Following are emails from Glenn reporting on his Freshman year of competition on Dartmouth University's cross-country running team:
September 11, 2005:
Yesterday was my first race. It was our home meet, a very hilly 8km (5 miles). Supposedly, we will have no more races that hilly. The first mile was slow. After that, a select group of 5 Dartmouth runners started going faster. I tried to tag along, but was dropped about a half a mile later. I stayed within some contact for a while, but was passed by a lot of people from other schools. I came on during the last 2 miles, and was only passed by three other runners, all in the last kilometer or so. Two of these runners were my teammates. I came in in 16th place, about 70 secoinds behind the leaders. I was the 8th Dartmouth runner, hopefully getting me a spot for the varsity meet in early October (I think October 1. It might be some other day). For more information, go to http://athletics.dartmouth.edu/sports/m-xc/dart-m-xc-body.html As a team, we did very well, almost perfect scoring the men's meet.
October 2, 2005:
Some of you have already heard about or seen results, but I'll still tell you all about my meet this weekend. On Saturday, I raced in the McDonald's Murray Keating Invitational in Orono, Maine. This meet was the home meet for the University of Maine. We left on Friday and attended a spagetti dinner that was put on by the meet organizers that night. I got a chance to wear the most formal clothing that I own for that. The next day we had a 5 mile race at the University of Maine. I felt aweful before the race, but when the race started I felt much better. Things happen like that sometimes. Often, feeling aweful before a race and fine during a race is a recipe for good races. Sometimes though, it isn't. I went out with the first pack, which was made up of the Stanford team leading an assortment of other runners.
For further reference, Stanford, the #6 ranked team in the country had some guys there, and they don't have a small group of stars, but intead an "army" of runners. Also, Iowa, the #10 ranked team in the country was there with their best guys (we think). A little before 3 miles, Dartmouth runner Ben True (who also skis), made a breakaway after pushing his way through the Stanford crowd. This broke the pack up, but I didn't really realize this for a couple hundred yards, because I was in the back of this pack. I stayed with the last guys from the original lead pack, as the 5th Dartmouth runner. 5 people from each team score, so the 5th man is really important. With about 3/4 of a mile to go, I was given the mission to pass two guys. I ended up getting passed by an Iowa guy, but still ended up in 22nd as our 5th man. As one of our middle distance runners put it "True wins, Alec 3rd, Burnham 6th, Marcus 17th, and strong race by Glenn in 22nd to round out the top 5."
Stanford ran very strong, and took all top 10 positions that we didn't. We finished 2nd, far behind Stanford, but quite a bit ahead of Iowa. Other than that, not too much has happened in the past few days. When I find out what my next meet is, I'll send that out. Full results can be found at http://goblackbears.collegesports.com/sports/m-xc/stats/2005-2006/keatingemen.html
Talk to all of you later,
Glenn Randall
October 2, 2005
Just so you know, my next meet is the NCAA Pre-Meet in Terre Haute, IN on October 15. This meet is our top 7 guys. Everybody else is going to the New England Championships on October 8, but I will not be there, so don't worry when I'm not on the result list.
October 17, 2005
This last weekend, I went to the NCAA pre-meet in Terre Haute, Indiana. This is on the same course as the NCAA Championships will be held on when November 21 rolls around. The point of this meet was to run against many of the best teams in the country to see how we stack up and gain at large points. At large points are simply points for beating teams that qualify for NCAAs. Getting a lot of these is one way to qualify for NCAAs.
The course was held on an open feild of grass on the side of a hill. It was a very tough course because the grass and the long hills really made people tired. The race started out very fast. I was quite a ways back after 1km, and still came through in under 3 minutes. At that pace, I would have been one of the top individuals. I couldn't hold that pace. As I started to drop back, I recieved encoragement from one of our team captains, and began running with him and another Dartmouth guy. I really feel that this shows our team chemistry. I ended up salvaging an ok race, but by no means great. I ended up as Dartmouth's 6th man, in 117th place overall. As a team we did very well, placing 5th in our race (there were two races because so many teams attended that one race would have been even more chaotic than two). This is very good considering that we had several individuals who felt that they could have run at least a few seconds faster. To put it in retrospect, loosing 1 second usually meant losing at least 1 position. Race results are at http://www.indstate.edu/athletics/cross/championship/05results/prenats.htm
We ran in the Blue race.
My next meet is the Heptagonal Championships on Friday, October 28. This is one of the most important meets of the year, as it is the Ivy League Championships.
Glenn RandallP.S. Just as an extra, we beat some very highly ranked teams. I believe Cal-Poly is ranked 11th in the country. Teams like Florida State and Indiana are also ranked ahead of us. I will forward national coaches pole rankings when I get them.
October 19, 2005
Just in case any of you find rankings interesting (they are not very meaningful. all they are is how good some coaches thing we are):
Northeast region coaches poll:
1. Dartmouth
2. Iona
3. Providence
4. Brown
5. Cornell
6. Columbia
National coaches poll:
***note, parentheses are how many first place votes that team got***
1. Arkansas (12)
2. Wisconsin (4)
3. Colorado
4. Stanford
5. Notre Dame
6. BYU
7. Arizona
8. Florida
9. Georgetown
10. UTEP
11. Iowa
12. Texas
13. Kansas
14. Dartmouth
15. Portland
16. William & Mary
17. Michigan
18. Virginia
19. Florida State
20. Alabama
21. Iona College
22. Indiana
23. Minnesota
24. Washington
25. Oklahoma State
26. Ohio State
27. Cal Poly San Luis Obispo
28. Air Force
29. American
30. Eastern Michigan
Again, these don't mean a lot in the scheme of our season. They are just how good some coaches think10-29-2005: Yesterday was the Heptagonal Championships (Ivy League Championships) in Van Cortland Park in the Bronx in New York City. As some history, there used to be 7 Ivy schools. This is when it was named Heptagonal Championships (7=hep). Eventually, the League grew to 12 (I think), and then shrunk down, the last school leaving the Ivy League being Navy.
The day before we left for Heps, we had our Heps run. We ran through the library to encorage people to come, and then a freshman girl and a freshman boy (me) were elected to invite the president of the college. He was out of town, and once again did not attend (I don't think he ever attends).
Coming into Heps, we knew that we were the best team. From reading what the other coaches wrote about us, I think everybody else did too. Brown's coach said, "Dartmouth, on paper, certainly looks like the clear favorite in the men's race. They have front-runners. They have depth. They have it all."
Columbia's coach said, "I do think Dartmouth is significantly better than the rest of us."
Cornell's coach said, "The team title certainly is Dartmouth's to lose. They are the overwhelming favorites and would have to have a terrible day not to emerge victorious. Coming into the season they looked to be the favorites as they had four of the top eight returnees from last year's Heps. They look even better now."
As a team, we ran very well, placing our top 9 runners in 1st, 4th, 6th, 7th, 12th, 14th, 17th, 25th, and 29th. We won very convincingly, despite the fact that Princeton had a very good day. My race went ok, but I felt I could have done better. I was Dartmouth's 9th man, in 29th place.
As far as classes go, I got an A on my physics midterm and a B on my math midterm. My writing professor has warned us not to enquire about our grades until the end of the term, so I am not sure what my grade in that class is.
Glenn Randall
11-14-05: All good things must come to an end. So it goes with my cross-country running season. On Saturday I ran in the Regional Coach's race (JV Regionals). Among other things, a spot as the alternate for the NCAA Championships was on the line. Early on in the day, the Men's Varsity placed 2nd, autoqualifying for Nationals in Terre Haute. The Coach's race was a short 8km (5 mile, but the course actually measures 4.96 miles). We started at the same time (exactly) as the Women's 5km Coach's race. The first mile and a half, Dartmouth runners were near the front of the pack, but made sure not to lead. At a little after a mile and a half, I let myself go down a hill and put a gap on the pack. Another Dartmouth runner (George McCardle) soon caught up with me and we ran together. We soon had a 40-50m (44-55 yard) lead on 3rd place. I picked up the pace to try to increase our lead and get the win (remember, the alternate spot for NCAAs was on the line). George ran a very hard race and stayed with me. With 500m to go (a little more than a quarter of a mile), George took off. George beat me by a few seconds, and we both ran the 8km in less than 25 minutes (this is pretty good). Within a few seconds of me finishing, another Dartmouth freshman finished in 3rd. A few seconds after that, another Dartmouth runner finished 5th. Soon, another Dartmouth runner finished 14th, ahead of any other team's 5th man. This was my second fastest 8km ever, and almost all Dartmouth runners in the Coach's race set 8km personal records. Overall, it was a very dominating performance by Dartmouth, finishing 2nd in Varsity and 1st in the Coach's race. However, all indications are that George will go to NCAAs as the alternate and my ski season will start early. My first ski race is right after Thanksgiving, so I'll be sending out how that went. Results from the race can be found at http://www.plattsys.com/results/res2005/ncaa1xc05.htm#COACHES Results from the Men's and Women's Varsity can be found simply by scrolling up.
As far as classes go, things are going well. I feel very confident about my exam in math the other day. Physics is going very well, and we are getting into the crazy world of relativity.
Glenn Randall