Post by sheasdad on Oct 15, 2021 16:24:32 GMT -5
An enjoyable trip to Tallahassee..not an easy city to get to but there were no flight delays or cancellations.
As I was driving to the course this morning before dawn I was questioning why they start the first race at 8am...the teams were doing their warm ups in the dark as the sun didn't come up until 7:30am...it was 60* then and I was wearing the Hoya jacket and cap hoping to run into Birdman or one of the other Hoya faithful...but by 10am the temp was 80*+ and the sun was incredibly strong so I had a better understanding of the need for an early start...
The course at Apalachee Regional Park is a dedicated cross country course...mostly flat with crushed stone paths and one hill which the runners do twice...a series of loops so that if you move around a little bit you can see the 8K runners 5 times...
The Hoyas started in the last box on the far right as the runners look at the course...now I didn't hear this from the runners or coach but I think this was an issue...the start was fast as there was a modest downhill then a slightly left turn after about 700m...the turn was onto a trail which probably only allowed about six runners wide...now maybe I'm not describing this well but I saw the home team runners (FSU) hugging the wood fence on the far left while the Hoyas were stuck all the way to the right...my theory is our men went out too fast and our women too slow trying to cross the field of runners...
Dual 10th place finishes were extremely solid in my opinion. The women had a gap of over 100 places between their #4 and #5 so there is clearly room to move up there. The men had seven runners sub 24:30 which demonstrates a lot of depth; this should bode well for a good team finish in a less competitive race like The Big East and even Regionals. Plus beating four ranked teams is awesome! The only thing missing from both the men's and women's teams is that top ten low-stick that many of the higher ranked teams in front of them have.
Despite their lack of Hoya apparel I was able to locate the dads of Maggie Donahue and Owen Johnson (neither who I had met before) because I heard them yelling "Go Hoyas" from across the field...I especially enjoyed catching up with Tom Donahue and had the pleasure of watching his daughter run an excellent race with him...
Looking forward to making this trip again soon!
As I was driving to the course this morning before dawn I was questioning why they start the first race at 8am...the teams were doing their warm ups in the dark as the sun didn't come up until 7:30am...it was 60* then and I was wearing the Hoya jacket and cap hoping to run into Birdman or one of the other Hoya faithful...but by 10am the temp was 80*+ and the sun was incredibly strong so I had a better understanding of the need for an early start...
The course at Apalachee Regional Park is a dedicated cross country course...mostly flat with crushed stone paths and one hill which the runners do twice...a series of loops so that if you move around a little bit you can see the 8K runners 5 times...
The Hoyas started in the last box on the far right as the runners look at the course...now I didn't hear this from the runners or coach but I think this was an issue...the start was fast as there was a modest downhill then a slightly left turn after about 700m...the turn was onto a trail which probably only allowed about six runners wide...now maybe I'm not describing this well but I saw the home team runners (FSU) hugging the wood fence on the far left while the Hoyas were stuck all the way to the right...my theory is our men went out too fast and our women too slow trying to cross the field of runners...
Dual 10th place finishes were extremely solid in my opinion. The women had a gap of over 100 places between their #4 and #5 so there is clearly room to move up there. The men had seven runners sub 24:30 which demonstrates a lot of depth; this should bode well for a good team finish in a less competitive race like The Big East and even Regionals. Plus beating four ranked teams is awesome! The only thing missing from both the men's and women's teams is that top ten low-stick that many of the higher ranked teams in front of them have.
Despite their lack of Hoya apparel I was able to locate the dads of Maggie Donahue and Owen Johnson (neither who I had met before) because I heard them yelling "Go Hoyas" from across the field...I especially enjoyed catching up with Tom Donahue and had the pleasure of watching his daughter run an excellent race with him...
Looking forward to making this trip again soon!
