Week 2: 7/2 - 7/6

Week two began with a rather eventful “long run” on Monday night. Group “Beta” set out from East with the just-out-of-hibernation Ben Dillon, Mike Bruce, Warkala, Sean, and the one and only Mz. Veronica Donahee, whose name I have spelled wrong. However, missing from our group were Wang, Minion, and Arnold, who, after deciding to let Wang drive, got in a fender-bender. Nonetheless, they all ended up completing a very acceptable run afterwards. At practice, after Ben Dillon turned back with Mz. Donahee, the rest of the group fell apart considerably, with only Mike Bruce coming back under the allotted pace.

With Tuesday came a much needed easy day, and Group “Alpha” broke up into two groups, with group “Sigma” composing of Wang and Bruce for a shorter but hilly day in Woodcrest and group “Delta” composing of Sean, Minion, and Arnold elected to smurf, or run at the turf fields. Overall, it was a very efficient morning practice.

Unfortunately, an off day was scheduled for Wednesday, preventing us from holding a meaningful practice. Fortunately, it was the Fourth of July, when we celebrate everything great that is American while forgetting about American obesity, American fast food, and American declining lifespans.

On Thursday, the team traveled to Challenge Grove to perform another “long run”. After casting off the freshmen into the wilderness to find the coach of the girl’s dream team at Pennypacker, Group “Sundry” decided to change its planned course from Cieslik’s loop to the XC course, much to Bruce’s dismay. With this group ran Omari Senior, Warkala, Minion, Sean, Wang, and Bruce. Although the sweltering heat posed a challenge to all runners, we all pushed through it with solid attitudes, despite the laid-back mentality that we demonstrated (which we can improve upon); and on that day, not a single excuse was given.

On Friday, less people than expected returned to Croft Farm to run an easier day; fortunately for us, Chris Arnold also returned after having camped out for a night in literally the middle of Camden. While everyone started out together, Bruce led Group “Warfield”, which composed of Warkala and soon-to-be- upper-grouper Christian Mele on a shorter but somewhat quicker run through Barclay; on the contrary, Group “Kittyhawk” composed of Sean, Minion, and Chris, although Chris had to shimmy on out early but with equal mileage. In one of the most disappointing runs, every   single   person   fell off from his group leader, leaving Sean and Bruce to finish alone on their respective runs. Even the easy days count, boys.

However, on both Monday and Thursday, our team saw great promise for its future with the performance of Aaron Groff, specifically, with recognition of all of the other freshmen who have dedicated themselves to this team (Kennedy, Vimalesh, Vignesh, Ryan, Sean, Christian). Aaron attended practice on both Monday and Thursday, but really displayed his potential in his run with Maniscalco and Maddy Berman, with whom he excelled. If all of our already most talented freshman class ever could aspire to such heights, our team could in several years could be one of legends. Nice initiative, Aaron.

Remember guys, get your forms in, look forward to Disney, and get ready for the first trip to Holmdel, coming up soon.