The 4x800 start last Monday at DGS Relays was of raging bulls proportions (Colin Boyle photo)
I heard the birds chirping a bit last Monday afternoon as I was finishing up my run coming back from the Evanston lakefront. I also didn’t mind running through the pockets of melting snow as it was a welcoming sight that spring is finally coming one way or another.
The 61 degree temperature also got me thinking about something that I read online recently. A colleague of mine by the name of Pat McHugh recently penned a marvelous scribe on his blog entitled: “Spring Sports Lessons From The World’s Greatest Athlete.” McHugh, who is the head track and field coach and athletic director at Winnetka (North Shore Country Day HS), outlined an entire list of what can derail a season during the spring months. I certainly can sympathize with him since I coach at the high school level. Here are my thoughts on the matter.
• Prom- I remember when prom used to fall on one of the state final track weekends! No, no, no! That is one thing that our administration fixed, but prom is still an issue with spring sports. Just recently I had a young man come up to me and say “coach, here is a note from my mom. I gotta go and get fitted for my tuxedo.” What!?
• Spring break- lasting up to two weeks in some school districts. At Lane Tech we have a team rule that only freshmen and sophomores can go on spring break trips with their parents. I got this rule from a coach at Hinsdale Central. Juniors and seniors are the leaders of the team and need to be home conducting law and order. The season is broken up so much with breaks, weather, and other unforeseen stuff that taking a week off in the middle of the season is not plausible. I bet one of the reasons that Illinois boys track and field on the sprints side has been down is because of spring breaks. There is no way that mom and dad are carting hurdles and starting blocks in the car trunk to Florida or Texas.
• Easter/Passover celebrations- Lane like a lot of other schools have a wide diversity of religions and cultures. We are certainly sensitive to our student-athletes beliefs and family customs during this period. I know that some school districts prohibit practice and competitions during the Passover period. It is what it is as they say.
• AP tests- I’m not sure about your school but Lane Tech practically shuts down when it’s testing time. The school administration will limit contact time between athletes and coaches for our AP tests. If its weather related during testing season and we have to come inside to work out, you can forget about conducting practice. That’s a no-go my friends. Shhh in the hallways and no running and jumping!
• Special school events- at Lane Tech we have International Days. ID is an event that celebrates the school's diversity; Lane hosts dozens of ethnic clubs which help students learn more about other cultures as well as prepare for the International Days festivities. This is actually a positive thing as a whole but it does disrupt the spring sports because student-athletes who participate in these activites, often miss sports activities to practice for their dance groups that start training in January. Some of the student athletes miss up to two practices a week for ID. It can be annoying for the sports teams trying to use already limited practice space in the building with clubs who need to practice their dance routines. So in effect the three month ID process can wreck havoc on one’s season.
Mustang Relays makes me reminisce about 4x800m relays of the past and the future-
March 10 was a record day in the boys 4x800m relay at the Downers Grove South Mustang Relays. Going into the race I knew that my Lane Tech unit had to run very fast to win. This event is like when the coaches let their bulls out of the stable and into the arena. In other words, the athletes are super anxious, incredibly pumped, or just plain want to run as fast as they can after training for the four months. Also, the winter months create a ton of cabin fever that only good competition can relieve.
So the plan for us was to switch up our order and run our fastest and most experienced guy first. Junior Pavlo Hutsalyuk drew the assignment of leadoff and senior David Schmieg would go last. They both did tremendous jobs in securing a narrow and fingernail biting 7:54.21-7:55.87 win against a great Downers Grove North team.
The race as a whole was of national caliber but the marks were not the fastest in metric history though. That distinction goes to the 2000 York team that ran a mind boggling 7:42.67 at the Proviso East Invitational. I remember the day well because it was talked about all week, and I was trying to find a way to leave work early and get over to the Proviso West Field House and watch them run. I finally escaped the 9-5 and dashed from the west side of Chicago to Hillside like a mad man. I just missed the race but I remember seeing the excitement that followed afterwards. I knew the Dukes had already set the national record because of all the yelling and excitement in the field house. It looked like the state championship in there. The team consisted of Pete Cioni, Peter Stasiulis, Tim Hobbs, and Donald Sage. They went 1:57.xx, 1:56.xx, 1:55.xx, 1:53.xx for their splits. That record has stood still with no one even daring to challenge it. Not unless you have Sage on anchor.
Check out the race recorded by former York runner Dan Dziubski: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PD9X9zU62L4