Dustin Beck '07 - The day started like any other with classes and homework, but by 3:30 the varsity team was enjoying the chance to watch our teammates in the open race. The scorching heat did not affect Michael Belanger as he was the Little Giant’s first finisher in the open race with a performance that impressed everyone on the team and scared the tail end of the varsity squad. In the men’s varsity race, and spurred on by Belanger’s run, the Redpack began to look more like the team that everyone expected to see at GLCA. The team was once again able to reclaim the Redpack name with a 53 second gap time between the top 5 finishers. Team co-captain Dennis Frazee led the way with a 36th place finish in a field of Division I Universities and powerhouse Division III Schools. 25 seconds later came Sophomore Sam Compton-Craig followed shortly by team co-captain Dustin Beck. Not far behind was the pair of Geoff Lambert and freshman Micah Milliman who finished with the same time. The freshman of the varsity squad, Paul Wilson, Grahm Johnson, and Cole Jeffries aka Cole Trickle, also showed good improvement this week. In the end, none of the Redpack varsity was real happy with our times but the races we ran were much more competitive than those put forth at GLCA the week before. We now have a weekend without a race, two weeks of training packed with workouts to get ourselves prepared for the battle that is the Notre Dame Invitational.

Posted by Roger Busch at 11:35 AM | Permalink | Comments (1) | TrackBacks (0)

Dustin Beck '07 - After the dust settled it was clear that no one within the Redpack was happy with his performance at this years GLCA meet. Only Dennis Frazee and Sam Compton-Craig were able to crack into the top 25 with 8th and 20th place finishes respectively. A week of hard training, a race plan that just didn’t work, the fact that no one appeared to be mentally ready to race took its toll and put even the top little giants out of the race early. For the freshmen it was a rough way to start their collegiate 8k careers but everyone on the team learned something about themselves on that day… If we have any hope of accomplishing our goals as a team we have to work harder!!!

Posted by Roger Busch at 11:32 AM | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBacks (0)

Dennis Frazee '07 - On what started out as a brisk September morning, the heat was soon turned up as 5 teams took to the Fuller Aboretum to participate in the annual season opening Hokum Karem (or Karen as the shirts suggest!)

The Hokum Karem was originated at Wabash College by the late, great J. Owen Huntsman and the former University of Chicago cross country coach. When it originated it was thought of as a fun training run to kick off the season and it has now become a part of almost every runner’s vocabulary. For those of you unfamiliar with the Hokum Karem, runners pair up and exchange miles (much like a track relay event) for 6 miles. Team scoring for the Hokum is done by taking the top 3 pairs from each school, tallying up the points and lowest wins.

This year the Wabash Red-Pack showed that it was on a mission falling just short of Depauw University in the overall team standings after taking last at the event one year ago. Although second as a team, it was promising experience for the current members and the 8K races to come. The game plan for the day was not to let anyone get away and that was exactly what each of the 1st legs did. The top two Red Pack pairs came through the mile in close to 4:40 with the third pair not far behind. Each pair held on for as long as they could with the top pair of the day being senior Dennis Frazee and junior All-American at 800 meters Geoff Lambert. They completed the Hokum in a time of 29:19 which was good enough for 3rd overall in the paired standings. The next pair of senior Dustin Beck and sophomore Sam Compton-Craig were not far behind in 7th with a time of 29:32. The third and final scoring pair for the Red Pack were sophomore Hugh Jackson and freshman Micah Milliman in a time of 30:17. The major highlight of the day for the Red-Pack was that they put 3 teams in front of the first team from a year ago and two teams under the top time from last year.

The Red-Pack participates in its first 8K next weekend at Earlham where they will meet Depauw once again!!!

To see more photos from the 45th Annual Hokum Karem click here.

Posted by Roger Busch at 01:39 PM | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBacks (0)