Pictures
https://ky.milesplit.com/photos/albums/8934
This past Saturday I had the opportunity to visit Class AAA #1 St. Xavier’s practice at Seneca Park. In 6 years of KYtrackXC.com, this is the first time I have visited a team’s practice and it is something I have always wanted to try as a form of coverage. Seneca Park was the place to race in Louisville until a few years ago. The tradition and history of running at the park is nothing short of amazing. Tiger Run and the Trinity Invitational both used to be held there every year with many blistering times on a course with long flat straight-aways and only one hill which is half way in the course. Now, though, only the Academy Meet and the St. Xavier/Trinity Dual Meet are held there annually. Even with the loss of races, it is still a Mecca for running, biking, walking, and general fitness in the east end of Louisville. The day I visited, the National Guard did fitness drills as young and old runners professional and amateur alike swirled around the park setting an atmosphere of health.
When I first arrived at the park, I saw a large group of girls taking off for a warm-up run followed by an equally large group of boys taking off with quite a bit of green and yellow on. I knew right away that was St. Xavier, but I questioned the girls team. It could have been any of the big three Assumption, duPont Manual, or Sacred Heart. I found the answer when I saw Sacred Heart Head Coach Rick Heim under a tree in the middle. Both teams finished their warm-ups and went into their stretching routines from there. I talked to Coach Heim about the work-out. They were doing three mile repeats on grass with a special annual mile celebration where the parents and athletes dress up in crazy outfits. More on that later.
Next, I found St. Xavier Coach Chuck Medley, along with the coaching staff, beside his boys. The team was doing a long run broken up into 5K segments. The oldest and most experienced runners were going to do 4x5K or 12 miles. They would take a break after each 5K as short or as long as needed.
The team itself has close to 60 runners. It was pretty obvious right away who the freshmen are as they are significantly smaller in stature than the rest of the group. At St. Xavier, freshmen rarely make the post-season varsity squad and will mainly run only freshmen races for the whole first month of the season. That day the freshmen were grouped together working with Coach Rob Young. This group of boys is unknown at this point on the state scene, but in a couple years they will be leading the Tigers strong.
The team gathered up and did six strides. They then gathered around Coach Medley who told them the plan for that day. He stressed to them to be careful as it was going to get hot pretty quick that morning. He told each age group how many 5K loops they were doing and told them to keep their pacing at about 80%. The lead group of about 10 boys ran about 20:30-21:00. The coaches spaced out throughout the park to make sure the runners were safe.
Coach Medley and I talked about the composition of the team. Their top runners are mainly juniors with only two seniors possibly making the post-season top ten. As with any team training over the summer is hit or miss with the athletes. After their sophomore track season he said that is when the boys start to get it and actually do their summer training. Every year he stresses to his team that they run track in preparation for cross country. Assistant Coach Dave Carter and I talked about the improvements of the junior group during their sophomore track season (Sam Lewis 4:31 1600m, Nick Reader and Thomas Cave sub 2:00 800m.) While all this was going on, the first group of boys finished up their first set in 19:45. The coaches right away wanted to make sure the lead group slowed down.
As I was leaving I stopped back by the Sacred Heart group and saw the girls and their parents dressed up in various garb for this fun mile. It seems like the 1980s was the theme as leotards and big gold chains were in full effect.
Overall, it was an interesting experience to see the actions during a team’s practice as an outsider. I did not interact with any of the athletes and most likely they had no clue I was even there outside of some guy snapping some pictures. The athletes came in and did what was expected of them which will lead to future success individually and as a team this season and beyond.