Beyond the Races: EMass Championships

The cameras were rolling Saturday at Franklin Park and nobody was safe; that included fans, coaches, and athletes.  Beyond the races takes a look at the lighter side of our sport and demonstrates why so many are willing to wake-up on a Saturday morning and stand in the mud for six hours.  Thanks to Coach Rooney for always being at the right place at the right time.  Enjoy!

 

 

More at the EMass Championships........

Pictured on the left is Coach Connolly making good on a bet to shave his head if Weymouth advanced to the State Championships.  On the right is Tom Cruise playing Les Grossman in the movie Tropic Thunder.  A striking resemblance wouldn’t you agree?

 

On a serious note, Weymouth made their goal of qualifying for the state meet public in their Workout of the Week segment last Thursday.  It was a bold prediction given the ultra competitive nature of the Division 1 race, but the Wildcats were steadfast in their desire and qualified by the slimmest of margins. 

 

Weymouth became eligible for the wildcard bid by finishing 5th in their race, but their team time of 1:26:44 was identical to that of Central Catholic in Division 2.  The team anxiously awaited the ruling of the Games Committee who eventually decided that both teams would advance.  It was an extremely rare occurrence and a wonderful outcome for both programs.

 

Coach Connolly had been making promises to his athletes for weeks regarding his team’s execution of a race strategy and their ability to qualify. 

 

“Really the guys executed the game plan perfectly. They were supposed to get into position by the 1.5k and begin working from there.”

 

Helping them get into position was a clever strategy Connolly used to distinguish their teammates from a mass of bodies. 

 

“If you watch the video from the EMass meet you can see that all the Weymouth boys had gold arm sleeves on. They all got them for this specific race. They wanted to get something "cool" for the meet. I had suggested the arm sleeves and they agreed. What they didn't understand at the time was that I wasn't concerned about what was cool but instead what would give them an advantage at the meet.  It was beneficial as a coach because I could pick them out in the crowded D1 race but even more importantly they could find each other in the large groups of runners. And when you're a pack team that depends on each other in these big meets it’s very easy to lose one another. I think having the arm sleeves certainly helped our chances on Saturday.”

 

The goals of a season, and three miles of all-out racing, came down to fractions of a second.  If even one runner let-up before the line, the Weymouth boys would be sitting at home next weekend.  It’s really a remarkable story that illustrates the small details that coaches preach about all season long. 

 

On a side note, it was sophomore Matt Murphy’s 16th birthday last week and the last time Weymouth qualified for the State Championships he was just 24 hours old.........Coach Connolly was just 7!!!! Congratulations to the Wildcats and best of luck to all the teams next week.