2008 Outdoor

[Justin]

It's that time again, and no talk yet about our local HS outdoor track runners. Any predictions on top times this year? I noticed Mike Lilley ran 9:51 for the 3200m, a decent time for early April, so the Region and State isn't going to be an easy one.

[frojoe23]

Davey boy should be able to give us the best assessment of the top area runners since he has been at bunch of meets already this year - what do you say Dave, who's the best around and how will they do at States?

[mertz]

So far I would have to say that the favorite to win states in of the girls is Lauryn. Shes ran under 5:20 in the mile, 2:28 in the 800 and 11:34 in the 2-mile. She hasnt really been challenged yet. I know the Walbert girl from mountain ridge will be at the top in the 800 and also the 400. The mountain ridge 4x4 looks strong again. On the guys side I would say that Mike Lilley is the favorite in the 2-mile. I dont believe Ryan has ran a 2-mile yet but i believe they have a big meet coming up. Ian Macfawn ran 10:31 so he should have a shot for states and you cant forget about all the other washington county kids. The guys mile I would say is still up in the air. Lilley has ran fast and so has Parker from Catoctin. Its still early in the season so there will be plenty of races left for the kids to run faster. Its really hard to predict anything right now. You never know what might happen. Hopefully the area is represented well at states.

[bevj]

I recorded times today for the Southern Invitational today. Here are Ryan Bowser's times:

800m: 2:07
1600m: 4:39
3200m: 10:36

Just some thoughts:

In the 3200, Ryan ended up lapping every single runner in the event at least once. The next closest time was 12:05. So Ryan ran this with nobody pushing him except for himself.

The same can be said in the 1600. The next closest time was 5:05. 4:39 for 1600 is very impressive for Southern's track. I know from experience, and some of you may as well, there is always a steady headwind blowing down the backstrech, so 4:39 is very good.

Just imagaine what he'll run with somebody pushing him on a calm day!

[kevinspradlin]

Pretty good performance out of Ryan. Not sure where that stands compared to his outdoor PRs. I wonder if Ryan's coach knew that the field was weak and, if he/she did, what the reasoning behind putting Ryan in the event was. I mean, he wasn't pushed, likely spent quite a bit of time running in lane 2 because the slower folks didn't or wouldn't get out of his way ... He can just as easily get this workout in a practice ... and someone else could have won the race. Your thoughts?

[tommy]

Alot of coaches have differing approaches to meets, but most likely Northern was looking to win the meet. Ryan is a guaranteed 30 points, taking him out is a big blow to thier scoring. Another possibility is just that Ryan wanted to run and win the events and the coach merely allowed him to. Being a senior, I would trust him to know his own workload and trust that he wouldnt be wearing himself out with it. One of Ryan's problems is going to be that he doesnt face alot of competition locally, but he's gotta be ready for the numerous Washington County kids that are going to be gunning for him. So taking a meet off might not be a good idea.

[kevinspradlin]

While I might not agree with that reasoning or approach, I'll grant your opinion is at least as good as mine - if not better - and just as valid.

I don't know Ryan; I have met few seniors who know enough to know their limits (and when and how to push them). Do you know how often does Ryan's team face those downstate teams (Washington, Frederick & Carroll counties?)

[tommy]

Ryan is a smart runner, and he's a horse so it's tough to wear him down anyway.
Northern doesn't see any downstate teams until regionals, and there isnt alot of margin of error at that point. Lilley will absolutely be looking to beat him, as will Centofonti and Parker and Buchman, etc etc. Our region is absolutely brutal and a bad race could mean not making it to states.

[Justin]

That's a decent mile for a solo run, but from his XC times that 3200 must have felt like walking out there.

As far as running the meet, the athletes don't have any say in what meets they run in. It's been a pretty historical problem in the area for track that hardly any local teams travel to any big invites ever. The Cumberland teams have just too many "Championship" meets, City/County/League/Area meets with a couple small tri-meets and that's all. Regionals and States are usually the first time any of the local runners see anyone from Washington County and East.

I would say the effort he put out there in that meets would equal an average workout. 4:39 is ok, but probably 10-15 seconds off his current potential, 10:36 is probably about 1:00 off what he could run, and 2:07 is probably 8-10 seconds off.

What is the problem with Southern's track?

[bevj]

The problem with the track at Southern is that god awful headwind you have to run into going down the backstrech. You don't get much back in means of a tailwind coming around onto the homestrech either. I was just saying that 4:39 is a pretty good time at that track considering he had to fight that wind every lap. I agree with Justin that his time is probably 10+ seconds off of his potential. If he ran in calmer conditions with stronger competition he's easily running 4:20's.

[tommy]

I dont think there's really too many championship meets anymore. We have the AMAC and the Western MD meet (Allegany and Garrett counties) and the City meet for Allegany, Fort Hill, BW. That's only 3 meets which is reasonable. I would say the biggest problem is travel costs. This year I've managed to get an invite in Boonsboro on our schedule, and an interesting away meet at Preston. We were going to go to Bedford's invite this year as well, but they pushed the date back to the same weekend as the Boonsboro meet.
One bus to an away meet costs about 400 dollars, and we usually need two for all the kids. Add in the meet entry fees and an away meet sucks up alot of money quickly. Fundraising only makes so much and a team rarely makes much gate money in a season. The school then covers the costs the team itself cant, and that means you often get restricted in what you can schedule.

To finish off my rambling, I despised running on Southern's track and have nothing but bad memories of it.

[Justin]

Tommy,

I see they did get rid of the county meet, which is good. I never ran a track race on a Saturday other than Regionals and States in my entire HS career. I understand the budget problems with going to invites for track teams with the size of the teams, I'm not blaming the coaches, but it's just the way it is. It really depends on the year, but a lot of years the area is very deep in some events, so one can find plenty of competition locally, but many years it isn't like that and some top notch guys and girls get the short end of the stick.

I ran on the Southern Track once, and it was the first time I broke 10:00 in the 3200m, so it was a pretty good memory.

[dan]

The only time I ever ran at Southern was a small meet. Only me and Chris Negley ended up going from our guys team as it was the JV meet or something the same day. I ran 10:09 in the 3200 and loved it. Then I came back and ran the 800, splitting 76-63 for a 2:19 tie win with Ishy.

I don't recall any blacktop tracks I met that I did not like. They are one of my fondest memories from HS.

With regard to Ryan, I feel like his 3200 shows the most promise. Once you get in that 4:30 range, you really need the right race to bump under. I encountered that the entirety of my senior year. It became second nature to run 2:01, 4:33, and 10:05 in the same meet, but when I focused on just one it became tough (PR's of 1:59, 4:27, 9:41).

It is just one of those things about our area that make track so different and yet so enticing at the same time. I love thinking back to those meets.