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December 15, 2006

Chris Baird is a Quaker!

Congratulations to Chris Baird who found out yesterday that he has been accepted into the Wharton School of Business at the University of Pennsylvania (team nickname:  "The Quakers").  He plans on running for the Division I Quaker cross country and track teams, and hopefully someday will run in the world-famous Penn Relays held at the U Penn campus, a track meet that recently drew over 110,000 fans over a 3-day period.  For those of you who don't know the difference between Oxnard College and Harvard, U Penn is one of the 8 Ivy League schools and Wharton is the No. 1 Business School in the nation.  Please let me know your college choices as the year goes on, seniors, so I can give you a POST.  There are a lot of great colleges and universites out there, but the best one of all is always the one that fits you best!

December 10, 2006

Watch the Footlocker National Championships on Video!

Watch an 8-minute highlight of the Boys Footlocker National High School Cross Country Championships from San Diego here, and the Girls race here.  This race took place on Saturday.  Chad Hall from Big Bear (remember his 14:00 win at Woodbridge) is the National Boys Champion.  Michael Cybulski of Royal slipped to 7th following a tough stretch of races at State where he had to put on a furious kick to win, and at the National Team Championships in Oregon last week.  The biggest surprise was in the Girls race, where 10th grader Jordan Hasay, who was the National Champion last year, finished 10th.

December 01, 2006

Saints, Alums and Quotes

A couple of quotes and alum updates:

"No athlete is crowned but in the sweat of his brow."  Saint Jerome aka Eusebius Hieronymous Sophronius, 4th Century.

Alum Danny Lefkowitz (currently pre-Med at the University of Arizona) has sent in the following quote:

"The world breaks everyone ... but afterward many are strong in the broken places."  Ernest Hemingway.

It's not surprising that injury-prone Danny likes that quote.  He bounced back from a stress fracture to post a sub-4:40 mile last season and now has an extremely strong metatarsal which should serve him well when he has to stand for long periods of time in the operating room!

Other alum updates:

Alum Cory ("The Man-Horse") Hatch ('06) is running at Division I Southern Utah, and you can access his bio and a picture of his handsome mug in the team yearbook by clicking here and then scrolling down to Page 14.  One of his teammates finished 3rd at the NCAA Division I National Championships in November, so that's a pretty good indication of how strong the distance program is at Southern Utah.  Cory has forwarded the following inspirational quote:

"Umm ... "

Okay, I made that last part up!

Alum Kevin (KJ) Johnson ('05) just wrapped up another successful cross country season at Cal Lutheran by competing at the Division III Western Regionals for the 2nd year in a row.  He is working hard to convince Matt Schroeder to join him, though Matt says he'll attend whatever school offers him a year's supply of Fruit Loops.  KJ has forwarded the following inspirational quote:

"Better to start fast and die than start slow and die anyway."

Okay, I made that one up, too!

Alum Danielle Goldberg ('06) had a successful first season as a cross country runner as a UC Santa Cruz Banana Slug (that really is the team nickname) and dropped by recently to visit her running twin sisters.  She asks that everyone watch where they step after it rains ... that snail may actually be her team mascot.

The always effervescent Ali Heller ('05) follows the Agoura team closely via this blog and frequently forwards her congratulations and encouragement via e-mail from her dorm room at CSUCI.  She still jogs occasionally but hates to leave her room because every CSUCI dorm room has a plasma TV.  Now that sounds like a school for Matt Schroeder!

Brian Oppenheim ('05), team captain emeritus, is a sophomore at Cal Poly SLO and by now is probably running the University computer system.  He tells me, however, that he has not been actually running, which may be the case for many of you. Therefore, I have the following additional quote from Saint Jerome for those of you out there who don't occasionally dust off the ol' running shoes:

"A fat paunch never breeds fine thoughts."  Or, as Shakespeare richly paraphrases, "Make rich the ribs, but bankrupt quite the wits."