Nobody knows the secret behind it, but Pulaski’s cross country course has always provided a slew of personal and seasonal records for the New London Bulldogs.
The 32nd Red Raider Invitational last Thursday carried on the electrifying tradition.
Pulaski’s remarkably flat loop sends competitors down an aisle between cornfields and through backwoods. The Polka Grounds have proven to be friendly to all runners ever since Pulaski moved its annual invitational from the high school four years ago.
“We had 18 PRs and eight season best times,” coach Ron DuVernay said. He closely studied his athletes’ previous best times and calculated their collective progress. “The amount of improvement is 7:52. It is an enormous amount of time.”
Varsity junior Kevin Urban lowered his all-time record by over 30 seconds. The drop did not simply happen by luck. Urban knew beforehand that the race was willing to be kind to him, but he still planned ahead and increased his strides to assure he reached his potential.
“I eliminated as much weight as possible by removing my shoe lining, my inserts, my socks and anything else that wasn’t needed,” Urban said. “I also made sure I had a good sweat going before I ran, and I made sure I started a little slow and tried to get faster with each mile.”
Urban is thrilled with his time yet ready to beat it again next race. “I always feel there’s need for improvement . . . I’m satisfied with a 31 second PR, but I really want to PR every race I have.”
The varsity girls claimed second place for the third meet in a row, and the varsity boys placed ninth. Annalise Schroeder finished fourth, Macy Egan finished seventh, and Brenna Heise finished 21st for the girls. Michael Heise nabbed an eighth place finish for the boys. Bridget Pethke won the JV Girls race with a 40 second lead.
New London competes in their final meet before Conference at Crystal Springs Golf Course in Seymour this Thursday.
JV Boys (of 155 runners)
33 Alex Elliott – 19:41 *
44 Beau Briner – 19:58 **
59 Brandon Stibb – 20:28 **
60 Luke Listle – 20:30 **
77 Dan Bessette – 21:02 **
102 Drew Phillips – 22:13
106 Brad Binder – 22:19 **
Varsity Boys (of 89 runners)
8 Michael Heise – 16:45 *
38 Ian Wetzel – 17:54 *
39 Andrew Philippon – 17:58 **
48 Dan Bosquez – 18:15 **
54 Kevin Urban – 18:20 **
70 Chris Steingraber – 18:58 **
81 Andrew Moser – 20:05 **
JV Girls (of 124 runners)
1 Bridget Pethke – 16:57
35 Sam Christian – 18:56 *
60 Coral Managan – 19:20 *
68 Hannah Cross – 19:39 *
78 Victoria Philippon – 19:57 **
79 Emilee Kerscher – 20:00 *
114 Victoria Zahn – 23:02 **
Varsity Girls (of 88 runners)
4 Annalise Schroeder – 15:30 **
7 Macy Egan – 15:46 **
21 Brenna Heise – 16:36 **
35 Kara Hoier – 16:56 **
38 Amber Pethke – 17:00 **
50 Anna Staudenmaier – 17:20
55 Madison Cooley – 17:28 **
56 Cassandra Philippon – 17:33 *
*Season best
**Personal record