My LPR's

Short and sweet end of the season recap:
5k (xc)- 20:19
3200- 12:49. Oh my! :/
1600- 5:30
800- 2:29
400- 64.84

Mt. Ararat (Track 2011)

Mt. Ararat. One of our longest drives. I always feel like the track was built in the middle of a marsh while I'm competing on it, but the team very much enjoys it there. One of the toilets near the track was majorly clogged so waiting in line took forever, and Gwen and I were near peeing in our spankies. We didn't realize they'd made final call for the mile until a teammate of ours hurried over to tell us. Whether it was the adrenaline or the (finally) empty bladders that helped us we're not entirely sure, but we both ended up qualifying automatically for states, running a 5:34 and 5:39 respectively- 5:40 is automatic. After, we went on a pathetic cool down with Molly Schassberger of Winslow (Molly and I went to Rhode Island for Regionals together last November, along with Riley Jones, who earlier that day had LPR'ed in the RW). I say pathetic because we managed a lap around the track in the time that the second heat of girls had finished racing their mile. I was having some cramping issues, and then Gwen's shins were bothering her, and finally Molly declared there was an issue with her foot. But goodness don't we love running :P Our recent addition to the team, the throwing part, has improved..er.. not leaps and bounds, but shall we say heaves and launches, with quite a few scoring positions :) Fr. Miranda Nicely ran a 2:32 leg in the 4x8, and our dear Louisa Stancioff (Jr, of the New England/School Record holding 2010 4x8 team) joins us again this year after playing the lead role in the school's Pride and Prejudice.
KKNW, Addie

The Meet We Went To @ Maranacook (Track 2011)

Athletes of the Meet: Shireen Luick (So) and Dustin Staples (Fr)! Shireen took more than a minute off of her racewalk time, as well as adding 13 feet to one of her throws. Dustin ran a sub 60 second leg in the 4x4 and then proceeded to jump just shy of 18 feet in LJ.

Whew. Today was quite the day. The meet (including Messalonskee, Leavitt and the two obvious teams) started out with the 4x8; Sr. Gwen Beacham, Fr. Sarah Wade, Jr. Addie Cullenberg (Me), and Fr. Miranda Nicely. We crushed our previous season time of a 10:44 with a 10:28 (the school record, set last year by Gwen, Louisa Stancioff, Melody Lam and myself, is a 10:01.25). I ended up with a split of a 2:33, 4 seconds slower than my best 4x8 leg time. Gwen followed with a 2:34. Last year at this time we were running in the low 2:40's. It's wonderful to be able to recognize improvement for our dedicated practices. Miranda and Gwen both took the plunge in trying the open 400, in which they placed 2nd and 3rd respectively to the winner, our very own Sr. Allison Brown. And not to forget or underplay any other event categories, there were several male throwers on the team who DOUBLED their LPR's today!! Also, hurray for Shawnee for getting up after that last hurdle in the 300mH and finishing, giving our girls an extra point (we won to Mess. 108-107)

My events:
4x8
800
3200
4x4

Incase you are unfamiliar with event scheduling, the 4x8 was the first event, then toward the end is the 800, and after that is the 200, followed by the 2 mile. Meets conclude with the 4x4. My last three events were almost in direct order. I was shooting for a 13:30 in the 32 because I had not done it since the beginning of last season. Let's just say I ended up with a lot of cheering from the Maranacook boy's team who so desperately wanted to see me beat some of their guys (twas a combined event), and I ended up running a 12:50. Also, congrats to Emily Ramsey for winning both the hurdle events today :D
KKNW, Addie

Photos to follow

Oxford Hills: Rain, Sun, Repeat. (Track 2011)

Last Thursday was our first official meet, because we were not scheduled to race at Waterville until Coach threw us in several days in advance. Oxford Hills is our longest drive (1.5 hours) and the bus took a wrong turn and continued for an extra 40 minutes. Go bus driver :D O.H. has a very round track which can play into noticeable time differences for, above all, sprinters. Our girl's 4x8 team won, as well as our 4x1 and 4x4 teams. Miranda and I placed 1-2 in both the open 8 and the mile, with Marina West running for 3rd in the 800m. Girl's team ended up winning with 91 points. I started this post too late, I'll keep it here as a reminder to finish it :D

Earth Day Love.

http://www.dailybulldog.com/db/happenings/mt-blues-track-and-field-team-clean-up/

KKNW, Addie

Waterville Relays, Track 2011

Waterville Relays took place this past windy, sunny and snowy bi-polar Thursday. Mt. Blue had not been to this particular meet since the days that it was hosted by Winslow, so it's been a while. If you haven't had the chance to get onto Waterville's track this year, there have been several major changes, one being that it has been newly resurfaced (so we were actually able to wear spikes!). The other is that it is now red.
Upon arrival, Coach (this being my sixth season with my mother as my coach, I've decided it's damn well time to start referring to her as Coach, although "Momma Coach", "Coachie", "MC" and "Beast" are just as effective) was asked by members of the team how many laps the 400 was. And other people inquired about the distance of a 100 and a 200 meter race. Whoops, so let me back it up a little bit and explain where our team currently stands.

As you can see, more than half of the people on our team are brand new to the sport. This year, our new throwing coach was most affective in recruiting some of the football guys to join up (what seems like half of the guys in my grade, actually), so this year won't be another "cross country team- just in track season" year, which is fantastic to see. We also are not able to even use the tar "track" at our school because the whole site is under construction, getting completely rebuilt, which means that in several years, MB will actually have a track facility and will be able to host events! But until then, we are making it work by referring to ourselves as the Mt. Blue Road and Parking Lot team. Gotta love hill workouts during track season! Anyways, the first time that half of our team had ever stepped onto a real facility was on Thursday, so questions were to be expected from the newbies.
I was in the winning 4x8 (with Sr. Gwen Beacham, Fr. Sarah Wade, and Fr. Miranda Nicely); we finished in 10:44- we've got 44 seconds to cut off to beat last year's new school record time, which is completely doable. My DMR team took second to MTA, and was comprised of Miranda, Sr. Allison Brown, Gwen and myself. My third event, the 4x4, came in third (same members as the 4x8). The important thing was that improvement was shown since the beginning of last year.
Athletes of the Meet: Shane O'Neill and Miranda Nicely. I would say that Miranda will be a freshman to watch this season, but she's already proven that she IS one to watch this season, running a 2:37.3 in the 4x8, followed by a 2:36 in the DMR. Wowzah. "Nicely done, Miranda!"
KKNW, Addie

Transition Into Track.

There are no rules that state that this blog has to be solely oriented around the cross country season- and anyways, I'm feeling the need to briefly sum up my training and sports since nationals in December. So this will serve the purpose as a "transition into track" post. I was a member on the Mt. Blue girls nordic State Champion ski team this past February (18 out of the last 20 years or something). It was quite an exciting several days of racing, because Class A states were held up in Presque Isle. The team hung out during the evenings in the hallways of the hotel, playing guitar and watercoloring. We also threw an awesome surprise luau party for one of our guys in the pool room, showering him with wonderful How-could-I-ever-live-without-them gifts from MARDINS! Another highlight was my hardcore ski pole gash I received from a very dear friend and teammate of mine (picture below!). She brutally stabbed me in my sleep after finding out I was dating her ex-boyfriend that she was still in love with behind her back. Well, just kidding, the incident wasn't quite that scandalous, it actually happened because we were skiing down the course in a train and the leader fell, causing the rest of us to fall on top of each other. I happened to land on my friend's pole tip, and it ripped through my overalls (it was a fun race where everyone dresses up, we were hicks), underarmor and flesh. So if you happen to see a scar on my right thigh during the season, you'll know the story behind it!

Finally, I qualified to represent Maine on the Maine Team at the Eastern High School Championships (rather like New Englands in running, but it's states against states). The festival took place March 18-20 and was loads of fun. This year it was held in Rumford at Black Mountain, so the team actually ended up staying at the Comfort Inn 10 minutes from my house. Oh yeah, and I ended up being in charge of getting our girls awesome pink sports bras that say "Maine Love" on them with a heart on the back. Any one of them would probably attest to the fact that they were the highlight of EHSC. Track officially started the week after my big ski festival, so I had a full SEVEN (that number will always remind me of Miss Melody Lam) days off in between seasons! Whoo! And now... welcome to the bloggin' track season of 2011!
KKNW, Addie