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Prep Harrier Gazette Edition #3 Vol. 2008
THE COLLEGE PREPARATORY SCHOOL
PREP HARRIER GAZETTE
Monday, September 22 Edition #3 Volume 2008
SOME PEOPLE CALL ME THE SPACE COWBOY
Saturday, September 20
A gray sky greeted the harriers as they assembled in the school parking lot early Saturday morning. Not too cold and not too windy meant pretty ideal racing conditions. And once the bus driver figured out which way was which – a big vehicle in a narrow space is sure to be trouble (but the Jeep was spared!) – the mighty Prepsters hit the road for Hayward. New to the Prep schedule this season was the Farmer Invitational, held at Hayward High School, site of the 2008 North Coast Section race. Two reasons to go: more race experience, especially for the many rookies among the non-varsity runners, and more exposure to the course for the varsity squads, for whom the NCS race is the road to the State Meet. Another twist was having the varsities run but not race the 3-mile course, enabling them to fully support the totally terrific Frosh/Soph and JV squads as they raced a 2-mile course. Since we had just raced the past Tuesday, a short race fit the bill nicely. And the F/S and JV squads got the total team experience, as everyone counted as a scorer for his or her complete team. Solid individual and team performances were seen throughout the morning, as saluted with a power-whispered Don’t Mess by the assembled masses. This was even sweeter given that Prep was the smallest school competing in the meet. It was another fine Prep XC day, the kind that makes one want to sing…
SOME CALL ME THE GANGSTER OF LOVE
RESULTS 2.0 mile course; mile splits
FROSH/SOPH GIRLS 88 runners total FROSH/SOPH BOYS 138 runners total
18th * Michelle 7:01/14:27 28th Mark 6:07/12:32
Pre-race nerves & dry mouth? No problem… “You can’t make me smile” Enjoyed his new shoes
20th * Julia 7:06/14:43 77th Martin 6:55/13:48
A more Beery-esque piece today Happy his mother let him keep the ‘stache – he cruised
22nd* Emma 7:20/14:46 82nd Matt 6:55/14:00 The foot is healing, the time is dropping; big kick Mr. Negative Split – a fine 2nd mile
31st * Gina 7:25/14:59 103rd Daniel 7:23/14:40
The team smiling machine and running marionette Killer kick to finish a solid piece
65th * Sarah T 8:57/17:24
Steadily improving; doggedly determined TEAM RESULT: incomplete
68th * Sarah G 8:57/17:41
Shin pain was hardly an impediment
69th * Sarina 8:57/17:42
Putting it together and enjoying the ride JV BOYS 127 runners total
15th Chris L 6:07/12:13
TEAM RESULT: 4th out of 9 teams; *places not accurate Has reached a new level of racing – bravo!
31st Nolan 6:08/12:35
JV GIRLS 105 runners total Terrific 1st mile and kick; new strategy a winner
22nd Deanna 7:27/15:12 44th Nick 6:23/12:50
The track inspired her; her best piece yet of ’08 Smokin’! What an inspired piece!
36th Kate 7:35/15:41 59th Elijah 6:30/13:17
What Pt. Pinole race? That never happened… Not the piece he envisioned, but found a fine kick
47th Rori 7:38/15:56 60th Andrew 6:24/13:18
Steady as they come – a very controlled piece Time for the Silent Man to make some stride noise
75th Valentina 8:10/17:09 65th Jonathan 6:35/13:36
“I’ll have a double scoop of misery, please…” Couldn’t wait to get to Chinese school – a mean kick
dnf Jenn 100th Tyler 6:57/14:41
You gave it a shot – Callie liked it It’s all in the knees
TEAM RESULT: incomplete TEAM RESULT: 8th out of 13 teams
SOME PEOPLE CALL ME MAURICE
On the shelf: Excused absence:
Alice (IT band) Adrienne, Chelsea, Micha
Thank you, varsities, for being supportive teammates.
Thank you, Charlie, for getting splits.
Thank you to the many food and drink suppliers – always appreciated by starving harriers!
Next race: the varsities go to Stanford Junior University for the Stanford Invitational on Saturday, September 27th. The boys will race at 9:00 a.m., and the girls will race at 9:25 a.m.
CUZ I SPEAK OF THE POMPITOUS OF LOVE
And from the back of the bus with Nolan:
Writing these things is always easier than my bi-weekly minutes because for one thing, Cross Country is way more fun than StuCo. XC would positively "pwn" StuCo in a race. It's also because I usually write them with Lena, who unfortunately can't be bothered this weekend because she is "studying." Uh huh. Sure.
So where were we? Ah yes, the meet on Saturday. It was an important day not just for racing, but also for some very important team realizations. We learned that the mascot of Hayward High is, indeed, a farmer, and I discovered that Julia Beery is actually a sophomore, not a junior. "But she seems so grown up," you say. I know. She might as well be procrastinating her college apps along side me.
But more importantly, after talking to a few members of the team, it seems many of us realized that being split up into fragments isn't as scary as we thought. Sure, having only six JV boys on the starting line alongside 12 other schools was a bit intimidating, and, yes, there's nothing like taking part in a free-for-all start across the Hayward High field. But, I think we all came to appreciate how nice it can be to do things as a small group. There's a greater sense of common experience that comes with it (only a handful of people in the world did just what you did!). You can actually have an entire conversation with the group (even if it's only about how weird it is that HHS's mascot is a farmer), and that's not always easy to do with our usually large boys team. You can also tell very easily who skipped out on their cool-down (I won't name any names).
But we can't forget about the varsity team. In a weird way, they are like guardian angels, for when you're starting to hallucinate halfway through the course, you're convinced that seeing members of the varsity team is some sort of heavenly mirage. I mean, you turn the corner and they just appear like a ray of sunshine. You're convinced they aren't real because you have no idea why anybody would willingly get out bed on that early on Saturday morning (unless you work at Paula Skene Designs, the leading employer of College Prep harriers in the greeting card industry...former employees include Kat Saxton, Kevin Walters, Casey Knudsen, Mercy Albaran).
But fear not, Prepsters, the varsity team is real and it's nice that they chose to jot down our mile splits instead of trying to catch some Zs.
Other revelations include:
-Tim found out that my friend Helen goes to school with Shawn Johnson. He proceeded to exhibit some borderline-stalker behavior, before endearingly explaining to a few of us back at school, "When I propose to her, I'll get down on one knee, and I'll be right at her height." (Shawn Johnson is 4'9.)
-Jenn refers to her dog as her "younger sister," thinks Sarah Palin is crazy, and wants to take John McCain to prom.
-We officially have the CRAZIEST bus driver in the world. He not only drove the bus into the CPS parking lot, but managed to completely drive around the parking lot and turn into a "lane" without hitting anybody's car (barely). Also, when we sang Happy Birthday to Sarah Eppley, he took his hands off the wheel (we were on the highway) briefly to do some air conducting.
-We learned that the whisper version of "Don't Mess" sounds really creepy when whispered. It sounded like that really inappropriate Ying Yang Twins rap song, "The Whisper Song." And judging by the way Lena attempted to grope Emily, it looked like we were in the rap video, too.
-A few of us shared coping mechanisms during racing. Most of us agreed that visualizing something you really want is the key to victory. Something like Gatorade. Or Shawn Johnson.
DON’T MESS
