November 16, 2004

Regionals was last weekend, and it once again turned out to be a success for us. I know that Jon High, Kile Krol and I didn't feel our best at the meet, but we were all able to pull together and run well as a team.

So some of our individual goals were not obtained, but I think we all agree that the team success was much more important. We won the meet and qualified for nationals for the sixth straight year, and proved that we could do well even after graduating five important guys from last year.

I think the key to this year has been how well we have stuck together, especially after the debacle that was UAA's. The team really got after it the last two weeks and showed that we actually have some talent on this team. The best part is that we can still run a lot better than we ran last Saturday.

This team has the potential to be in the top 20 at nationals and we have a lot of individual goals that can be obtained. Going to pre-nationals earlier this year gave us an opportunity to learn the course. If we can run similarly or better than we did on October 1, I think we are going be happy with our results.

It is going to be interesting to see how the newcomers handle such a big meet. Owen and I have done this four years in a row now, but this is the first time for the rest of the team. Then again that was the first regional race for most of the team as well. Coach Graham really knows how to prepare, and just like last year, I think he will have us ready to do well at nationals.

Andrew Podgurski is a senior from Chesterfield, Mo.

November 1, 2004

Last weekend was our biggest team disappointment of the season. After a relatively easy week of practice, we traveled to Rochester for our UAA championship meet.

The weather was nice and the rain held off, but the course was muddy and slow. The conference is also the strongest it has been in years with three teams ranked in the top 25 nationally going into the meet.

Yet, despite the strength of our conference, it was our own errors that cost us spots in the meet. Our top four ran solid races, but we need to improve in the last two meets in order to do well nationally.

Our main problem came with the gap between our fourth and fifth runners. There was about a minute between the top four and our number five runner and that's a gap that could cost us a trip to nationals if we don't improve.

It has been a goal all year to keep our top five close and we had been getting better at that as the season went on, but we slipped up on Saturday. Luckily, that wasn't the end of the season and our five, six, and seven runners all get a chance to close the gap in two weeks at our regional meet to help take our team to nationals.

John Washington is a senior from Horsham, Pa.

October 12, 2004

After our first tapered week of practice two weeks before pre-nationals,
our team picked up the intensity of our training last week. We came into Furman on Saturday a little bit sore after two tough workouts on Tuesday and Thursday. Overall, Coach Graham and the rest of us were very pleased with the team results.

There weren't too many standout races, everyone seemed to run well but not amazing, which is what we would expect after a difficult week of training. However, what was really great to see was the group running that we were able to accomplish.

The gap between our first through fifth runners was about a minute, which is by far the closest that group has been this season. Another strong pack formed from our sixth through tenth runners, who were all within ten seconds.

Podgurski again led the way for us and had a strong individual race among the leaders. Our sixth-place finish was good, considering the NCAA Division I competition that we were competing against, as well as some last-minute decisions not to race from two of our top eight, who weren't feeling great this week and decided to recover for UAAs.

Overall, it was a solid meet and with the pack running that we finally were able to do, we are confident at our potential post season success.

John Washington is a senior from Horsham, Pa.

September 28, 2004

Last week was a great week for the team. It was definitely a much-needed week off from racing and hurricanes.

We were able to get in some great workouts with the ground finally dry and the guys getting their heads around. We focused on staying in the groups that we need to race in and the guys responded very well to the challenge.

The week concluded on Sunday with our run up the mountain at Kennesaw. We run up Pigeon Hill and there are sections on the path that are so steep it's more of a climb than a run.

I was pleased that most of the team kept it a low-key weekend by taking care of themselves. This is the time of year when injuries start to spring up and people start to get burned out, but i think we have regained our focus after Clemson.

Pre-nationals is this coming weekend and will finally be a good test for us to see where we stand in the nation in Division III. Not only will the race give us an opportunity to race against many of the best D III schools in the country, but it will also allow us to race on the course that will host nationals in November.

I think it is no coincidence that we have run much better at nationals the years that we have been given the chance to race the course before we are there in November.

Andrew Podgurski is a senior from Chesterfield, Mo.

September 20, 2004

Last week was an unusual one. With Hurricane Ivan forcing our Thursday workout inside, it was lucky that we were able to have near perfect conditions for the Clemson Invitational last Saturday.

The meet went well for our team, we finished third overall against some strong Division I competition, again highlighted by some great individual performances. We have yet to completely reach our full potential and run well as an entire team.

That's going to be our focus over the next two weeks. In order to succeed in our post-season goals, Coach Graham feels we need to focus on pack running. From now on he is going to really encourage us to stay in our groups during all of our workouts, so that hopefully when it comes time to race, we can stay together.

Aside from the lack of group running, most of the team looked strong last weekend. Our three senior front runners--Andrew Podgurski, Jon High, and Owen Farcy--all ran well. And Kile Krol and Bryan Forsyth also ran impressive times to finish off our top five. Hopefully next race we will close the gap between our runners and place better as a team.

John Washington is a senior from Horsham, Penn.

September 14, 2004

Last week was definitely another step in the right direction for our team. Tuesday's workout was in less-than-ideal conditions with all the rain that has accumulated from the barrage of hurricanes that have hit the Southeast.

Lullwater Park was a sloppy mess, but the guys focused and we were able to get in a great workout. This team might not have the front runners that we had last year, but we have more guys who are willing to compete.

I think that Coach Graham's introduction of the number shirts has had a great impact. Coach bought 14 shirts that are numbered from 1 to 14 and after every race we have to trade them based on the order we finished for the team that day.

Seniority is all about how fast you ran and how well you competed. So all the grunt work like carrying the water jugs is reserved for those that don't have a shirt. We even line up for lunch after the race according to our shirts. Coach's philosophy is that if you don't like where you are, then run faster. It might sound a little harsh, but it's been a fun way to increase the intensity on the team.

Last week we raced at Panthersville for the Georgia State Invite. It's a great experience to race here and get the younger guys familiar with the course that regionals will be run on for the next two years.

For the seniors this was our 10th time running the course and it showed with High and Farcy able to post some very respectable times for this early in the season. Kile Krol also stepped up to finish third on the team. It looks like he is finally starting to represent the QCA.

The team still has a lot of work to do, but the guys are showing that they have the instinct to compete. I have heard a lot of talk about how we lost at Sewanee for the first time in five years, and that we also won at Georgia State for the first time in five years.

So what do these results tell us about the team? Well, pretty much that we have had an up and down month of September. The good thing we have two months until the start of the championship portion of our season.

Andrew Podgurski is a senior from Chesterfield, MO.

September 7, 2004

So far our team seems to have gotten off to a great start. The first few weeks of school are always fun and exciting and our team has really come together in that time.

Despite a somewhat disappointing finish (second place) Saturday at the University of the South Invitational, our squad is more excited about the potential shown in the race than they are worried about an early season upset. Centre ran great, but we still are very confident that we will be the best team in the region when the season is over and I think we are making the commitment and doing the work to make that happen.

Coming into the season, there was some talk, especially from those not directly involved with the program, as to whether or not we would be able to recover from the loss of the great senior class of 2004. I think we showed that we have.

Our top three were all seniors and ran very strong races. There has been a significant amount of improvement in many members of the team, namely Jon High, which was necessary for us to be able to compete at a high level.

We also got a strong freshman class to fill in some of the holes left from last year. Most obvious is Bryan Forsyth who made an immediate impact finishing as our fourth man on Saturday.

Even though we did not get the finish we wanted on Saturday, our team is ready for a long season. We all ran a lot of miles over the summer and are pushing ourselves everyday in practice so that when nationals is over, the results of the University of the South Invitational will be inconsequential.

John Washington is a senior from Horsham, Pa.