National Meet

Coaches,

It is important that this information gets to anyone on your team who is going to the national champs. I think this is all the information that they will need but it has to get into their hands. I am relying upon you to get it to them. Make certain they understand if there are any questions, contact me as soon as possible.

Thanks for all your help in passing information along to the parents. You have done a tremendous job this year. Wish all the kids good luck next week and pray for nice weather.

Mary Ellen

Itinerary

Directions

postseason meet (and 100th CYO track post!)

Here is an email from Mary Ellen about the postseason.

To all,

I have attached directions to the race on Saturday. It took a couple of tries to actually find this place. Parking will be an issue. My guess is that there is room for about 80-100 cars in all the lots at the park. The overflow will be asked to park in the lot for the Bethlehem Baptist Church. The lot is located at the light at Behtlehem Pike and Trewellyn Ave. There will be shuttles taking people from this lot back and forth to the park. The overflow lot is located about 0.7 miles from the starting line. It is a walkable distance and you will be walking on roads through a neighborhood and on park roads if you choose to walk. If you find that the lots in the park are full, you can drop the kids off by the flagpole and then go back to park.

The course walk is at 8:30 AM. The courses are all very confusing. They loop and cross over. I think that all athletes must walk the course. In the woods there are multiple trails and I do not know for a fact that marshals will be at all places where turns are made. It will be your responsibility to know the course. I recommend that all athletes be in the park between 8-8:15 on Saturday morning.

The starting line is just off the first base line of the baseball field in front of the pavilion. We have received permission to set up our tents on the infield of this field. We can line them up along the fences on first and third base line. I think that we had 8 tents coming so this would be great. I will have signs made to identify which tent is for which age group.

When you arrive, find the tent for your age group. Find your age group coach and get your number. It would be best to do this BEFORE the course walk. At the moment, I have all the numbers (except the two late entries) and I will give them to the age group coaches on Saturday. I will have pins for all the groups.

The age group coaches are:
Primary Girls (subnovice) -- Nativity of Our Lord

Primary Boys (subnovice) -- St. Stanislaus

Bantom Girls (novice) -- Our Lady of Grace

Bantom Boys (novice) -- Sacred Heart, Oxford

Midget Girls (minor) -- St. Ignatius

Midget Boys (minor) -- St. Agnes, West Chester

Youth Girls (cadet) -- St. Anastasia

Youth Boys (cadet) -- Sts. Philip and James

Intermediate Girls (high school) -- see Mrs. Malloy

Obviously, if someone would like to assist the coach, that would be greatly appreciated. Some of the age groups are rather large. I will have updated team lists for each age group coach because there have been numerous changes made.

You will walk the course with your group. PAY ATTENTION TO THE COURSE! Bring extra shoes and several extra pairs of socks. The course is very soft and muddy. If it rains at all between now and Saturday, it will be even worse. If your shoes or socks are wet after the course walk, put on dry ones. If you are wet after the warmup, put on dry ones for the race and the same for after the race. Spikes are definitely recommended for this course.

Warmup with your group. Make sure that you have the red CYO shirt and black shorts or tights. The weather forecast for Saturday is possible chance of showers with the highs in the upper 50s to low 60s. This meet will take place no matter what the weather. Come prepared. No one should be racing in sweats or long sleeved t-shirts. No hats should be necessary. You want to be light and quick.

Awards will be given out in the chute after the race. At least the top 20 in each race will be given awards. When I left today, they were discussing if they wanted to give out more. I guess that we will know on Saturday. Any team awards should be given to me by the end of the day.

The majority of the paperwork for nationals has already been handed in. There are a couple of folks who need to finalize some things. If anyone who is running as an individual decides to go to the national meet, I MUST KNOW ON SATURDAY. Saturday is the last day for paperwork and fees for nationals. You are permitted to change your mind and go but I need to know before I leave on Saturday.

I will be working in the finish chute all day so you know where you can find me.

Good luck and have a good time on Saturday.

Mary Ellen Malloy

Penllyn Woods Directions

From PA Turnpike:
Exit Turnpike at Fort Washington Exit (#26). Take Route 309 North to Spring House / Norristown Road Exit. Turn left onto Norristown Road. At the third traffic light (Bethlehem Pike), turn Left. At the next light turn Right, Blue Bell Penllyn Pike (Harleysville National Bank will be on the corner). Take Blue Bell Penllyn Pike to the next traffic light, which is Trewellyn Ave. Continue on Blue Bell Penllyn Pike make a right at the second street on your right, which is Township Line Road. If you are going to Penllyn Woods stay on Township Line Road and DO NOT TURN, follow the signs (1/4 mile to flagpole turnaround).

From Route 73 (East or West):
Take Route 73 to Blue Bell Penllyn Pike (Blue Bell Inn and Blue Horse Inn intersection), if you are coming from the West make a Left, if you are coming from the East make a right. Continue on Blue Bell Penllyn Pike thru the next light at Morris Rd. Once you go past the Cedarbrook Country Club the road will slope down, Lantern Lane will be on your left, cross over bridge and the next left is Township Line Road. Make a hard Left. Follow the signs to Penllyn Woods (1/4 mile to flagpole turnaround).

Route 309 North:
Take Route 309 South to Bethlehem Pike. Continue on Bethlehem Pike going past the Genuardi’s Shopping Center (on your right). Go through the traffic light at Moore Drive. At the next light go straight, at the next light make a Right onto Blue Bell Penllyn Pike (Harleysville National Bank will be on the corner). Take Blue Bell Penllyn Pike to the next traffic light, which is Trewellyn Ave. Continue on Blue Bell Penllyn Pike make a right at the second street on your right, which is Township Line Road. Stay on Township Line Road and DO NOT Turn, follow the signs (1/4 mile to flagpole turnaround).

From the Blue Route:

Take last exit Germantown Pike West. Follow Germantown Pike past the Plymouth Meeting Mall. The road will rise and get over to the right lane to turn onto Walton Rd.

Take a right on Walton Rd and follow past two traffic lights (2nd light is Township Line Rd -Commerce Bank on left) until you come to a fork in the road. Go LEFT at the fork in the road onto Stenton Ave. You will go into a sharp left curve past some blinking yellow caution lights. The road will straighten out for a couple hundred yards before turning sharp right where you will start up a steep incline. The road now becomes Penllyn Blue Bell Pike. Continue on Blue Bell Penllyn Pike across lights at Rt 73 (Blue Bell Inn), and Morris Rd. Once you go past the Cedarbrook Country Club (on right), the road will slope down, Lantern Lane will be on your left, cross over bridge and the next left is Township Line Road. Make a hard Left. Follow the signs to Penllyn Woods (1/4 mile to flagpole turnaround).

If anyone needs red shirts, I have more. They will be in my van on Saturday. If you have not already paid, they are $8 each.

I have five bags of sweats that were ordered and never picked up. Someone please claim them.

From MMR, Seminack and Christian.

From John Chrysostom, Clifton

From Annunciation, Rosini and Walsh. Walsh owes $24 for the late order.

I will have them with me. I want to get rid of them. Please help!

this is my 100th post about CYO track/XC in less than 3 years, which just shows that running folk are far too neurotic.

Practice Sites

Here are some practice sites if your looking for somewhere to practice during the postseason:

Bensalem HS

I will be holding practice at Bensalem High School by the field hockey fields on Mondays (except Monday 11/2), Tuesdays and Thursdays from 5:15 to 6:45 PM. There are lights in the parking lots so we can continue to run even when it gets darker.

Enter off Hulmeville Road and turn left into the parking lot on the side of the school. We are located about halfway down the parking lot.

All are welcome.

COACH - Mary Ellen Malloy

CB EAST HS

OLG/OLMC/St Judes/St Martins...we have practice at CB EAST high school on Tuesdays, Thursdays from 4-5pm after daylight savings.....9-10am on Saturdays....
COACH - Sam Losorelli OLG/OLMC

SWARTHMORE COLLEGE

We at St John Chrysostom will be having practice on Tuesday, Wednesday and Friday from 5:30 to 6:45 at Swarthmore College. We meet at the Swarthmore Presbyterian Church on Harvey Road, in the back parking lot at the small playground.
Here are the mapquest directions to our practice site, please call me if you have questions at 610-585-2914.
http://www.mapquest.com/maps?name=Swarthmore+Presbyterian+Church&city=Swarthmore&state=PA&address=727+Harvard+Ave&zipcode=19081&country=US&latitude=39.898437&longitude=-75.353657&geocode=ADDRESS&id=2289831

LANSDALE CATHOLIC HIGH SCHOOL - track
November 7^th , 21^st, and 28^th at 9am
COACH - Mike Shive

MMR
MMR will have post-season practices, thru at least the Regional race on 11/14, on Tuesday and Thurs evenings at 6pm and Sat mornings at 9am at a location between Amber and CB South High School. The general location will be Windlestrae Park on Kenas Road which is just east of Rt 309 between Horsham Rd and County Line Rd. We may shift to other locations for individual practices and so parents should contact me by email for details and I'll put them on an email distribution list for updates.

No practice on Thurs, 10/29 due to team party.

Coach - Charlie Stone charles_stone@verizon.net and charles_stone@gmacm.com (please send emails to both)

ROSE TREE PARK - DELCO
4:00 to 5:00 as daylight savings hits on Sunday and it will be dark before 5:30. I still plan on having practices on Monday, Wednesday and Friday, but I am flexible. If the majority of the runners can only make other days instead, we can adjust the scheduled practice days. See you all Delaware County runners on Wednesday.

Coach - Paul Sterns

Archdiocesan Champs Results

First, our thanks to everyone who lent a hand to another outstanding CYO cross country season. I know that Mary Ellen and Kristen Malloy especially deserve many, many thanks as they were dealing with more runners registered to run (over 1650 runners!) than ever before.

Special thanks for everyone who went the extra mile this past weekend, bringing sand and straw to help clean up the mess that was left after the cancer walk and races over the past two weeks, our 2 new bike riders who tried to do maybe the only thing harder than running on that field, and especially our amazing athletes deserve lots of credit for competing in incredibly adverse conditions (and for avoiding that crazy flu that seemed to strike everyone's team.)

A reminder that the post season meeting is this Wednesday at St Anastasia at 7PM.

Here are the team scores

Here are the times, places, and scores by age group (novice - cadet)

Here are the subnovice times and places.

here are cumulative results for the year
contrast photography link

Champs tomorrow.

All,

The Plateau is really beat up. We have no choice but to run the meet tomorrow. The worst damage is to the main field -- start and finish line areas. The city was supposed to do work to clean it up, but it didn't do enough.

In order to prevent injuries tomorrow, I am asking for your help. If anyone has access to a straw bale or some sand, could you please bring that to the meet tomorrow. We can put the straw down to soak up the excess water on the fields and the sand down to minimize slipping. Anything that you can do would be greatly appreciated.

See you tomorrow.

Mary Ellen

Champs info & more

Lots of information here. This is the email from Mary Ellen to the coaches.

Here is the post season entry form

Here is the travel info

Coaches,

Sunday is champs. Much information to pass along.

Remind your subnovices that they will race AFTER the cadet boys race this weekend. The last two weeks the cadets have started at about 3:20 for a point of reference. Make sure all your athletes have four (4) pins on their number and they are wearing the CORRECT number. Remind ALL parents that they are to stay behind the red ropes at the finish line. I will have no problem DQing a kid whose parents get in the way. Remind parents that pacing results in a disqualification of the runner. Keep your parents under control!! Hats off to the parents who follow directions.

The only runners who are eligible are those who have completed two races this season. Numbers will be checked at the starting line. The only exception to this rule is the subnovice race Any subnovice who is on a roster is permitted to compete.

Please make certain that all officials (chute people and marshals) are on time for their assignments. It is not fair to the people that you are relieving to make them stay longer than necessary.

Remind your runners that interference (putting out your arms to keep a running from passing, pushing a runner to the outside) can be grounds for a disqualification. Same goes for cutting the course.

Any team that will enter into the team scoring (3 in an age group or 3 in each age group) will have to turn in an index card with your team name, group score and the cards of the top three scorers for your team. I will have extra cards in the event that you forget. The top fifteen (15) finishers in the novice, minor and cadet races will need to turn in your cards to the scorer for the awards. The subnovice will receive all awards in the chute.

Awards will be given out after all the races are completed. Team awards will be handed out at that time also.

Long sleeved t-shirts will be on sale for $13. "Philadelphia CYO" red travel shirts will be available for $8. "Philadelphia CYO Cross Country" magnets will be available for $5. There will also be a limited number of sack packs available for $10. Exact change is always appreciated. Checks are also accepted and can be made out to "Philadelphia CYO Cross Country."

All sweat orders will be available on Sunday. Pease, please, please stop by the finish line and pick up the sweats.

Post season competition:

All runners who are rostered are eligible for the post season. There is no minimum meet requirement. Any high school runner who ran for the CYO is also eligible to participate for us (as long as their high school coach is okay with the idea.) The team uniform is the red "Philadelphia CYO Cross Country" shirt which will be on sale on Sunday and any black shorts or tights. If supplies of the shirts run out on Sunday, I will order more before the regional meet.

There will be a meeting on Wednesday, October 28 for the post season. It will be at St. Anastasia at 7 PM. Any parish who is interested in doing the post season must be represented. If your parish is not there, I will assume that no one is doing the post season. Pass this information on to your parents. Any parent who contacts me after the meeting and claims that they no nothing about the post season will be directed back to their coaches. You will have to deal with them this year because I will not.

At the meeting, we will select our teams. First requirement to be on a team is that the athlete agrees to go to nationals. Any athlete who wants to run in the qualifying meet but not nationals will run as an individual for CYO. The top four finishers from the champs will get first chance to be on the A team. After that, we will go to the list of best times (to be distributed after the champs.) We will go down the list and place runners on teams until all are placed on a team. If we have more than three teams, we have permission to send the extra teams to nationals this year. I think this may be a one time offer so you may want to take advantage of the opportunity. We will try to field as many teams as possible in all the age groups including the subnovice. Please be aware that those runners born in the year 2000 are to compete in the bantom division (3000 meters). The post season competitions are based on year of birth, not grade in school. Some third graders will have to move up and compete with the novices. Last year, we fielded a team of just subnovices competing in the bantom (novice) division.

After teams are selected, paperwork will be turned in. All the entries are being done on line. I have attached a homemade entry form. I will handle all the on line entries since I am the team administrator.

For the regional meet, you will need to turn in:

a completed post season entry form

a copy of the birth certificate

a copy of the AAU card

$20 entry fee (cash or check payable to "Philadelphia CYO Cross Country"

AAU cards can be purchased at www.aausports.org. Go to membership and then to individual membership. Follow the directions. The AAU number is about 15 characters long. The team name is "Philadelphia CYO." The club number is MAATCY7KA0.

We will also collect paperwork and money for the national meet since everyone who participates in the regional can go to nationals this year.

For the national meet, you will need to turn in:

travel sheet (attached)

wavier form (copies will be handed out at the coaches meeting on Sunday)

YES Athletics card (paperwork will be handed out at the coaches meeting on Sunday)

entry fee ($20 for entry and $10 for YES card)

hotel money ($115 per room per night)

This will make life easier for the age group coaches at the regional meet.

I know that this is a ton of information. Pass it on to the parents and let them decide about the post season. I will get practice sites listed on the website this week.

Any questions, call or email me.

Pray that it does not rain too much on Saturday.

Mary Ellen

Area E meet update

The Area E championship will run rain or shine. The only reason the meet would be canceled is if the field is completely swamped.

UPDATE - The field is already completely underwater, and as their is no end in sight, the meet has been canceled for tomorrow and tentatively rescheduled for November 8th.

If Delaware County and Mt Carmel would like to post their meet cancellation (if necessary) here, please just leave a comment or send me an email.