AgouraCrossCountry

Report on Boys' Meet Against Moorpark and Royal

The Agoura High School cross country team faced off against Marmonte league foes Moorpark and Royal yesterday.  The Moorpark course is one of the most scenic anywhere, meandering through the cornfields, avocado groves, eucalyptus trees and pumpkin patches of Underwood Farms, a site used as a location for movies and television shows (an episode of NCIS was filmed there recently), weddings and Halloween events.  The report on the boys teams follows, and I will post Coach Prater's report on the Girls performances in the next day or two.

The boys jv, soph/frosh and varsity teams swept Moorpark with scores of 15-44, 20-38 and 16-44, respectively.  Not surprisingly, Royal (with the No. 1 ranked team in the nation) returned the favor against us, but the Agoura boys posted some very respectable scores, with the varsity boys actually scoring six points in losing 21-37.  Royal coach Ryan Luce told me at the meet that every one of his top-5 runners is being heavily recruited by Div I cross country programs.

In particular, I was very impressed by the overall competitiveness of our boys.  The team is learning how to overcome the typical fears and anxieties of racing and focus on giving their best efforts.  Royal coach Ryan Luce told me that so many teams they face seem to give up before the race even starts, but that certainly was not the case yesterday with the Agoura team.  Our runners showed a lot of character which, despite a world that sometimes wrongly emphasizes image and personality, is ultimately the most important thing of all.

Among our notable performances were these (note that the course was 3.12 miles rather than the more customary 3 miles):

Varsity:

Chris Baird made it clear again that he is an elite runner as he stayed with the Royal front pack, finishing with a 16:55.

Sophomore Adam Brosh continued his steady and relentless improvement, posting a 17:23 and getting inside Royal's 5th runner.

Sophomore Brandon Severson also ran his usual good race, posting a 17:40 despite still suffering the effects of the influenza/cold that has been spreading through the team.

Matt Schroeder bounced back from his knee injury, gutting out a 17:44, and more impressively, conceding nothing by sticking with the Royal front group as long as he could.

Soph/Frosh

Another fine team effort by our Soph/Frosh team, with Sean Slavin and Cameron Thomas leading the way (18:23 and 18:28), four others running under 20 minutes (freshman Ben Wolhauper (19:06), freshman Bryan Quintanilla and first-year runner Daniel Hurlbut (both 19:11), and freshman Brennan Bown (19:59)), with sophomore Alex Bown not too far behind.

JV

Perry Casey once again stepped up to compete early with the frontrunners, before slipping a bit to 18:41.  This is the first year Perry has run cross country, so as he gains more racing experience he will gradually learn how to hang on to the front pack longer.  Cameron Jacobson ran a solid 20:14 despite being put through a challenging workout the day before.  Casey Johnson stepped-up with a solid 20:32.

Freshman Aaron "Paisano" Argiso ran his best race of the season, finishing in 20:47 and thereby announcing his coming out party.  True to his Paisano reputation, I noticed Aaron speeding up every time he saw a group of girls cheering along the course.  Knowing Aaron, I'm sure he believes the girls were there exclusively to see him.  Keep training, Aaron, and someday that may turn out to be true!

Finally, special recognition goes to Max Byer who ran a solid 21:04 despite appearing to be suffering more than anyone with influenza symptoms, and to Harrison Sobel (27:24) who put on a furious kick to defeat a Royal runner!  Way to go, Harrison!

Athletes of the Meet:  Adam Brosh and Ben Wolhaupter

Weekly Erudition from Agoura CC Runners

In addition to Rabbi Jared's weekly inspirational quote (below), team genius Michelle Kislak has forwarded the following Greek phrase which should give you more reason to train hard and embrace pain:

"Tau pathemeta mathemeta."  Greek for:  The suffered are the learned.

Apparently, not only is the difficult training of a cross country runner adding capillaries to your cardiovascular system, it is simultaneously increasing brain cells.  Note also the Greek words for suffered -- pathemeta (pathetic), and learned -- mathemeta (mathematics).

Moving from the intellectual to the inspirational, here's Jared's monthly quote:

"Now if you are going to win any battle you have to do one thing.  You have to make the mind run the body.  Never let the body tell the mind what to do.  The body will always give up.  It is always tired morning, noon, and night.  But the body is never tired if the mind is not tired.  When you were younger the mind could make you dance all night, and the body was never tired...You've always got to make the mind take over and keep going."
          - George S. Patton, U.S. Army General and 1912 Olympian

This is a great quote to remember before a cross country race.  Also, if you've never seen the movie "Patton" starring George C. Scott (who won the Best Actor award), you should go rent it.  The opening speech is one of the greatest moments in movie history (though expletive-filled, so get approval from your parents).

Acorn Coverage

In the earlier post today we provided reports on yesterday's first league meet against Newbury Park.  Click here for coverage we received in the Acorn weekly newspaper, thanks to the persistent efforts of Bonnie Quintanilla, Bryan's mom.  Thanks Bonnie!!

Report on First League Meet

The Agoura High School cross country teams ran their first Marmonte League meet of the season yesterday against a spirited running corp from Newbury Park High School.  The meet was held at the NP home course at Peppertree Park.  We begin with the Report filed by Coach Prater on the Girls' team:

GIRLS:

Congratulations to the Varsity Girls who defeated Newbury Park by a score of 29 to 33.  The girls were led by Erin Baird who won easily in 19:16 and Kristen Hessick who finished second in 19:53.  Katie Klezek finished fourth while Michelle Kislak finished fifth for the girls before a strong pack of Newbury Park runners took spots six through eleven.  Dorothy Copeland finished twelfth to round out the scoring for Agoura. 

Michelle may not have set a PR during this race and she likely won't award herself the athlete of the week award.  But in Coach Prater's humble opinion it was a fantastic race.  Michelle pushed at all the right points, throughout the whole race, and kept herself far out of her comfort zone for the duration.  After 10 miles on Monday and repeat 400's on Tuesday, this was a gutsy thing to do.

After a difficult week of training, the girls were focused more on competing and placing rather than attaining PR’s.  And compete they did.  Notably, Michelle made several mid-race moves in order to pass and then put distance on Newbury Park’s #2 runner.  Taking four out of the top five spots is an excellent way to guarantee a dual meet win!

In the Frosh-Soph race, Arielle Slater finished fourth with a time of 22:10 and Sarah Kislak finished sixth at 23:13.

The JV girls were led by Kelly McBride who PRed to place 5^th in 22:58.  Atta girl Kelly!

Other notable performances for the girls include Sara McGillewie in her first post-race injury and Ashley Warren who completed her first ever cross country race, after just a week of training.

BOYS:

A resurging Newbury Park team defeated the Agoura boys' teams yesterday across the board, but there were nevertheless some really fine efforts put in by the boys that, coupled with Chris Baird's return next week and Kenneth Kile's gradual improvement from his stress fracture, bodes well for our ultimate goal of qualifying for CIF.  Most notable among the boys were the following:

Sophomores Adam Brosh (4th -- 16:57), Brandon Severson (5th -- 17:09) and Sean Slavin (8th -- 17:42) finished among Agoura Varsity's top 4 runners.

Senior John Reuter won the jv race (18:26) and put himself back into contention for a varsity spot.

Sophomore Cameron Thomas competed hard in the soph-frosh race, finishing 2nd with a fine time of 18:22.

Freshmen Ben Wolhaupter (18:56) and Bryan Quintanilla (19:38) both broke the 20 minute barrier, and freshmen Brennan Bown (20:04) just missed.  Congratulations also to Aaron "Paisano" Argiso who ran his first race of the season and recorded a fine time of 21:12.  We have a fine group of freshmen which bodes well for the future.

Team scores-

Var Girls Agoura won 29-33

JV Girls NP won 16-47

FS Girls NP won 18-37

Var Boys NP won 22-33

JV Boys NP won 20-39

FS Boys NP won 21-36

History Lesson: Who was Griffith J. Griffith?

On our way to Griffith Park for the Bell-Jeff Invitational last Saturday, we passed a statue of Colonel Griffith, a colorful and not altogether sane man who was almost solely responsible for the establishment of Griffith Park, including the Greek Theatre and the Observatory.  Coach Prater did a little internet research and came up with this fascinating biography of this important figure in Los Angeles history, which you can read here.  This extremely wealthy philanthropist tried to kill his upstanding, society wife for purely delusional reaons, but succeeded in only shooting out one of her eyes.  For this, he somehow only had to spend two years in jail.  Yet without him, there would be no Griffith Park, no Greek Theater, no Griffith Observatory, no Bell-Jeff Invitational and no medals for the Agoura High School cross country team.  As they say, fact is so often stranger than fiction!  One remaining mystery is why his parents ever gave him the same first and last name.   Imagine Bienenfeld J. Bienenfeld.  Or Hurlbut J. Hurlbut.  Or Brosh J. Brosh.  Would Marc, Daniel or Adam be the same with such a name change?  Or would such repetitiveness drive them to the edge of sanity?   To paraphrase Shakespeare, is a rose still a rose by any other name?

Jared's Weekly Quote

Jared's found another good one!!!!  Here it goes:  "The reason some people don't recognize opportunity, is because it is often disguised as hard work." -- Anon

This is obviously applicable to most endeavors in life, but none any more clearly than to the world of cross country.  There is a direct relationship between hard work and one's improvement as a runner.  The "opportunities" presented range from medals to college admission to increased self-discipline to better health.  Those who only see the hard work involved in becoming a better runner will fail to see the tremendous opportunities the sport of cross country offers. 

1st Report on Bell-Jeff Invitational

Coach Prater will file the Girls' Report in the next day or two, but here's the Boys' Report:

It was a gorgeous day at the historic Bell-Jeff Invitational.  The course begins and ends in the park above the Greek Theater in Griffith Park.  At the top of the first steep hill on the course, you can see down into the Greek Theater (a great outdoor concert venue), the beautiful homes lining the hill above the theater, and downtown Los Angeles.  I'm afraid, however, that the runners were unable to fully enjoy the view from this vantage point, inasmuch as this represents the maximum oxygen debt point of the course.  Ahh, the advantages of being a coach!

Frankly, our boys were tired after a very difficult week of training.  Now that No. 2 runner Kenneth Kile is on the shelf with a stress fracture in his foot, our team must practice even harder during these earlier weeks of the season if we are going to have any chance of qualifying for CIF in the unbelievably difficult Marmonte League.  As a result, we will be running in these early season meets (like yesterday) with tired legs.  Despite this, there were some notable performances yesterday:

VARSITY

Chris Baird finished 4th with a time of 15:19, an excellent performance.

Matt Schroeder continues his solid improvement with a 16:31, missing out on a medal by one place.

Brandon Severson moved up the ranks with a fine 16:50.

JUNIOR VARSITY

Perry Casey jumped into Varsity contention with a medal-winning performance of 17:46.  He showed a competitive spark by taking the early lead in the race before fading to a solid top-5 finish.

Jordan Burch and Cameron Jacobson also brought home medals.

Sophomores

Two of the finest performances of the day came in this race, where Sean Slavin ran the team's 4th fastest time of the day with his medal-winning 17:11, and is likely to run Varsity this next meet at Newbury Park.  If Sean will give up tennis and run track this next season, there is no telling how good he can become.

Cameron Thomas ran the team's 5th fastest time of the day with his medal-winning 17:20, also making a bid to be added to the Varsity team in the near future.  Cameron is a good competitor and it is only a matter of time before his confidence catches up to his apparent cardiovascular potential.

Other good performances came from Daniel Hurlbut (medal) and Ian Dutra who showed some real toughness with his all-out, finishing kick.

If you add in sophomore varsity runners Adam Brosh and Brandon Severson into the mix, it appears that our sophomore class may be the strongest group on the team, with potentially 4 varsity runners, the up-and-coming newcomer, Daniel Hurlbut, as well as the renewed commitment of soccer escapee, Alex Bown.

FRESHMEN

We were missing a few of our freshmen yesterday, but Bryan Quintanilla had a great day with his medal-winning 18:15.  Watch out for this young freshman ... he has the right combination of talent, toughness and work ethic to become a top runner over the next few years.

Ben Wohlhaupter added to his freshman season success with his medal-winning 18:27, and the talented Brennan Bown earned another medal with his 19:19.  Richard Avery also made a huge leap forward with his 21:04.

The future looks bright for Agoura High School cross country!

Athletes of the Week:  Sean Slavin and Bryan Quintanilla.

Quote of the Week

Frequent contributor Rabbi Slater has turned humorous on us this week with the following anonymous quote:

"There is a difference between 'involvement' and 'commitment'.  For example, in a ham and egg breakfast, the chicken was involved, the pig was committed.  Don't be a chicken, think pig!"

Hardly inspirational, inasmuch as the pig got eaten for his commitment, but this selection does show another side to our rabbi-in-training.

Report on Girls at Woodbridge

Coach Prater files the following report on the Girls' performance at Woodbridge:

The girls turned in a load of PR’s and season bests as well.  The fast course and competitive conditions pushed the top four varsity girls to impressive times.  Erin Baird finished 6^th in 18:11 while Katie Klezek and Kristin Hessick worked together to finish in 19:18.  Michelle Kislak posted her second career best in as many weeks, covering the course in 19:35, a 24 second PR.  Michelle found herself on a fast pace at the one mile mark, but refused to back off.  In fact, she was only about twelve seconds shy of her 3200m PR at the two mile mark!   Rounding out the top five was Logan Bedell who improved to 21:11 in her second cross country race ever.  Phoebe Simon also posted a career best, finishing 6^th for Agoura in 21:46, a thirteen second improvement from Seaside.  Arielle Slater rounded out the varsity girls race in 22:20.

In the JV girls race, many of our girls came through the one mile at an unusually fast pace, but they showed their strength as they stayed competitive over the next two miles.  Emily Hahn continued to improve, finishing in 21:52, followed closely by Dorothy Copeland at 21:56. Sarah Kislak showed off her never-say-die kick at the end of her race, finishing at 22:23. Jenny Archuleta finished at 22:35 and Kelly McBride improved to 23:06. 

In the novice girls race, Yasmin Sobhanpanah knocked 45+ seconds off of her PR (24;28) while Christine Menges improved by about a minute and a half (25:27).   Heather Hamilton also improved her Seaside time with her second race in North America at 24:53.  Jenna Goldberg (25:21), Stacey Goldberg (25:58), Jessica Stoffel (26:59), and Sarah Knauer (30:04) all did well considering our late arrival and having only minutes to prepare before the race.

Way to go, Girls.  Onward and Upward!!

1st Report on Woodbridge Invitational

The Woodbridge Invitational yesterday once again proved why year-in and year-out it is one of the most exciting cross country meets in the nation.  The boys and girls sweepstakes races were run under the lights and the finishing stretch was lined with easily more than a thousand cheering spectators.  Some of the nation's best runners competed ... with Big Bear's Craig Hall upsetting Royal's Michael Cybulski (two-time state 3200M champion) in the boys race, finishing the 3-mile race in an incredible record-breaking time of 14:00.  Despite a topsy-turvy tummy, Agoura's Chris Baird medalled with an impressive time of 15:06, a PR by more than 40 seconds.

Other Agoura boys medalists were sophomore Adam "Perm" Brosh (16:41), sophomore Brandon Severson (16:43), senior Matt Schroeder (16:45), senior Jake "Novice" Higgins (17:28), sophomore Sean Slavin (17:39), sophomore Cameron "Perm II" Thomas (17:44), junior Perry Casey (17:45), senior John Reuter (17:47), freshman Ben Wolhaupter (18:14), freshman Max "Ping Pong" Byer (19:02),  and freshman Brennan "One Coat of Paint" Bown (19:24).

Special recognition goes to sophomore Daniel Hurlbut (or, as Coach Prater refers to him, "HURLBUT!") with a time of 18:30 in only his second race ever, and senior Casey Johnson who came back from a lengthy series of injuries with a fine effort of 20:28.  A special Australian "good on you" to sophomores Ian Dutra (21:52) and Blake Reisfelt (22:11).  Freshman Bryan Quintanilla (19:44) ran a gutsy race, going out way too fast but holding on to the finish nevertheless.  Kudos also to sophomore Mitchell Squires with another PR (22:01), the talented Alex Bown for Glory who has finally decided to focus all his attention on cross country rather than that Euro sport of kickball (20:15), the effervescent Daniel Welch who put on one of his patented kicks to finish up at 22:30, and Harrison Sobel who persevered despite being overtaken by illness.  Jordan Burch took another step toward regaining his varsity-level form with his 18:31 performance.  Richard Avery (24:18) and Matt Farag (24:59) also competed well in only the 2nd cross country race ever for both of them.  Thanks also to the injured Evan "Greg Brady" Fehler who has graduated from the "Three Amigos" to become a mentor to the freshmen.  God help them!!  Also keep your fingers crossed for Kenneth Kile who will have his injured foot checked out again this week.  Get well, Kenneth, we need you!

OUTSTANDING BOY PERFORMER OF THE DAY:  MAX "PING PONG" BYER

It was an exciting day and night!  The Girls Report will follow in the next day or two, so keep checking back.