Henderson Meet/Workout

I normally wouldn’t write up about this, but I got a bit of a post streak going and I wanted to comment on the work that they’re putting in right now. Running a 4:30 and coming back in 10:00 after 15 minutes of rest (trainers or not, since I’ve gotten conflicting reports) is extremely legit, especially since it was a full mile and two mile, not just 16/3200. If I were a betting man, I’d put some money on this team to throw down a huge performance this weekend at Van Courtland Park forcing me to put them back at the top spot. This is Tony Russell’s favorite course due to the rolling hills that don’t allow for a rhythm occurs since he’s able to push through and keep up a fast pace. I think he wins the race as the opening to his season. The question is, how much faster will he go than last season? We saw a glimpse of what he was capable at this meet last season when he beat the PA record on the course that was set by Brad Miles, the same person who held the State Course record and won regionals… Russell went on to break Miles state meet record and win a regional meet of his own. Hills really seem to be Russell’s sweet spot, giving him a huge edge at Hershey and Van Courtland.

Where will the rest of the Henderson squad be? It’s too early to tell exactly where they’re all at, but it’s still early October and they’re getting ready for early December. This is like when teams opened their seasons the first/second weekend of September, so if they don’t totally kill it I still won’t be worried since they have so much time. But right now their top 6 is looking very impressive. 

Let’s talk about another West Chester kid, Chris Cummings. First off running 4:41 for a gym 1600 record is funny, I remember Chris Campbell running 4:30 for the gym record his senior year during the XC season during a workout day as well. Cummings is just so much stronger this season than last year just based on race photos. He must have been doing some type of lifting program allowing him to gain strength, coming with that is the ability to handle high mileage better. (this is just speculation), but I really like what I’m seeing. Going out hard and finishing in 9:33 for 2 miles is very impressive alone on a track. 8 laps gets boring really quick and Henderson is usually fairly windy (I’ve been told it was fairly calm today), I can say this from experience as I did the same thing my junior year at Henderson’s invitational (in the slow heat haha). I want to move him up, but until he can beat some of the top 9 guys, I cannot in good conscience do so, and I’ll tell you why: When he ran 16:17 and I’d guess he’d be capable of running 16:10ish now on the state course, I would argue that everyone ahead of him, especially the top 8 could all run under 16:05 if not 16:00 at Hershey at this point in the season.

I really love what Coach Kelly is doing meet wise to help guys get races in. So I wanted to thank him from the running community for setting these up, not many coaches are willing to go the extra mile to help out the running community. 

--ForrestCRN

P.S. Look for meet previews tomorrow afternoon! And thanks to everyone who brought information to the blog about the Henderson meet. Makes my job worth it :)