Tyler White is a senior at Orono High School, he finished 14th in the Class C State meet last fall. White is the 5th fastest returner in 2012, he is coming off a string outdoor season that saw him finish 4th in the outdoor 3200m 10:06.21. Follow Tyler in his journey this fall on the trails.
Hello again! Festival of Champions has come and gone, and there is now less than a month until state meet. Where did the season go?? I left off last time talking about our home meet and the upcoming Old Town Sectional Invite, so that is an appropriate place to start from. But first, a quick congrats to Bethanie Brown and Mike Tate for their wins and respective records.
I took the weekend off after the home meet and my legs definitely felt it during the week. The week before the meet was relatively easy, with one hard workout on that Thursday that we crushed. Unfortunately the decision was made Friday that our number 2 and 5 runners would not compete due to illness earlier in the week. This made the goal of winning the meet out of reach, but took a lot of stress off for sure. We went into the meet with a pack running plan that I would be leading at about 6 minutes for the first mile. We went through in 5:56 and then I tried to pick it up fast enough to put myself in position for a solid time, but not out of site for the other guys. I went through the 2mile in 11:42 splitting a 5:44, and then the last mile I went into race mode. After catching approximately 15 people after the 2mile, with over a half mile left I decided that I was going to maintain my pace and not kill myself trying to catch the leader because there was a hard week of training and of course Festival of Champions ahead. I still made up some ground and finished in 5th place with a 10 second PR 17:29 splitting a 5:14 last mile or so. I was very happy with my effort, and I accomplished what I wanted to while playing it safe. As a team, we saw very solid times, and giant PRs from our normal 6-8 runners that were exciting. Overall the meet was a success, but I wish I could've run the course at full force because it is a perfect course.
(P.S Five runner Josh Marquis ran 26:08 at this meet last year, this year he ran 19:14. Holy Cow.)
Moving on, the team had a meet scheduled for Tuesday at Mattanawcook Academy. Monday our coach decided that Schuyler Collett (our 2), Lily Koffman and I would stay back and attack one of the season's hardest speed workouts. We wished the rest of the team luck for their 3mile race, and then headed out to do a mile trial on the trails. I was feeling really good (probably too good) and ran a personal best 4:54. Our number 2 also ran a huge best, and so did Lily but the workout was only half over at that point. After the mile trial we went onto the woods course and did some fast hill work, and I'll say that falling asleep that night was not difficult in the least. Thursday I had to take senior pictures, and due to the sunlight could only stay for a part of practice which bothered me but our guys killed a workout and it was nice to hear about it the next day.
And now, the last Festival of Champions of my short high school cross country career. We arrived fairly early around 9AM and were one of the first 20 teams there. I 
made sure to go in and buy a sweatshirt first thing this year because I forgot to get one last year, and I havn't really forgiven myself for that. I caught up with a lot of friends from other teams, and pounded water and other nutritional pre-meet necessities. Before we knew it, we were on the line doing run-outs. We were in box 41 which was WAY on the right side, and we didn't really know how that was going to fare out. We had six boys in the seeded race this year and that is the most the program has ever had so that was an accomplishment in itself. We were really looking forward to facing our Western Maine competition and getting a sneak peak at them before states. Our 2 runner had the duty of leading the pack and waiting on the line, but coach gave me the green light to go out and attack a race all out for the first time of the season. I was excited for that mostly because I felt like I hadn't had my chance to prove that I was one of the top runners in the state, but I was even more nervous because I hadn't raced like that all season. The gun went off, and the 100m dash proceeded. (except after the 100m dash there is a 3mile cool down) I was positioned in the top 50 for the first 800m and I was really trying to keep myself relaxed and keep myself from PRing in the mile in the first mile. I thought I was controlled, but my eyes widened and I gulped when I saw 5:10 on my way by. The next mile was going to be slow, but I knew I had to be faster at being slow than a lot of people that next mile. I slowly moved up and was probably 30th by the 2mile going through in the low 10:50s. I surged after the 2mile for about 30m and caught 5-10 people. I was pretty dead after the first slippery hill with the bridge, and all I knew I had to do was maintain. I kept it steady and slowly made up ground, and pushed for the finish crossing in a huge 48 second PR. I was pretty pumped about 16:41 but I was more concerned about whether or not I got into the top 10, but my attention was quickly directed to the the finish to watch for our guys. Out of our top 6, 5 of us PRd so it was a very good race and showed that we still have much potential to run faster times. The awards ceremony was nerve-racking as we wanted to see if we came out on top for Class C teams. Scores were read, and we beat several very talented teams but Hall-Dale got the best of us. Hall-Dale has some good runners and there was no shame losing to them, but we now know who we have to focus on.
made sure to go in and buy a sweatshirt first thing this year because I forgot to get one last year, and I havn't really forgiven myself for that. I caught up with a lot of friends from other teams, and pounded water and other nutritional pre-meet necessities. Before we knew it, we were on the line doing run-outs. We were in box 41 which was WAY on the right side, and we didn't really know how that was going to fare out. We had six boys in the seeded race this year and that is the most the program has ever had so that was an accomplishment in itself. We were really looking forward to facing our Western Maine competition and getting a sneak peak at them before states. Our 2 runner had the duty of leading the pack and waiting on the line, but coach gave me the green light to go out and attack a race all out for the first time of the season. I was excited for that mostly because I felt like I hadn't had my chance to prove that I was one of the top runners in the state, but I was even more nervous because I hadn't raced like that all season. The gun went off, and the 100m dash proceeded. (except after the 100m dash there is a 3mile cool down) I was positioned in the top 50 for the first 800m and I was really trying to keep myself relaxed and keep myself from PRing in the mile in the first mile. I thought I was controlled, but my eyes widened and I gulped when I saw 5:10 on my way by. The next mile was going to be slow, but I knew I had to be faster at being slow than a lot of people that next mile. I slowly moved up and was probably 30th by the 2mile going through in the low 10:50s. I surged after the 2mile for about 30m and caught 5-10 people. I was pretty dead after the first slippery hill with the bridge, and all I knew I had to do was maintain. I kept it steady and slowly made up ground, and pushed for the finish crossing in a huge 48 second PR. I was pretty pumped about 16:41 but I was more concerned about whether or not I got into the top 10, but my attention was quickly directed to the the finish to watch for our guys. Out of our top 6, 5 of us PRd so it was a very good race and showed that we still have much potential to run faster times. The awards ceremony was nerve-racking as we wanted to see if we came out on top for Class C teams. Scores were read, and we beat several very talented teams but Hall-Dale got the best of us. Hall-Dale has some good runners and there was no shame losing to them, but we now know who we have to focus on.
Overall, I would say this season has been better than I thought it was going to be. Cross Country is so much more enjoyable when there are team aspirations, and your team has a talent level that can achieve those aspirations. We have a mellow week ahead that will contain the first annual Riot Invitational and that will be exciting because we have never hosted a meet so late in the season. After that, it is full speed ahead into championship season. I hope everyone had an amazing FoC (especially if you are a senior) and you are strong and healthy heading into the postseason. Goodluck with upcoming meets, and talk to you next time.
-Tyler