Jonathan Stanhope Athlete Blog
Check out MaineTrackXC's winter athlete blogger Jonathan Stanhope's 4th blog. Stanhope is a sophomore distance runner who competes for Bangor High School. Jonathan is one of the top upcoming distance runners in the state, last winter he ran the 9th fastest mile in Class A (4:42.71) & placed 6th in the Class A state meet. Follow Jonathan as he documents his 2011-2012 indoor season.
Hi Guys,
What a last two weeks this has been. We had one of our early morning meets last week, so we got to wake up at 4:30 AM! Despite the time of day, I still had to run the 2 mile. After an an extended warm up, I toed the line and we were off. I tucked in behind Dan Curts at the start, feeding off of his early pace. Dan brought us through the mile in 4:56 and then took off, leaving me alone. I tried to push my way to the finish though, and ran my best time of the season, 9:54. Dan on the other hand continued to put the hammer down, and finished with a Maine #3 time of 9:43. Luckily this was my only event of the day, and I got to rest afterwards. Running sub 10was one of my big goals for indoor this year, and I’m glad I could cross it off the list. As a side note: Jake Archer of Bangor ran the final 13 laps of the race with only one shoe on, and still ran a 10:52.
The week in between that meet and PVC’S was exciting and very busy with basketball games, homework, and two UMO practices. It went by quickly, and before I knew it I was watching our 4x800m relay team come within 4 seconds of a league record with their 8:30 clocking. Everyone was really impressed with the team of Jon Belanger, Joseph Belanger, Ben Salinas, and Alex Shi. While their day had already started, mine had yet to begin. As I warmed up for the mile, I wondered what I was getting myself into. I was entered in the Distance triple, and expected to have about an hour between events to recover. The mile went out at an honest pace with Curts leading. With 300m to go I passed him on the inside for a brief couple seconds, until he regained the lead. At the bell I got around him yet again, and held the lead until the final corner, when he blew past me and sprinted his way to a ME #3 time of 4:27. A couple seconds later I came across in 4:29. The next event was the 800m, and I have to admit I was a little tired for this race. Dave Correale of Bangor and Trey Willams of Brewer went 1-2 finishing in great times of 2:01 and 2:02. I came in third in 2:05, and Alex Shi Pr’d in 2:05 as well. By this time, I was dead, and it showed in the 2 mile when I opened in a 70 second first quarter. There’s not much to say about this race, I think my 10:54 speaks for itself.
Well, for the most part, I was pleased with my recent performances. I was extremely impressed with Harlow Ladd’s ability to triple back in the 2 mile in the KVAC championships. Having done the triple myself, I was blown away with seeing 4:27, 2:02, and 9:25 being run in the same meet. Congratulations to all of the runners that competed in the PVC, KVAC, and WMC meets this past weekend, I look forward to seeing you all at states! Good luck!
"Man imposes his own limitations, don't set any"
-Anthony Bailey
~Jonathan Stanhope
