PBL Sectional

[volsxc1]

Ditto that. I've been trying to defend them all along. They have one of the best top 3's in the sectional, their 4 is getting better, the 5 is still a ways back, but that should not hurt them enough to keep them from state. Most of us know their track record and for this probably being the last big run as a high quality team with the graduation of Brehm and Cardosa, they'll be wanting to go out with a bang.

I'm excited for this meet for sure.
(in no particular order)..

Shelbyville should make it out as long as Selby can step up his game like he did a few wks ago.

Cumberland should be a lock.

Ttown - as long as exchange student is back on track and 5 picks it up, not a problem.

Beecher will need 3-5 to step up to hold off the hard-charging Rockets and Spartans.

PBL will make it out as long as Cardosa's in the top 15 and Carlson/Kyrouac have solid days.

Rockets will make it interesting if Booher can step it up for them.

Spartans are on a roll and can make a big splash if all 7 put it together on same day.

Sages are in the mix IF....Clark runs and is healthy, Rhodes is top 3, Hollingsworth finds his way back up with Rhodes, and Foley steps up to help Clark out (if running).

[wornflats]

I will be shocked if the top 7 teams aren't painfully close. My calculations show it this way:

100 PBL
100 Cumberland
109 Beecher
118 Tolono
121 Teutopolis
124 Shelbyville
132 St Joseph

Of course, I should also include a disclaimer stating that my prediction is based entirely on regional times, and I know absolutely nothing about the teams or about the courses involved.

When there is no certainty as to whether a team is going to finish in 1st place or 7th place, it makes for a tremendous event! And what a downer for the very good teams that are going to get eliminated!

[dbandre]

1. Cumberland
2. PBL
3. T-Town
4. Beecher
5. Shelbyville
6. Tolono
7. St. Joe
8. Monticello

I think Monticello is the odd man out no matter what, it needs a lot of great and wonderful things to happen to break into the top 5. I would have to say my 1-4 are locks, but the race still has to be ran and Shelbyville is the better team than Tolono or St. Joe's on paper. Again an excitingly deep sectional.

BTW Monticello will need rhodes in top 5 scorers, hollingsworth in top 10 scorers, and clark and foley both in top 25 scorers for them to make it out. Their 5th will be around 80th place which will be good. That would give them a worst case scenario of 145 points which is ordinarily good enough to get out of Sectionals and that still may not be good enough.

[ilclassaxc]

volsxc1 said:

I see PBL needs to look no further than the sectional preview from IPTT for motivation. I think they were probably inadvertantly left off, b/c they have..

Paxton-Buckley-Loda Sectional

Team Rankings

Cumberland – Cumberland put on one of the better performance in a regional to surprise many at their regional and win the championship. If they can continue this performance, they will win the sectional championship also.
Teutopolis – Teutopolis is a team that left something on the regional course and look to be a team that will be wanting to show that this season has not been a fluke. They need their whole team to run well and if that happens, they will take the title from Cumberland.
Shelbyville – If Selby can run a great race, Shelbyville will challenge for the sectional title. They have such a solid pack that they are difficult to beat in a big meet like this.
Beecher – Beecher is running really well right now and if they can keep their pack close and break up a few packs, they will make it to state. If one runner falters in this group, they will not be making a trip because of how many great teams there are in this sectional.
Tolono Unity – I am picking this team because of how well they have started to run right now. The coaches always seem to get the kids motivated and ready to make statements in big races.
Others to Watch: Monticello and St. Joseph-Ogden

Not even a mention of them. They will probably still finish ahead of unity even with their back two farther back, b/c Unity's #5 isn't too far ahead of Carlson/Kyrouac and PBL's top 3 are better than Unity's 3. Should be a fun Saturday morning in the rain.

Actually, it was my fault that they were left off. I had them second behind Cumberland and then when I was cutting and pasting them to fourth after looking at some numbers, I didn't look at it until Monday morning. I thought I had pasted it and didn't. When I saw that I was missing one, I added one of the teams to watch not even thinking about it. A friend of mine who coaches in the area called me up after I sent it out and said that I would make a few people mad when I didn't even put the sectional host on the list. It was already posted when I got the chance to fix it. Again, sorry about that.

When you are writing up 8 sectional previews, you can kinda miss a few things when you are looking it over. I honestly think it is the toughest sectional in Class A on the boys side.

[dacse]

Actually, it was my fault that they were left off. I had them second behind Cumberland and then when I was cutting and pasting them to fourth after looking at some numbers, I didn't look at it until Monday morning. I thought I had pasted it and didn't. When I saw that I was missing one, I added one of the teams to watch not even thinking about it. A friend of mine who coaches in the area called me up after I sent it out and said that I would make a few people mad when I didn't even put the sectional host on the list. It was already posted when I got the chance to fix it. Again, sorry about that.

When you are writing up 8 sectional previews, you can kinda miss a few things when you are looking it over. I honestly think it is the toughest sectional in Class A on the boys side.

For what it is worth, I think you did an excellent job with these previews. Hopefully, people don't get to upset about one little error. Keep up the good work.

[volsxc1]

I'm not upset about it and like I said in the second sentence, I thought it was inadvertant...just providing PBL withe some bulletin board material going into the weekend. You've done a GREAT job this year and I sincerely hope you continue to do the Class A polls for years to come. You've provided more depth to the polls then the other classes and for that we are extremely thankful. Keep up the good work.

[volsxc1]

The crazy thing about this sectional is how tight the team scoring is going to be. I can see the winning score being from 110-120pts, with the last qualifier being from 135-145, with 6 and 7 being 150's or so. It will be tight and exciting. We'll see if the weather effects anyone, b/d it's supposed to be rainy and wet. Don't count on any fast times tommorrow.

Good luck to all the teams in this sectional, it will be a fun one.

[circuit]

ilclassaxc: don't apologize for leaving out PBL. you have done a great job and the posts on the rankings thread all agree. I do think that 2nd for PBL is a little generous--they will have to run 5 excellent races to get 2nd but will have to run 2 poor races to miss qualifying. by the way, the weather forcast is looking accurate--it is cold and raining in Paxton and the grass on the course was not cut last i looked. if we have wind as forcast for saturday at up to 20mph out of the nnw, it will be a slow race

[sparky791]

circuit said:

ilclassaxc: don't apologize for leaving out PBL. you have done a great job and the posts on the rankings thread all agree. I do think that 2nd for PBL is a little generous--they will have to run 5 excellent races to get 2nd but will have to run 2 poor races to miss qualifying. by the way, the weather forcast is looking accurate--it is cold and raining in Paxton and the grass on the course was not cut last i looked. if we have wind as forcast for Saturday at up to 20mph out of the nnw, it will be a slow race

I am concerned about the rough area. It was dangerous when it was dry. What will it be like when it is wet? I hope the race is not determined by someone getting hurt in that area.

I do congratulate PBL on the changes they have made as far as the turns. Not near as many. More straight aways to let runners get into a rhythm.

I am also hearing that Clark has been cleared to run. That will put Monticello back into the thick of things.

Good luck to all teams. I hope every team runs their best.

[circuit]

sparky: we are still trying to figure out who you are. send us a message. the north loop of the PBL course, or "rough" area, will be wet like the rest of the course. i was concerned when PBL's Jr. High coach, Mike Brehm, set up that north loop as part of the jr. high course 2 years ago. frankly, i thought it was going to cause a lot of sprained ankles, twisted knees, etc.. a number of runners have commented on the rough ground and several coaches too, but i am not aware of any injuries and everyone seems to acknowledge that it is xc, not track. i suggested in a post some time ago that the lack of recent U.S. success in international xc competition could be in part due to our tendancy to groomed courses as opposed to real xc. in short, the only runner i might be a little worried about is Josh Clark and his newly mended foot. hopefully he is as recovered as Logan Block appears to be, because Monticello deserves a chance

[xcfan2006]

I hope that Monticello is at full strength and gives the regional an even better group of teams to fight for the five spots. They were really running well at the beginning of the year until they got hit by the injury bug. I like to see great competition and I have no doubt that this will be one great race to watch.

[volsxc1]

Anybody actually have a confirmed reliable report that he's running. We've heard before he is, just to be told it was a false report.

Either way, if he is running (and hopefully he is and is healthy), then Foley/Hollingsworth will both need to step-up big time tommorrow if they are going to get out. That will just make this sectional that much more sick.
Good luck to Clark in his comeback, and hopefully he'll make it through without re-injuring it. I know coming back from a broken foot is tough, I had one a few years ago, and it took awhile for it to fully heal.

[dbandre]

I can't get over the weather conditions, this sectional should remind many of the race in 2004. When Kyle Cash overtook, a fading Sean Houseworth late in the race. The most patient team tomorrow will likely win this sectional.

[volsxc1]

Will definitly make for a slower, more strategic race for the individual race. i agree, the more patient teams will be helped by the windy conditions. Glad it's not going ot get into 30's..should be 50's+ come race time.

[circuit]

So much for all those dissing PBL. PBL Sectional results:
PBL 92
Beecher 104
Cumberland 114
Shelbyville 134
Unity 140
Teutopolis 141
SJO 155
Monticello 200

Paarlberg 15:18.4
Feldhake 15:39.6
Pacey 15:44.2
Powers 15:48.5
Carey 15:58.1
Dodds 16:04.7
Rhodes 16:11.0
Brehm 16:11.5
Cardosa 16:15.4
Blomer 16:19.0
Kraft 16:30.5
Taylor 16:32.8
Blaase 16:33.3
Reel 16:34.5
Nibbe 16:35.1

For those who were handing Parker Thompson the state championship, look out for Paarlberg. The PBL course was wet and somewhat windy, but we still saw the first sub 16 times on this new course. Feldhake made a move shortly after the mile mark, but was not able to get separation more than about 20 meters from the pack. Paarlberg closed the gap by the 2 mile mark, passed Feldhake and put 21 seconds on the defending state champ in the last mile. Pacey and Jones were about 25 meters behind Feldhake at the 2 mile mark, with Powers a little farther back. Both Pacey and Powers closed on Feldhake a little and Jones faded badly, fell near the finish and placed finished 20th, failing to qualify by one spot

[volsxc1]

Congrat's to PBL, what a show they put on today. 3 in the top 9, with Carlson running his best race of the year to pull out 19th place. Even with Kyrouac finishing 60th, their top 4 did what they needed to advance.

Congrat's also to Coach Stirrett of Unity, what a great race they ran to get passed Ttown by one point.

We all knew it would be tight to get out, and this race did not disappoint. SJO had a tremendous race from Blaase and Nix, but had an average day in the middle missing it by 15pts.

Beecher's Paarlberg is definitly for real. Feel really bad for Jones, he's a great kid and a hard worker. Aylmer for A&M also collapsed today, along with 2 or 3 others. It was kinda wierd, never seen that before.

I'll chime in later about the girls results when I have more time.

[veteranxcrunner]

A great meet on a slow course today. A real eye opener to some. Every team deserves to be congratulated for their efforts. PBL stepped it up a notch with tremendous efforts by all of their runners. I believe each PBL runner ran a PR on that course, which was very wet and sloppy.

Beecher's kids performed very well, as did Cumberland, Shelbyville, and Unity. It was unfortunate that T-Town, SJO and Monticello didn't make it out as all are very good teams.

I felt extemely bad for Oakwood's Justin Jones, perhaps one of the top 5 runners in the state. Not sure what happened but he had a tremendous year. It's just sad to see it end that way.

Monticello ran a very courageous race, especially with Josh Clark doing his best to represent the Sages.

Next week will be interesting. Bago seems to be the team to beat, with Elmwood, PBL, Beecher, RC, Cumberland, Sherrard, Westmont, and Robinson looking to duke it out for the other trophy spots.

Good luck to every team and lets look forward to watching the best high school cross country meet in America.

[illini1]

Should be a good one.

Bago and Elmwood look awfully tough. I agree that the rest of the top 8 or so will be a dogfight, but don't forget Ottawa Marquette in there as well.

[irishcc]

Next Saturday-Matt Paarlberg FTW

[fal]

Well it seems to me like Paarlberg was focusing on this meet, whereas Feldhake let him have it because he has other goals in mind. Feldhake knows what meet he has to give it his all, I'm not quite so sure Paarlberg does. Lets see how this affects him a week from now.

[illini1]

I didn't know Feldhake was in the business of losing races so he can concentrate on the "right" one.

My congrats to Paarlberg on a fantastic race and best of luck next week.

[dozer459]

fal said:

Well it seems to me like Paarlberg was focusing on this meet, whereas Feldhake let him have it because he has other goals in mind. Feldhake knows what meet he has to give it his all, I'm not quite so sure Paarlberg does. Lets see how this affects him a week from now.

Feldhake didn't let Paarlberg have anything. Paarlberg straight up beat him. Paarlberg has been focusing on the State meet all year and next Saturday you'll see that.

[circuit]

I don't know what races fal has been watching, but dozer459 is correct. we have seen Paarlberg 2 weeks in a row and it appears that he is focusing on every race. I thought the time may have been wrong last week when he put 20 seconds on Pacey in the last mile, but we couldn't see him in the woods. this week there were no woods and Paarlberg put 20 seconds and more on eveybody in the last mile. Feldhake didn't look like he was saving anything

[pacemaker]

anyone know what happened to justin jones of oakwood? i believe he was picked to win this if im correct?

[volsxc1]

No one seems to know for sure what happened to Justin. He was still in 3rd with about 300m to go when I last saw him. Then the next thing I hear is that he faded and collapsed at the line right next to SJO's #2 man in 20th place.

Aylmer of A&M also collapsed near the finish only to be DQ'd b/c of fan interference from my understanding...but she was completely out of it. Looked like one of the old tapes I've seen from the Iron Man, just had nothing to finish with. Too bad too, cuz he was running a solid race until right at the end. Hopefully he'll rebound and have a great basketball and track season.

[dkbball]

I'm with dozer and circuit on this, I don't think anyone would lose on purpose to let prepare for another race.
I guess we'll see in Peoria next week.
Congrats Paarlberg.

[circuit]

It is one thing to "train through" some smaller meets, but I can't understand the claim that some team or some runner is "training through" a big meet. Maybe there are elite runners, coaches or parents that have some greater enlightenment than I have, but I always thought the objective was to win all the races. I can't imagine that Feldhake's father was running down the course (on the course) during the race to see his son focusing on next week at Peoria. The younger Feldhake is a great talent, but you can't convince me that Matt was holding back to build up Paarlberg's confidence so he (Matt) can repeat next week. I must be getting too old to understand that strategy

[dkbball]

Maybe Feldhake had a bad day, or Paarlberg had a good one. OR maybe Paarlbergs just the better runner... That's what November 3rd is for.

[circuit]

Paarlberg has had 2 very good saturdays in a row

[dkbball]

agreed