DASH Middle School Cross Country 2015 Brookfield Academy Meet Report
Hello DASH families,
The DASH cross country team was found at Brookfield Academy yesterday. The middle school team was on hand to race, and many of the high school athletes got together for their last practice. The middle school course ended up being well over two miles long giving us one last good workout before our big championship race this Saturday in Verona.
One big cloud came up that dropped some cold raindrops just before the girls race and had the team scurrying for cover. The meet was held back about 5 minutes to let it pass, and then the girls unwrapped and toed the line to race. Julianna Caspers and Stephanie Chu were our leaders, running within a few paces of each other the whole way. Julianna finished just 9 seconds ahead of Stephanie in 6th place. Hopefully Stephanie will be able to stay that close to Julianna again tomorrow. Julia Kowalinski did not let the distance bother her. She sped around the course in 17:53 to place 12th overall. Grace Caspers and Emma Taylor strided side-by-side for most of the way. Grace moved up before she hit the loop around the track and gave us another impressive finish. Emma handled the distance well and looks to be ready to take it up another notch. We had a two minute gap and then our girls started coming in fast. Zaela Schlissel led the next pack with some fast racing. She was followed by Cate Fenelon who really impressed the coach in her first race. She gives us yet another amazing 3rd grader to keep track of. Angela Walters and Hellena Hacker paced together and finished just a few seconds behind Cate. Naomi Zhou kept up a steady pace as usual. She was followed by Jenna Walters who gave us a good start and a good finish, and then Mary LeSac.
Vincent Maurer led our boys team once again. He got into 4th position early and made sure no one would pass. Jeffrey Breiling liked the long course as he battled to a hard fought 6th place finish. Caleb Schaber gave us a third runner in the top-10. His 14:57 time was good for 9th. Joshua LeSac pushed himself hard the whole way as usual and got the 12th place card. Leif Kostrzewa was our important 5th runner. We will be counting 5 at the championships, so we will need our top-5 to be at their best. Salim Lubbad finished just three seconds behind Leif. No course seems to slow him down. Noah LaBonte ran a strong, smart race once again. He has established himself as one of our top runners. Kaden Hacker and Nathanael Chu worked together throughout, and came in just seconds after Noah. Our boys team is very deep. Tikvah Schlissel moved up the second half of the race and impressed the coach. Ben Breitbach did his best racing at the finish once again. He always comes in just ahead of whoever challenges him. Daniel Caspers faded the second half of the race. Hopefully he is saving some for Saturday. Matthew Kowalinski stayed steady as usual. Alexander Taylor and Joshua Lipski paced together pushing each other to the finish. Jacob LaBonte thought his running earned himself the right to eat ice cream. The course was not as sure. Sean Seraphine competed well, as did Bryant Farrell. Micah Chan raced in just ahead of his brother Peter to finish up another solid day of DASH racing.
The team looks ready for some championship racing. The one thing that could take us down now would be our health. We need to do a better job getting the athletes to put on their sweats before and after their race, especially on these cold October days. Let’s hope no one comes down sick, and we bring our best tomorrow. Homeschool Championship cross country racing comes just once a year!
Thanks to Ed Beck and Xueping Clark for being our official scorers and for collecting the cards. Thanks to the high school team that worked out on their own. I had hoped to get them more attention. Thanks to the camera lady for getting the photos. Next on the agenda is to get everyone safely to Verona and ready to race. I hope to see you there.
Take care,
Jim Caspers