=PR= Kickoff Inviational Lineups

=PR= Kickoff Invitational

Bull Run Regional Park (Manassas, VA)

August 30, 2012

West Potomac Racing Lineups (Athletes with * are tentative)

First race of the 2012 XC Season…get excited!!!!

Freshmen Girls

Natalie Babiuch

Meredith Barber

Abigail Copley

Nicole Freewalt

Laura Powell

Jennifer Thomson*

Freshmen Boys

Michael Bell

Brian Cash*

Sam Janssen

Alex McDonald

Carter Sibley

Ben Slobodin

Austin Whitney

John Whitney

Sophomore Girls

Nikki Amico

Melanie Bomberg

Gabrielle Bomberg

Maura Finn

Juliette Lash

Anna Lorentzen

Claire Questad

Tehmeena Salahin

Zoe Smith

Kristi Snow

Sophomore Boys

Nick Cucinotta

Andrew Dahik

Matthew Dearborn

Shreyak Khanal

Joseph Leonard

Phillip Lincoln

James McNulla

Cullen O’Boyle

Luke Pinney

Moises Romero*

Peter Stamos

Eric Turner

Junior/Senior Girls

Katie Genuario

Andrea Martinez

Camille McMullen

Carolyn Murphy

Katie Murray

Kelsey O’Hern

Kristine Pinter

Allison McNulla

Megan Panagopoulos*

Sophia Passacantando

Lauren Price

Rosie Vita

Junior/Senior Boys

David Cate

Luca Halladay

Cristopher Serrano*

Brian Spitnale

Crispin Bernier

Corey Rosenberg

Meet Information

·        Arrive no later than 1:30 PM for bus to meet

o   Athletes can only leave with his/her own parent or guardian after he/she completes the post-race cooldown and cheers on the rest of the team

·        Only competing athletes ride the bus

·        Athlete Checklist

o   Uniform

o   Training Shoes

o   Racing competition/spikes

o   Watch

o   Water Bottle

o   Pre and Post race snacks

o   Change of clothes (shirts, socks, shorts)

o   Stretch Rope

o   Towel (for sitting on)

Meet Schedule

=PR= Kick Off Invitational

4:00 pm Girls Frosh 2 mile race

4:20 pm Boys Frosh 2 mile race

4:40 pm Girls Sophomore 2 mile race

5:00 pm Boys Sophomore 2 mile race

5:20 pm Girls Junior/Senior 2 mile race

5:40 pm Boys Junior/Senior 2 mile race

6:15 pm Awards ceremony

DIRECTIONS:

FROM BRADDOCK ROAD….Come all the way out Braddock, across Union Mill. Continue on New Braddock Rd. until you hit Route 28. Turn right on 28, and go 3 lights to route 29. Turn left on 29 and see continuation…

FROM 29….Come all the way out Route 29 until you get to the Route 29 and Route 28 intersection and see continuation…

FROM 66….Go west on 66 to exit 52 (Rt. 29). Turn right (South) at end of exit ramp and see continuation…

CONTINUATION.…From intersection of 28 and 29: Go south on Route 29, 3 miles to Bull Run Post Office Road. (Top of the hill-Bull Run Park sign on right) Turn left; Go 1.5 miles to Park (Don’t get on Compton Road) As soon as you cross over Route 66, turn left at “Shooting Range”. Then go straight back as far as you can.

WELCOME TO THE 2012 XC SEASON!

Welcome to the 2012 West Potomac Cross Country Season! We hope everyone has had an enjoyable summer. This new blog will be your source for all important information for West Po XC. This is our first post and it is a long one - jam packed with important information about events, schedules and action items. Please scroll through the entries - especially new parents, who will find informative posts about all things XC.  

Upcoming Events

·       8/28: Team Gathering @ Mt Vernon Park & Rec

·       8/29: Spike Night @ Pacers Alexandria (King Street)

·       8/30: =PR= Kickoff Invitational @ Bull Run Regional Park

·       8/31: Last day of Team Card Sales

Spirit Wear

·       Site closes this Sunday (August 26^th).  NO LATE ORDERS WILL BE TAKEN

·       These are optional items, but highly recommended as your athletes will get good use out of them.

·       Place orders online NOW!!!

o   Link to order 

o   Password: wolverines

Snack Donations Needed for Meets 

 It has been custom to provide snacks like granola bars and water for our runners at meets.  We are asking for granola/energy bar donations for the team snack wagon.  I will store these at my house and bring them to the meets along with water.  Donations can be dropped of at Sue Genuario's at 8201 Mack Street, Alexandria, VA  22308.  We have over 60 runners on the team.  I am also looking for parents to help transport the water (5 gallon containers) and snacks to some of the meets.  Contact Sue Genuario at gensue@aol.com or 703 768-2853.  Go Wolverines!

Fundraisers!!

·       We will get 10% of all sales from West Potomac athletes/parents/supporters at Spike Night on Wednesday 8/29 between 3pm-8pm…spread the word and make sure to let them know you are part of the West Potomac Cross Country family.

·       Team Card sales…we ask everyone to sell their cards, each athlete was given 10 cards on 8/22 and asked to sell them by August 31^st.  The XC team gets a good percentage back of every card sale.  Any cards not sold must be returned August 31^st or else we will be charged for them.  SELL CARDS PLEASE!!!!

FIRST RACE OF THE SEASON!!!

·       This Thursday will be the =PR= Kickoff Invitational @ Bull Run Regional Park

·       It is a 2 mile race (shorter than traditional XC format) that will have Freshmen, Sophomore and then Junior/Senior races for each gender.

·       All athletes who are healthy, cleared for competition and have attended enough practices will be competing in this meet.

·       There will be a bus to this meet that will depart West Potomac at 1:30 PM

·       Racing lineups and meet schedule will be sent out by Monday evening

Cookout and Pool Party at Mount Vernon Park Tuesday Night!

We are happy to announce that the team will be hosting a 2012 XC Season Kickoff Cookout and Picnic on Tuesday August 28 from 4 - 7 pm at Mount Vernon Park Pool and Tennis Club, 8042 Fairfax Rd., Alexandria VA 22308. This event will be a great way for families to meet and for the team to enjoy a social event before the PR Relays, the first meet of the season on Thursday August 30. Directions are at the end of this post.

There is a change in information regarding admission fees for this event. While the team had hoped to pick up the costs for athletes and one family member, because of liability issues we cannot have team funds pay for admission. Sorry about any confusion. The admission fee is $3 per person, and it will be collected at the door. 

We will be grilling hamburgers and hot dogs, and ask that you sign up here to contribute to the event by either volunteering to set up, break down, and serve during the party, or for those who could bring a salad, dessert or other items. We will break down the volunteer times into manageable shifts, so everyone will have a chance to relax and enjoy the event. 

The party starts at 4, cooking will begin at 5, and we will serve the food at 5:30 pm.

Click here to RSVP with the number of people that you intend to bring. Please RSVP - or your name won't be on the list at the entrance to the park!

Mt. Vernon Park is a neighborhood pool and tennis club with 10 acres of grounds, a picnic area, basketball, volleyball and tennis, as well as two pools and a pond. Please bring your bathing suit if you would like to swim. There are changing areas and showers at the park. The party will go on rain or shine, we have reserved use of the pavilion on the grounds.

We hope you can join the team for this fun event. Directions from GW Parkway or Fort Hunt Rd.: Take Wellington Rd. west to Lafayette. Take a sharp left at on Lafayette (prior to the wooded strip) and proceed one block to corner of Lafayette and Fairfax Rd. - the entrance will be directly in front of you.  

Cross Country Meet Scoring Tutorial

Here’s a quick tutorial on how XC meets are scored. Each team enters seven runners into the race. As each runner finishes the race, they are given a number according to what place they finish, and that number is their score for the team. For instance, if you finish 1st, you have a score of 1 point. If you finish 24th, you have a score of 24.

A team's first five runners (doesn't matter which runners, just the first five that finish) are counted toward the team's total score. If the first five runners come in 2nd, 7th, 8th, 12th, and 18th, then the team's score is 47 (which is relatively low in a competitive race). So, the lower your score, the better.  The team with the lowest score wins. 

But, that's not all. The other two runners (who come in after the first five runners on the team) do not count toward their team's score, but they can still help their team by making another team's score higher. If the seventh runner comes in before any of the first five from another team, then the other team's score becomes higher because their runners have bigger finishing scores. Remember, you want your score to be low.  At the 2010 District Championships the Wolverines sixth and seventh place runners—Corey Rosenberg and Scott McPeek—placed 19^th and 20^th overall to finish ahead of every other team’s fifth runner and helped push West Potomac to the District title, 5 points ahead of runner-up Lake Braddock.

If teams are tied after the first five runners finish the race, the team with the best finishing sixth place runner breaks the tie.  This happened at the state meet in 2009.  The West Potomac girls were tied with Maggie Walker for 4^th place; but because the Wolverines sixth place runner—Colleen Boyle—finished ahead of Maggie Walker’s 6^th place runner, West Po took fourth place in the state and Maggie Walker settled for 5^th.

If a team does not field at least 5 runners, then none of that team’s runners count in the team scoring.  For example – if a team entered only 1 runner in a race and that runner finished third, that runner would not count in the team scoring.  The fourth place runner would be counted as 3^rd, the fifth place runner would count as 4^th and so on.  In some races teams are allowed to enter more than seven runners.  In these races only the top seven runners count in the scoring.

Sound complicated?  It isn’t. Just remember that passing other runners makes your team score lower, and the lowest team score wins.