, there’s always the allure of track season to bring you back from the depths of despair.
For NAIA’s the goal is to run to the best of our abilities. We are a great team which has been chronically under-ranked this season. We have a lot of talent and the idea is to fly across the country and run to our potential. We need no supernatural performances this weekend. Instead, we want to do the very best that we can. Ideally everyone will have a great race. Yes, this itself may seem like a supernatural event, but I believe it’s possible. For me personally, I’m going to take what little knowledge I’ve accumulated over the years and apply it to this race. I feel that there is no pressure to perform well, but rather that with this final cross country race is an opportunity; an opportunity to race with confidence, to race with vigor, and to race with hunger. No matter what happens though, it will definitely be a fun trip!
I’d like to thank you again for reading the blog! Each week I hear of more and more people who check this thing out and honestly, I’m always surprised. The shout out of the week goes to the Cherrys (or is it Cherries?) and the Wisemans (Wisemen?) for moseying on over here every week.
I believe I have one more week before my official blogger status expires, so maybe this week you’ll want to start looking for another sport to follow (just kidding, but seriously, you might give it some thought).
Thanks again!
Country
November 8, 2010
Well. That’s a good word to describe how our race went on Saturday. We ran well, the weather (despite snow flurries) was pretty s-well (“swell”) and for most of the team, times were fast. We had a few PR’s that I know of - Jacob “Fresh Coast” Dubie and Scott “Scootsidoodles” Gardner were both around 27:30, a major drop in time from the beginning of the season. Our top three consisting of Matt “Mattie” Brooker, Evan “Slayer” Thayer, and Joe “Catwoman” Cathey threw down spectacular performances.
The rest of our top seven left something to be desired (namely, faster times) but our races weren’t awful, per se. We ended up with a second place finish against Malone. There were mixed emotions on our team regarding the loss. While there were many great performances there were also many that could’ve been better (hindsight is 20-20, as they say). We came in with the mind set that we could beat Malone - and we very nearly did. It’s easy to look back and say “if only we’d done this differently, we’d have won” but ultimately what matters is that we ran decently and we’ll get a second chance against Malone at NAIA Nationals.
We were expecting this meet to be extremely sloppy. To use a pizza metaphor (we were in NY, afterall) our weather was supposed to be “the works” with a little bit of everything from rain to snow to wind - all culminating in a over-saturated course conducive to slow times and mental toughness. To our pleasant surprise, the course was in superb condition, with only a handful of muddy areas to contend with. The morning of the race we saw temperatures in the mid-30s with intermittent snow flurries. Thankfully none of the snow accumulated, so the course was unaffected.
After the race, we all headed over to the gym for the awards ceremony and then us guys hit the showers. There was quite a fiasco regarding the men’s locker room. Apparently a men’s soccer team was on campus for an AMC Tournament semifinal match and wouldn’t let us into the locker room - saying they had it reserved for the next four hours. Consequently, we were allowed to shower in the Houghton women’s locker rooms. They were actually quite nice, including a five-speaker sound system with a great mix CD ready to play. Needless to say, that place was hoppin’ as we cleaned up for lunch.
Houghton’s cafeteria was nice, with a good selection of tasty foods. I am indebted to the school for providing Reese’s Puffs Cereal – a treat which I hadn’t tasted since middle school. After lunch we hit the road, stopping only for a few bathroom breaks and dinner at Schlotzsky's Deli. Scootsie’s Mom was kind enough to bake us chocolate cookies with Ande’s Bars in the middle. They were (as we say down South) “finger-lickin’ good”.
I’ve spent the last three hours at the XC Sickhouse eagerly waiting for the last rating of the 2010 season. At first we thought the rating would be out by 7 p.m. EST but then we realized it was 7 p.m. CST, which is 8 p.m. our time. So at 8 we’re all (Jordan “Javies” Davies, Josiah “Josi” Bragg, Josh “Weezy” Wiseman, Alex “Smoores” Moore and Paul “Pikeda” Ikeda) on the NAIA website trying to refresh the page every 2 seconds to see the moment when the rating came out. 8 o’clock came and went, and then 8:15 so at 8:20 we all went outside and formed a conga line and danced around the house one time… and the ratings still weren’t up! Finally, at 8:50 Smoores’ computer got the updated ratings.
As it stands we’re ranked 21st in the country, one spot lower than last week, but we should be going to NAIA Nationals!!! We’ll know for sure on Monday, when the NAIA releases an official list of the 32 teams who will be allowed to run in Portland, OR at the national meet on November 20.
I’ll have more information next week as we gear up for the meet. Between now and then, we’ll have the National Christian College Athletic Association (NCCAA) national meet right here at Cedarville University this Saturday. Our top seven runners from the conference meet will likely not compete at NCCAA’s meaning that the next seven will step up to represent us. There is always a big crowd and good competition so this should be an exciting weekend for everyone on the team as we try to bring home the team trophy (and a few PR’s).
It’s been a great week for CU MXC. While in NY, we ate at Applebee’s one night and Napoli Pizza the next and were able to run on the campus of St. Bonaventure College in Olean, NY. We also watched several movies and played more Euchre than is healthy (Josi and I only won one game that whole trip). We also got to travel with the women’s team for the first (and probably only) time this season, and that was pretty fun too.
The season has gone by incredibly quickly and we’re already looking at the two post-season races. This is really the point that we’ve been training for ever since way back in May and June when we first started putting in summer mileage. We were looking ahead to the national championships and now here they are. It’s been a blur, with a lot of ups and downs (especially on the hilly courses) and a few more still to come before the season ends. The season isn’t over, by any means, nor are we ready to rest on our laurels (because we really don’t have any). There are two races left for this team and we will certainly make the most of them. Thus, as we’ve said all season now is the time to “get it poppin”.
Thanks for reading.
Country
November 1, 2010
Well folks, being ranked 20th in the country beats being 24th, but not by much. After last week’s ratings we’re at least in better shape to receive an at-large berth to go to nationals, but that is in no way a guarantee that we’ll be in Portland, OR next month. As a team, I’d say we’re not happy with this rating, but what else is new?
We’ve got the conference meet this weekend and winning would mean that we’ve punched our ticket to the Pacific Northwest. Winning would also mean that we’ve beaten Malone, a feat which hasn’t been performed in quite a while. Maybe it’s about time. Malone’s running well (ranked #4) but so are we. If we can put together a race where everyone on the team runs where he is capable, we could beat them head to head. This would require a great effort, but not super-human. We’d have to step up to our potential, but not exceed it. In short, we are capable of winning this meet.
That’s what we’ll be focusing on this week, and you can bet that Malone has winning in mind as well. It should be a race for the ages, and with the weather shaping up to be sloppy (with predictions of rain, wind and possibly snow), it probably won’t be one for the record books. That’s not important, though. What matters is running head to head against a strong team and proving, as apparently we haven’t proved yet, that Cedarville University Men’s Cross Country is a threat. Then again, maybe that’s not what matters. Maybe we can stay in the shadows and let the whole country underestimate us and let their guard down - like Roy (of “Siegfried and Roy”) did before his famous tiger attack.
In other news, we had no race this weekend, or as Ethan “Blaggbear” Blagg might say “We had-a noa-race-a dis a-weekend.” It was a pretty low key week for the team, but the weekend was a blast! Friday afternoon we had the privilege of singing a special rendition of “Happy Birthday to You” in honor of Eli “PyleDriver” Pyles’s 19th birthday. Friday night was the inaugural Sick House party of the year - “Sickhousoween” as I like to call it. We had a bunch of the guys and girls come over and eat a bunch of sugary sweets. The ghoulish goodies included such scrumptious shindig staples as pumpkin cake (courtesy of Josiah “Josi-siah” Bragg and Jordan “Dordan Javies” Davies), cupcakes, Hostess Donettes (trademark), caramel apples, s’mores, candy corn, cookies, chocolate pretzels with sprinkles, chips, cider, punch, and soda (or, as we say down south, “Coke”). This was, of course, a costume party, with prizes for the best group and individual. The group prize, which happened to be a one pound marshmallow skull, went to the “Rock Band” consisting of S’Moores (Alex Moore, as Ozzy Osbourne), Seth “Keep on Rockin’” Campbell, and Ethan Blagg (who can play a very convincing crazy person). Other notable groups were the “Hobos” made up of Tabby “Tabster” Moore and T.J. “Badersnatcher” Badertscher; and the two “Antoine Dodsons” consisting of Davies and Adam “Doogie” Downs.
The individual award (a 1 lb. marshmallow heart) went to our very own Josh “Weezy” Wiseman, who dressed as the “Burger King.” Other notable individuals were the Crayola “cran” (or, as we say down South, “Cray-on”). She painted herself completely blue and wore a Crayola dress with her hair (also blue) up in a cone-shaped “bee-hive” style. The cross country costumes not already mentioned were: Greg “J.J.” Johnson as “Prefontaine,” yours truly as a “Retro Basketball Player” (complete with a fro and soul patch), and Ryan “Gus” Gustafson as “Jason Vorhees”.We spent the night playing “corn hole” (or, as we say down South, “bean bag toss”), roasting marshmallows, and filming our own slasher flick in which each costumed character was responsible for “taking out” another character. All in all it was a wonderful night.
Several people went to the campus screening of the movie “Inception”and I don’t think they were disappointed. Saturday, several team members headed over to the cross country course for the annual “Pumpkin 5K” hosted by the exercise science organization on campus. Our own Jud “Chubbs” Brooker won the race (and a pumpkin pie) while the rest of us ran a tempo workout. The XC team is ineligible for winning prizes at such university-sponsored races, so at most all we could do is cheer for the people running. It was a good time, though; and a good reminder that we are much faster than the rest of the campus - good to know in the event of a zombie infestation.
This week should be pretty relaxed for us as we plan on leaving for the conference meet, hosted by Houghton College, located in the eastern Empire State (NY), on Thursday morning and competing on Saturday morning. We’re expecting the course to be flat, cold, and wet (with possible wind), so it should shape up to be an excellent meet. As they say (all over the country, I think) “prepare for the worst and hope for the best.” Thanks for reading, and please pray for the team this week. As they say down South, “we’d be much obliged.”
Country
October 25, 2010
So, this weekend was pretty awesome for CUMXC… We went to Aquinas, as you know, and basically torched the course (not literally, of course; but that’s about the only way to describe our race).
I think all but two of our guys ran personal bests! I’ll give a massive SHOUTOUT to Joe “Nemo” Niemiec for slicing and dicing a whole MINUTE - yes you read that right, 60 seconds- off of his previous best time!! We had six of our top seven under 26:00 with our lead guy, Matt “BrookStains” Brooker, running 24:55 and Evan “Team Slayer” Thayer close behind in 25:04, making this the fastest team race for Cedarville in at least the last four years. What can I say? God really provided!
The weather was great, low 60’s and overcast with light showers right at the start of the race. The footing was better than we’ve ever seen and the course was flapjack flat. Not to mention the competition - we came in 4th behind Shawnee State, Aquinas, and St. Francis of Illinois. These teams are definitely beatable and if we’d all been at full strength we would’ve likely come in 2nd overall. The important thing is we performed well against ranked opponents, so the raters should finally place us where we belong this week. But I’ve said that before, so who knows what could happen. I do know that if we have another ridiculous rank this week, with Sunday being Halloween and all, a certain rater’s house might be getting “decorated.” No, but seriously, we will not be egging or toilet papering anyone’s house this weekend, regardless of our rank.
By the way, I just realized that many of you may not understand the importance of these rankings and how they relate to the national meet. Basically, 32 teams are allowed to run at nationals. Depending on the number of teams in each conference around the country, either 1, 2, or 3 teams may automatically qualify to attend the meet. Our conference has between 6 and 12 teams so only one team may automatically qualify (by winning the conference meet). After all the automatic qualifiers are accounted for, there are six at-large bids which are given to teams which did not qualify automatically but who ran well all season. Typically, these are the six highest-ranked teams in the country after the auto-qualifiers have been removed. Thus, it behooves us to be highly-ranked so that, if we don’t win our conference meet (which we have a decent shot at this year) we might still be given an at-large bid.
Still confused? Check out this link.
After the meet we were treated to Cousin’s Tasty Chicken- a Soul Food Restaurant in Grand Rapids which happens to be partially run by a CU alum - John “Oz” Oswald. Every year “Oz”stuffs us full of his lineup of delectable dishes which this year included fried mushrooms, fried fish, scalloped corn, lasagna, pulled pork, fried chicken, broccoli casserole, fried shrimp, fresh rolls, and, of course, chicken gizzards (just for me :D). That’s not to mention the choice of chocolate and butterscotch puddings we had for dessert (mmmmmmmmm). That food was, as they say down South, “finger lickin’ good.” “They” might also say it was so good “it’ll make ya’ wanna slap ya mama.” If you’re ever in Grand Rapids, stop by Cousin’s Tasty Chicken.
By now we’ve become well acquainted with the newest addition to the Cedarville University vehicle fleet - the new Varsity Bus. We’ve taken it to two meets thus far and have watched a grand total of seven feature length movies. I think we might set a record!
Alex “S’Moores” Moore, Ethan “Blaggletooth” Blagg and yours truly were invited to go to Oz’s for the weekend and in the process were able to procure three Michigan State hockey tee shirts (size XL, a reward for filling out a GMC survey), stuff ourselves even fuller than we did at Oz’s restaurant, and break two of Oz’s lamps (completely by accident). Actually, S’Moores broke both lamps, but ironically he was trying to repair the second one when it fell over and smashed on the floor. To his honor - he did beat both his dad, Rob “Mr. Moore” a.k.a “I have a few Moore Races in me” Moore and me at table tennis in Oz’s basement. Also, Ohio State beat Purdue 49-0 (I hope that makes you feel better S’Moores).
We’ve got two weeks til our next race, which will be the American Mideast Conference Meet, hosted by Houghton. Rumor has it, Houghton’s course is just as flat as Aquinas’s. If that’s true, be prepared for a lot more PR’s. On the docket for CUMXC this week: wait for the ratings to come out (Wednesday), attend the Sickhouse Halloween Party (pronounced PAH-TAY; Friday) collect a lot of candy on November 1 (Monday, when all the Halloween candy is half price), and focus on rocking out at Houghton (everyday). Yes it will be a busy week but, as usual, we’ll find a way to get everything done.
Thanks so much for reading!
Country
October 18, 2010
Though we had no meet, the week was far from uneventful for your Cedarville Yellow Jackets. As you may know, October 15-17 (i.e. last Thursday, Friday, Saturday, and Sunday) were dedicated to our Fall Break, here at the ‘Ville. While I’m not sure of exactly what everyone on the team did, I do have a few details to share.
We all began our break shortly after finishing our solid workout Wednesday, which was actually a pretty good send off because everyone did well on it. I know a few guys, including Eli “Pyledriver” Pyles, Jacob “Walt Whitman” Walter, Jacob “FreshCoast” Dubie, Evan “Slosenger” Thayer, and Neil “Niggle” Klinger stayed in the Cedarville area and either studied or played video games the whole time - an admirable (perhaps even enviable) usage of time, I’d say. Honorable mention goes to Josiah “Josi-siah” Bragg for staying in the area with style (i.e. with his girlfriend). With so many single (i.e. “eligible”wink ;-) wink) men on the team it’s good to see one of the “ineligible” guys getting some mileage out of his relationship status.
Joshua “Weezy” Wiseman flew to sunny Orlando, Florida courtesy of the Logistics Officer Association (i.e. the Ohio Air National Guard) to receive a scholarship for all the hard work he’s put in over the years. While down there he was fortunate enough to see a Lotus Elise, an alligator, and Cocoa Beach. Six of us, including Jordan “Doodlebop” Davies, Alex “S’Moores” Moore, Matt “Mattie”Brooker, Ethan “Blaggoyovitch” Blagg, and former CUXC-er Paul “The Asian SuperSensation” Ikeda took a road trip to sunny Chicago, Illinois and had a blast! Ryan“Gust of Wind” Gustafson also took a trip to the Windy City, but he was on a mission to watch his high school and junior high teams race. I haven’t heard any results from those meets.
This week we’ll be back on the grind as we travel up to Grand Rapids, Michigan to compete in the NAIA Great Lakes Challenge, hosted by Aquinas College. This is a critical week for us as we need to really rise in the national rankings, especially after our dastardly rating last week (#23 in the country). Thankfully this will be an excellent race to move up in the ratings since it is an NAIA-exclusive meet. Several Top 25 teams are entered, including Shawnee State (#2), Aquinas (#7), Concordia (Neb.) (#8), and Olivet Nazarene (#19). With so many highly-ranked teams at this meet, we have a huge opportunity to jump this week. We know that we’re much better than #23 and, honestly, it feels like we’ve been robbed these past few weeks, given how well we’ve performed. Fortunately, this week we’ll be able to perform well against solid competition so our team will finally have a reasonable ranking.
We’re going into this one with fresh legs and fresh minds coming off a delightful Fall Break. We also feel like we have something to prove on Saturday. We’ve run well the last few weeks. I’d say Top 15 well at least; and yet we haven’t even cracked the Top 20. As they say down South “that’s jacked-up.” We have the opportunity to show how Cedarville stacks up against some of the top-ranked teams in the country - to show where we truly belong. In the end, though, the ratings are out our control. No matter what happens, we can’t make ourselves move up one single spot from where we are now. All we can do is all we’ve ever done - run.
Country
October 11, 2010
Well, Friday seemed like a good day to run. As it turned out, it wasn’t too good or too bad. As you can see on the website, we Yellow Jackets placed second to Shawnee State at their home course. Evan “Slay Train” Thayer had a great race, running a season-best time, and Josh “Weezy” Wiseman ran roughly the same time as at the previous two meets - very consistent. Most of the rest of the team ran OK. Most notably, Ryan “Gus” Gustafson ran a nice solid race to round out our top seven.
I think the weather was hotter than we expected, with temps around 80 degrees at the start of our race. I guess it just took its toll. As a team, we were still able to run well and Evan finished right in the middle of Shawnee’s team, which is pretty awesome considering that they’re ranked #2 and we’re #22. Our total team time was also closer to Shawnee’s this week than it was at the All-Ohio meet which means that comparatively, we didn’t run any worse at this meet than at the last one. I guess this shows that Friday was a tough day across the board. Our times were not fast, despite the firm footing and relative flatness of Shawnee’s course, which leads me to conclude that the heat must have been a factor. Overall, it was a good day and we’re looking forward to running well at Aquinas in two weeks!
We were accompanied this week by a very special guest - Miss Elisabeth “Foyt” Feucht (pronounced FOYT). Feucht was once upon a time the manager of the Lady Jacket cross country team. Now, this was back a couple of years ago, when I was just a bright-eyed freshman, and the men’s and women’s teams still traveled together to most meets. Feucht would be there every week, managing the women’s team and ours as well, so she basically became our “officially unofficial” team manager. Steve “Occifer” Powers, of course is our “officially official” manager/assistant coach and has been for years. So, needless to say, it was nice to see Feucht again.
I’d also like to mention that our alumni and assistant coach Jud “Chubbs” Brooker ran a 10K last week. He wanted me to mention that his time was 29:30 - and it was 29:30, at some point in the race. His finishing time, however, was not quite that fast. If you’d like to know what it was, I think he’d be glad to tell you. Speaking of alums, we have two this week who will be competing in the Chicago Marathon. Rob “Trenopoly” Trennepohl and Josh “Magnum” Maughon both completed the 26.2mile course shortly before I wrote this blog. Unfortunately I have yet to see any results. Ethan “Blaggonslayer” Blagg was our onsite reporter for the marathon so if you’d like to hear any stories - like how the guys got to meet Olympic marathoner and premier distance runner, Ryan Hall - just add him as a friend on Facebook. He’s currently listed as “Ethan Blaggberry.”
After the meet the team visited Pizza Hut for some delectable Italian-American food. Several pizza and pasta dishes later, we were stuffed and ready to head home. The ride back was particularly uneventful, although we did watch “The Longest Yard”. This was the remake, not the original. I’d like to point out that the new “Varsity Bus”- the vehicle used for traveling sports teams - is quite nice. It has air conditioning, a TV, and a DVD player! Without these amenities the ride to Portsmouth, OH would have been much quieter and probably a little less entertaining (although we ourselves can be quite entertaining, at times).
In other news, there are still a lot of single guys, i.e. eligible bachelors, on the team. Fortunately, no one got shot down this week so confidence is once again on the rise. I’m still predicting that before the end of the semester, one of us will be able to change his relationship status from “single” to “in a relationship”. As usual, I’ll keep you posted as a story develops.
Thanks for reading this week and, as they say down South, “y’all come back now, ya hear?”
Country
October 4, 2010
Last week was a bittersweet week for Cedarville men’s cross country. As they say (down South), “sometimes ya gotta take the good with the bad”. First, let’s have some good news. After having no race last weekend, we actually moved up in the national rankings to #22 (go figure). That was just the beginning. At the end, which is today (Sunday) I received news that one of our alums, a certain Sergio “Serg” Reyes, actually won the Twin Cities Marathon this weekend with a personal best time of 2 hours, 14 minutes and 2 seconds, securing the top spot on the U.S. National Team at the World Championships next year!
Now for the bad news. I mentioned last week that most of us on the team, including all of the freshmen, are single and that “somebody has to make a move eventually”. Well, “eventually” happened to be that very same weekend. Unfortunately we had three hearts ge tcrushed (or “spiked” as we XC runners say) over the course of two days. Tough stuff, but we cross country men are strong and will carry on. As they say, “there are plenty of fish in the sea”. Maybe we’ve been using the wrong bait. I always thought that girls were very hopelessly attracted to the infinitely short shorts distance runners wear to practice. After last weekend though, I’m having serious doubts. As it turns out, no fewer than five runners have had their dating hopes dashed since the beginning of the semester five weeks ago. They say that time heals all wounds. I hope for all our sakes that these wounds aren’t fatal.
In between all of these ups and downs, your very own Yellow Jackets hosted the 56thAnnual All-Ohio Cross Country Championship Meet - and looked good doing it. As I mentioned in last week’s blog, this is always a huge meet. 37 schools attended with representatives from all major NCAA and NAIA divisions. Full results from both the championship and the open race can be found under the “meet schedule and results” button on the right side of the Men’s Cross Country page.
Coming in to the meet, we knew we wanted to perform well and I’d say we did just that. Ever since I’ve been a freshman, Coach Orchard has been saying that if we can put five guys under 26:00, we'd be tough to beat. Well this week we came as close to that mark as I have seen since coming to this program in 2007. We had four guys at 26:00 or better. Three of them set personal bests in the process. Our 5th man finished in 26:05, making this arguably the best team race any of us current guys have ever been a part of. To top it all off, not only were three of the top four times personal records, but we also had six other guys on the team either tie or break their personal bests as well! Without further ado, our new personal record holders are: Matt “Mattie” Brooker, Josiah “Josi” Bragg, Jordan “Dordan Javies” Davies, Joe “Catwoman” Cathey, Joshua “Weezy” Wiseman (who tied a PR), Jacob “Jacobe (YAWK-O-BEE)” Walter, Eli “Elly” Pyles, Nathaniel “Dutch” Burrell, and Trevor “T-Rev” Bryant. Quite impressive.
Equally impressive was the pre-race dinner graciously bestowed upon us by our local alums, Josh and Sarah “The Marks” Mark. Not only did this meal include the classic “fast-feet” staples like macaroni and lasagna, but it also included caramel (yes, caramel!) apples. Also, thanks to Ethan “Blaggberry” Blagg, and Jacob “Fresh Coast” Dubie, we also had pasta flavored Hershey’s Chocolate! The first word that comes to my mind when I think of the Marks is “awesome”. Each year they feed us, open their house up to us, come out and cheer for us, and volunteer at most of our meets. Josh and Sarah, I don’t know if you read this blog or not but either way, thanks for all the support!
The team is running well now. We’ve had three meets and I feel that we’re starting to hit our stride. We’ve gotten used to racing and packing up and these next few races should prove to be quick for us. We’re running at Shawnee State this Friday and this competition, as “Josi” Bragg has told me, will be more like a dual meet between our teams than anything else. Shawnee has a lot of talent on their roster, as evidenced last week, so running against them should be beneficial. The word on the street is that Shawnee has a pretty flat course so hopefully that’ll translate into fast times.
The word on thestreet is also that we’ll have new Asics pull-overs very soon. That’s right, we’ll be (as they say in the South) “lookin’ goooood”. Add to that the fact that we had a full weekend thanks to the Friday meet, and things are looking way up. We’re being well taken care of here (I know all you moms like to hear that) and the next month should be a real blast for all of us Harriers (a harrier is a cross country runner). We’ve got Fall Break fast approaching, along with a few long distance meets, which means we’ll get to stay overnight (always the most fun).
Yep, the season is definitely here, but I think we’re more than ready for it.
Thanks for reading.
Country
September 27, 2010
As I’m writing this, my brain feels a little fried. I’ve been studying for my first Human Developmental Biology exam, which is on Wednesday (today is Sunday). Thankfully, this is the worst part of my weekend and, as far as I know (which is not much), I’ve had the worst weekend on the team.
All us XC guys are doing well. I’m doing really well now that I’ve closed my Embryology textbook and am contemplating my dinner plans. Mom and Dad’s Dairy Bar, the local burger/ice cream/candy joint in town, has a deal now where you can purchase five hamburgers for $6 and that sounds quite tantalizing at the moment; but I digress.
Everyone is able to run this week, which is an improvement over the last, when Jacob “Fresh Coast” Dubie was sidelined by his crazy eye injury. We’re all running pretty well, too. It’s like icing on the cake. This is the time of the season where we start getting settled in. Everyone has had at least one race now so running the 8K isn’t a surprise to anyone now. We’ve also got a few solid meets coming up so really, it’s time to go to work. Racing is still fun but pretty soon new will be worn off (as they say down south).
I think everyone is still enjoying the cross country experience this year and as a team we’re getting tighter each week. Unless I’m mistaken, which I might be, all of our freshmen are still bachelors. I imagine that’ll be changing pretty soon as everyone has his eye on someone and somebody has to make a move eventually. Thankfully, on the other hand, we don’t have a Don Juan (i.e. “Lady’s Man”) on the team. That’s the type of guy who doesn’t make time for the guys because he’s always out with a gal (usually a different gal each time).
As you may know, there was no meet this weekend, which means no meat for this blog (Sorry, my mind is stuck on food at the moment). We do have a meet next weekend. A huge meet. A meet of Biblical proportions. Actually, it’s not quite THAT big, but the All-Ohio Meet, hosted by your very own Cedarville Yellow Jackets, on your very own Elvin R. King Cross Country Course, is very important for our team. This meet is quite exclusive for two reasons: 1) only colleges located in the great state of Ohio are allowed to participate, and 2) there are two races, a varsity (in which each team may enter only seven runners) and an open (where any number of athletes may be entered from a team).
Side note - five burgers for $6 is a good deal but a bad choice, at least in one sitting. Yes, the All-Ohio means a lot for the team. We’ve been ranked 23rd for the last two weeks and there’s no reason for us to move up this week, since we didn’t run this weekend. We’re much better than 23rd and should certainly be higher - much higher. This is our week to go out and prove it. There will be competition of all levels, especially from the NAIA. We expect Malone, Rio Grande and Shawnee State (all NAIA Top 25 teams) to be there Friday and these are all teams we need to run well against. By racing these teams head up we can show the people who do these Top 25 rankings that we belong at the top. Malone and Shawnee are ranked 1st and 3rd currently and for us to beat either team would merit a huge jump in the rankings for our team.
Yes, this is a Mega Meet for us. We’ve been training hard and we’re ready to break out and run fast as a team. This is the week to do it, too. In the past, this meet has always been one to dread -not for the race itself but because it was always hosted by Ohio Wesleyan University and their course was laid out on a golf course with hill after hill after hill, and the worst part was the course consisted of two loops so you had to run each hill twice! This year is basically the complete opposite. We’re excited to run here, on our own course, and to run strong. Rather than worry about who’s gonna get “owned” (i.e. pummeled, beat up, or dominated) we’re wondering who’s gonna have the race of their life. It could be any of us, or all of us. I can’t say what will happen here on Friday, but I can guarantee this (as they also say down South): it’ll be on like a pot of neck bones!
Thanks for reading, y’all.
Country
September 20, 2010
Well this past Saturday turned out pretty well for the CU men’s XC Team. We were able to put 5 guys under 26:35, which is pretty good for our second race of the season. “Teej” Badertscher and “Mattie” Brooker led the team with sub-26:00 performances, which is just what we needed.
Another encouraging aspect of the meet was the number of PR’s (personal records) we had. “Balto” Troxel and Neil “Nigel (pronounced NIG-EL)” Klinger both had tremendous personal bests, in addition to “Josey” Bragg and Greg “Prefonstains” a.k.a. “J.J.” Johnson. Scott “Scootsidoodles (pronounced SKOOT-SEE-DOOD-ELLS)” a.k.a. “Swine Flu” Gardner and I were both within 2-3 seconds of our PR’s. To have so many outstanding performances is very encouraging. It is nice to see the team doing so well this early in the season because our training is geared to get us in shape for November, which is when our most important meets take place. Hopefully, we’ll be able to drop these times even further as the season progresses.
Other notable performances Saturday came from the CU women’s team (who won their race) and also from a special alumni team consisting of former XC runners, which actually came in 8th place! After the college meets were over, our teams hosted four more races on the XC Course; two high school 5K’s and two junior high 3200’s. It is in these races that we saw solid performances from a few young bucks (who will hopefully take over after we all graduate) including Daniel “Dano” Bolender (son of our head track coach), Brendan “Brenda” Orchard (son of our very own coach Paul Orchard), Noah “Norm” and Micah “Moke” Bragg (Josey’s little brothers and sons of Dan “Mr. Bragg” Bragg).
Hosting these other meets was pretty fun and gave us guys some good time to hang out with each other and a few of the track athletes who were volunteering with us. Watching these races always proves to be interesting, especially the high school girls race. I don’t know why but every year, without fail, these girls are the ones who pass out or begin sobbing hysterically at the finish line; very entertaining to watch (while we helped them, of course).
We also had a good bonding time the night before the race when most of the guys came over to the “Sickhouse” and watched a movie and played some XBOX 360. “Sickhouse” is the name affectionately given to what is basically the cross country house. Each year we try to get a few guys to live off campus and their house becomes the Sickhouse, a place away from school where XC guys can go to relax and hang out. It is a tradition that stretches back several years and I’m proud to continue it.
Coming into this meet, we were preparing to run a good solid race. We knew that there would be decent competition but that as a team we could win. We wanted to run together as a pack and were able to do this very well, which may have contributed to our strong individual performances. It seems much easier to run fast when there is someone next to you to push you along at the right pace. It was good to be able to come out and perform well on our home course. By God’s grace we had beautiful weather and were able to capitalize on it.
There’s no meet this week so most of us will try and get our weekly mileage up a little higher. Next week is the All-Ohio meet on our very own Elvin R. King Cross Country Course. This is a huge meet with teams entered from all across the state and always has stiff competition. I’ll talk more about it in the next blog.
Things are going well for our team. Everyone is mostly healthy. Trevor “T-Dawg” a.k.a. “LeBron” Bryant was able to make his collegiate running debut at this meet while Jacob “Fresh Coast” Dubie sat out to recover from an incident earlier in the week involving a Nerf dart and his eyeball (welcome to dorm life). He’s fine, really. Lord willing, we’ll all be able to compete in two weeks.
Well, that about sums things up for this week. Everyone seems to be having fun and of course we're working hard. If you'd like to comment on any of these blogs, feel free to look me up on Facebook. I should be the only Chris Vaughn at Cedarville University.
Thanks for reading,
Country
September 13, 2010
Well I’ve just awoken from what I consider to be a well-deserved nap after what might be fairly assessed as a good Saturday morning for the Cedarville men’s cross country team. For most of us, the morning began early enough. Most of us harriers got up at 6:30 a.m. to get to breakfast on time. I hadn’t had the privilege of waking up that early since our first week of team training nearly three weeks ago. It certainly was a privilege, though, and well worth it to be able to prepare for our first meet of the season.
Fortunately only one team member had to be woken up. Our very own Joe “Nemo” Niemiec nearly missed the van when his “roommate didn’t wake [him] up.” Chalk that one up to freshman inexperience. In the spirit of Dr. Paul Dixon, who’s oft quoted “Everybody Deserves a Mulligan” sermon in chapel will be forever remembered as an instant classic, we’ll give it you ya’ this time, Nemo.
This being our first meet of the season, we tried not to put too much pressure on ourselves to perform well. The captains did this pretty well by getting everyone to wear headbands for the race. Some people bought headbands while others, most notably Alex “S’Moores” Moore, fashioned their own. They were a nice touch because they let the team do something goofy together which took the edge off of our pre-meet jitters.
Typically the first race of the season is treated as a sort of mulligan, i.e. “do over,” because everyone, no matter the amount of summer training, is rusty their first time out. Our main goals were: for the freshmen - to get their feet wet running an 8K (which happened literally thanks to a light rain shower at the start of the race) and for the returners - to match up well against the other teams, especially Miami University of Ohio. We knew there would be four teams at the meet: your own Cedarville Yellow Jackets, the Miami Redhawks, the Evansville Purple Aces, and the Urbana Blue Knights. We also knew that Miami would run well and that Evansville might have a strong team and that Urbana probably wouldn’t be a threat.
Unfortunately, at the time of this writing, the meet results haven’t been posted, but if they are posted when you read this, you can find them under the “meet schedule/ results” tab on the right hand side of the cross country web page.
Our team ran well. We had nine runners finish in 27:00 or better. That’s never happened in the 3 (going on 4) years that I’ve run here. If nothing else, this stat gives us a glimpse at the incredible depth of our team. Of those nine, there were four seniors: T.J. “TeeJay” Badertscher (pronounced BAWD-ERT-SHUR), Jordan “Davies” Davies (we haven’t made a name stick in 3 years!), myself, and Joshua “Weezy” Wiseman; two juniors: Evan “Slayer” Thayer, and Joe “Catwoman a.k.a. Catheter” Cathey; two sophomores: Matt “Matt (we’re working on this one)” Brooker and Josiah “Josey” Bragg; and one freshman: Ryan “Gust of Wind (gus for short)” Gustafson (pronounced GUST-OF-SUN, I think).
So there was a healthy mix among our top runners. Ultimately we did what we came to do. The freshmen I spoke with said they enjoyed the 8K. Racing definitely changes when one knows what to expect, so having a full eight thousand meters under the belt will hopefully make the next race easier, or at least more strategic, for these studly first-timers. Our top group was able to get together and run as a pack - with Miami’s front pack - for the first half of the race. After about three miles, our team began to spread out, while theirs stayed tight together and in the end they beat us by 34 points - pretty hefty. They did, however, have an important advantage over our team: this was not their first race. We are not rivals with Miami, but a little healthy competition never hurt anyone, so I look forward to running against them again at the All-Ohio Championships. On our course. [Yes, that is an incomplete sentence, but I believe it is grammatically justified by its dramatic effect.]
The surprise of the meet came from “Gus,” our top freshman performer. The story goes like this. “Weezy”and I are racing next to each other just after 6K mark. We’ve been fighting off a Miami guy for the last mile or so but haven’t been able to put any space between him. We’re approaching a sharp downhill and I’m thinking “OK I’ve got to gap this guy” when all of a sudden I hear a voice behind me which is NOT Wiseman’s say, “Good job red.” I was initially surprised because I thought a runner from another team had caught us but then I was even more surprised when good ole’ Ryan “Gust of Wind” Gustafson (living up to his nickname) BLEW past us down that hill! I barely had time to register what had happened before he was out of sight. He torched the last 2K of the course and became the fifht finisher for our team! So, my hat goes off to you, “Gus” for not letting a 4.97 mile race intimidate you.
All in all, this was a good first race. No one was injured and no one went out too fast and “died.” We’re all excited to get a race in at home this Saturday and improve on what we did down in Oxford.
After the race we were able to circle up and pray at the finish line, as is customary, and I’m happy to say a few Evansville guys came over to join us. This has been an important team tradition for us because it allows us to share our faith while also building unity with our teams. Afterwards, we headed to the vans for a celebratory swig of (yum) protein powder and then ate our fill of (yum!)burritos at Chipotle, which were graciously paid for by Mr. Wysong; Hollis “Baltoa.k.a. The Married Guy” Troxel’s father-in-law. Thanks again Mr. Wysong! And thank you all for reading. See ya back here in a week!
Country
September 7, 2010
Hello everyone, Chris "Country" Vaughn here. I'll be your men's cross country blogger for this entire season. Well, this is my first blog ever and I'm really not sure how all this works but each week I'll try and recap how the team ran and summarize the general attitude of our harriers (cross country runners).
I am a senior on the team and this will be my fourth season running for the Jackets. I also happen to be a captain and have had the privilege to lead the team in that regard for two years now.
This week is a little awkward for blogging since we actually haven't had a meet yet. Our girls ran this weekend and performed pretty well. We were able to get a few guys out there cheering 'em on and that was really cool.
Our first meet will be this Saturday, Sept. 11 at Miami University. Our team is looking really great this year. I was on a run with Alex "S'Moores" Moore today and we were talking about this will be a very special year for the team for a number of reasons.
First, we have six seniors on the roster this year. Usually there may be two or three seniors that make it four years but we have six and that 's pretty awesome because it really adds to team unity since we've been together so long. We also have the blessing that very few of us are injured, despite a summer of high mileage running. We're also all ready to go out and compete, and not only that, but also to WIN. We're pumped for this season that has really been four years in the making and we have eight guys right now who could potentially round out the top five.
Our mood heading into this first meet is very, very, extremely excited!! We've been training all summer, most of us by ourselves, and finally we get to step on the course and RACE! Our workouts have been going well and we're stoked to pack up and run tough against good competition (Miami is a NCAA DI school).
I'm looking forward to blogging this season and I hope that you look forward to reading what I post. Talk to ya’ in a week!
Country
Chris Vaughn is a senior biology major from Millington, Tenn. The four-year distance runner was an NCCAA Indoor All-American on the track last winter in the 3,000 meters.
