2010 XC

[RATTLER43]

Just got home from CC practice. So excited. The conditions were absolutely brutal for our timed runs today; yet, Travis ran a 17:40 after having already done two runs!!! Churxa 18:10... the girls looked great too with some personal bests. I cannot wait to get to our first formal competition.

I am hoping Travis drops into the 16's and Churxa into the low 17's by state.

[AT]

Just got home from CC practice. So excited. The conditions were absolutely brutal for our timed runs today; yet, Travis ran a 17:40 after having already done two runs!!! Churxa 18:10... the girls looked great too with some personal bests. I cannot wait to get to our first formal competition.

I am hoping Travis drops into the 16's and Churxa into the low 17's by state.

Thats awesome for Travis. I hope he has a good year, he is a good guy.

He's a good miler and 800 runner too.

[RATTLER43]

Thanks. Yes he is. He is as hard a worker as I have had in 21 years of coaching. He is a pleasure to coach.

Hope it all comes together for him.

[Softball Dave]

Rattler43, just wondering what school you coach at? My son will be running for DeWitt's cross country team & so far I' m coaching him. He plays Jr High football as well, so we run in the mornings. Just wondering what you recommend on some works out to keep things different, & not get bored with the same old routine. Thanks in advance to anyone with suggestions.

[RATTLER43]

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[RATTLER43]

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[Softball Dave]

It's not rambling at all. Anything will help in our development. I appreciate all the suggestions, & we'll put them to good use. He has run in three 5K's this year, the last one being this past weekend in Little Rock. He ran it in 19:49 & finished 4th overall as a 14 yr old. He really seems to enjoy running & I'm just trying to keep things interesting for him. I hope to see you guys at a meet this year. Good luck to you & your team!

[RATTLER43]

Decent time for the youngster. I am sure you already know but I would read very much material before doing too much with him. Lots of books and magazines out there as well as online stuff.

He needs to enjoy it while progressing as a runner.

[Softball Dave]

With your football players, do they run after football practice or at another time? Cody was tired after football pactice, so that's why we started running in the morning. But to do some of the workouts you suggested, that would mean getting up pretty early. Just wondering when your guys run & still get a good effort, without starting out too tired.

[RATTLER43]

If he begins any new workout regime he will need to gradually go into it. He will be tired no matter what but you do not want him so tired that he is injury proned. Just add little amounts at a time. My runners who joined us the first week of summer are doing far less than my runners who worked out all summer. Ease your son into more work. Football practices will provide a lot of the speed work he needs. You might think about multiple 20 minute jogs to start with for a couple of weeks before beginning some of the other things.

Read your PM.

[NWARKsports]

...He needs to enjoy it while progressing as a runner.

You got that right!  There's a gray area where parents need to encourage and educate their child with their athletic talents as opposed to completely making decisions on what sports and training schedule work best for them.

[RATTLER43]

Agreed. Hoping for a great season for the young man.

[RATTLER43]

Great week of practice. Will finish it off tomorrow. Chomping to get to our first competition.

[RATTLER43]

Anybody going to Rogers or LH tomorrow?

[AT]

Just a quick professional track and field update....David Lekuta Rudisha of Kenya broke the 13 year old 800 meter world record this past week by running 1:41.09..He has been running fast all year and finally got it.

I didn't see it live, but I did see the video, its amazing to see a guy win by that much against world class competition.

[RATTLER43]

Agreed. 1;41 it just so.......indescribable. Congrats. I have seen 1:46 in person and was simply amazed. Wow.

[AT]

Agreed. 1;41 it just so.......indescribable. Congrats. I have seen 1:46 in person and was simply amazed. Wow.

Its even more amazing when you think of the splits. A top class 400 runner in Arkansas runs 50 flat or under. David Rudisha practically runs two of those in a row.

[RATTLER43]

How old is Rudisha? How low can he take the 800m record?

[AT]

How old is Rudisha? How low can he take the 800m record?

He is 21 years old..and guess what? He broke the record again today! 1:41.01 this time...

I think he can eventually take it below 1:40...

[RATTLER43]

Seemed impossible in the past. I agree.  I think it goes under 1:40.

[RATTLER43]

Results for Rogers and LH are at Arkansastrackstats.net. Rogers girls and boys look to be good again. Don't see the dominance in boys that I saw for years but with Coach E at the helm they will be in the thick of it come November. LH was impressive in mile times. We will have some official times in a week.

[AT]

I just saw the results, Lake Hamilton and Rogers look to be super deep in distance again this year...no surprises really.

[NWARKsports]

Rogers has the secret recipe for success.  They start promoting running at the elementary school level which creates serious participation at the middle school level.  Where a lot of schools don't start getting serious about CC until HS level.  At which point it's too late.  You can't simply open your doors at the beginning of HS CC season and hope you have a good turnout.  You MUST promote and recruit talent early.

[The Infidel]

Rogers has the secret recipe for success.  They start promoting running at the elementary school level which creates serious participation at the middle school level.  Where a lot of schools don't start getting serious about CC until HS level.  At which point it's too late.  You can't simply open your doors at the beginning of HS CC season and hope you have a good turnout.  You MUST promote and recruit talent early.

Couldn't agree with you more. I wished Des Arc could start em' up in elementry. We start them early in every other sport why not distance running?  Believe it or not my grandson is 3 years old and is already in a running club in Japan.

[Ty]

Gonzalez will dominate class 7A this fall and then T&F in the Spring.

[AT]

Gonzalez will dominate class 7A this fall and then T&F in the Spring.

I expect he will..that kid is a beast. I wonder what kind of 1600 time he will run this year.

[Ty]

Gonzalez will dominate class 7A this fall and then T&F in the Spring.

I expect he will..that kid is a beast. I wonder what kind of 1600 time he will run this year.

See him running every single day by my house. He's really improved his body and built up some good, lean muscle. Recruiting interest has really picked up lately as well.

He ran a 4:55 at the end of the season last year and I think he'll be able to shave some significant time off of that.

[AT]

Gonzalez will dominate class 7A this fall and then T&F in the Spring.

I expect he will..that kid is a beast. I wonder what kind of 1600 time he will run this year.

See him running every single day by my house. He's really improved his body and built up some good, lean muscle. Recruiting interest has really picked up lately as well.

He ran a 4:55 at the end of the season last year and I think he'll be able to shave some significant time off of that.

4:55? I think you meant 4:15. You are talking about Gabriel Gonzalez from Springdale, right?

[RATTLER43]

Probably. He ran a 4:19 at MOC. Great runner.

[RATTLER43]

Shiloh in four days! Partial squad attending. Elkins on the 11th! Gettin' close.

[RATTLER43]

I'm not sure he will dominate with Aenchbacher and Findlay out there. He will be incredible, though.

[AT]

Shiloh in four days! Partial squad attending. Elkins on the 11th! Gettin' close.

I might be going to watch the Elkins meet, I'm not sure yet, though.

Good luck to your team.

[Ty]

Gonzalez will dominate class 7A this fall and then T&F in the Spring.

I expect he will..that kid is a beast. I wonder what kind of 1600 time he will run this year.

See him running every single day by my house. He's really improved his body and built up some good, lean muscle. Recruiting interest has really picked up lately as well.

He ran a 4:55 at the end of the season last year and I think he'll be able to shave some significant time off of that.

4:55? I think you meant 4:15. You are talking about Gabriel Gonzalez from Springdale, right?

Yeah, typed a 5 instead of a 1.

I'd love to see him break 4. When was the last time it was done?

[Softball Dave]

I see where the state record is 4:10.45 set by Eric Gross from Mountain Home in 2001. So breaking that would a great accomplishment.

[Ty]

I see where the state record is 4:10.45 set by Eric Gross from Mountain Home in 2001. So breaking that would a great accomplishment.

He's got a great chance. A full fall of running, training in the winter (he quit basketball after his sophomore year to focus on XC/track. Was a heck of a point guard.) and perhaps one race in the spring where he only runs the 1600.

[AT]

I see where the state record is 4:10.45 set by Eric Gross from Mountain Home in 2001. So breaking that would a great accomplishment.

He's got a great chance. A full fall of running, training in the winter (he quit basketball after his sophomore year to focus on XC/track. Was a heck of a point guard.) and perhaps one race in the spring where he only runs the 1600.

He's got a good chance but once you get into the 4:teens, every second becomes harder and harder to drop. I thought for sure Efurd of Rogers would do it his senior year after running 4:19 his junior year but he ran 4:13 his senior year and didn't get it. So hopefully Gonzalez will train, train, and train and peak at the right time. I would love to see him do it personally at the meet of champs.

[RATTLER43]

Gross hit it. Brian Baker hit 4:11 and Razorback great, Daniel Lincoln, hit 4:17. http://arkansastrackstats.net/Documents/tfalltimesboys20080331.htm is a link to all time in Arkansas. Would be great if he could hit it.

[fanoftrack]

Aaron Batey will be the next sub 4 mile for an Arkansan with beastly pr of 4.03 indoor mile and a 4.04 last year with terrible winter that destroyed all hopes of breaking 4 last indoors.  Rumor has it he is giving it one more chance this indoors and needs to run faster then 3.59.6 indoors to be the fastest indoor miler for an Arkansas boy

[AT]

Aaron Batey will be the next sub 4 mile for an Arkansan with beastly pr of 4.03 indoor mile and a 4.04 last year with terrible winter that destroyed all hopes of breaking 4 last indoors.  Rumor has it he is giving it one more chance this indoors and needs to run faster then 3.59.6 indoors to be the fastest indoor miler for an Arkansas boy

Welcome to the board!...good to have another track and field fan here.

[RATTLER43]

Gabe ran off and left everyone today. My kids ran well for first two miles but faded some in the final. Not enough hill work. Pace was great and breathing was great.

Love the course. Very deceiving hills. Looked flat but was not.

[AT]

Gabe ran off and left everyone today. My kids ran well for first two miles but faded some in the final. Not enough hill work. Pace was great and breathing was great.

Love the course. Very deceiving hills. Looked flat but was not.

Hopefully they will be able to finish strong soon for you, Rattler. Where can I see the results for the Shiloh Christian meet? They don't have them up on Arkansastrackstats.net yet.

[RATTLER43]

Still searching...

We ran decently well. Travis ran with Gabe, Heymsfield, the Shiloh 3 for about 1 mile, then Gabe and Heymsfield began to distance themselves. Just past the hill at the 2-mile marker Travis said the hills had taken toll on his legs. We will adjust, now. Elkins this week!!!

[AT]

Thanks for looking, I'm sure they will show up somewhere pretty soon.

In college news, the Razorbacks ran their first meet yesterday morning. It was a dual meet against Missouri Southern and the Razorbacks easily beat them with a perfect score (Arkansas had the top 5 runners).

It sounds like a good start but we'll see how they do against better competition.

[RATTLER43]

I read an article about it after church today. They also placed 9 within seconds of each other if I read it correctly. Hard for me to determine where our team is against such comp and at this middle distance. I am still hopeful of a great ending. Coach has to get a big win under his belt soon or recruiting could dip. Talent is in place now.

[AT]

Elkins on Saturday. It looks like I will get to go up there and watch it. I'm excited!

[RATTLER43]

Wonder how muddy it will be. My kids are mudders!

[RATTLER43]

Just got home from Elkins. Nice meet. We took home a little hardware: 3 runnerup trophies and 8 medals. Travis finished 5th or 6th behind Gabe Gonzalez, Christian Heymsfield, and a few other NW Ark runners. Good start for the team.

[NWARKsports]

Way to go Heritage!!!!  Way to ROCK 7A!!!  1st place boys and 2nd place girls.  We ran in packs and it paid off!!!

BTW - Felt like Elkins pulled a fast one on us by sticking some random parents out in the parking lot with money bags and charge admission for the CC meet.... Not Cool...

[RATTLER43]

Congrats. Nice early meet for you guys. Hope your season just keeps getting better.

[RATTLER43]

Hosted the Magazine Invitational today. We got runner-up in Jr. Girls and Sr. Boys; third in Sr. Girls. It was "real" CC weather today! Kids ran hard.