Marshalltown Meet 2013 Handout

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hotos from this season can be seen and purchase later this season at

The XC Times

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Our Next Meet Saturday September 21

Heartland Classic Ames, Iowa NCAA Championship Course Details to Follow Entire Team

The Following Week Thursday September 26

Indianola Invite Picard Park (All Non-Varsity Runners) Saturday September 28

“” The Dowling Project

The Roy Griak Invitational University of Minnesota in Minneapolis (Varsity only)

Down the Road Thursday October 3

The Bishop Austin memorial pro-am invitational…for the cure Des Moines Menace Practice Facility

Dowling Catholic Girls X-Country FOLLOW US ON FACEBOOK!

Dowling Catholic X-Country The Bobcat Invitational September 12, 2013

Nicole Svendsen As someone who did not grow up with cross-­‐country my entire life, I think I've gotten to enjoy what I've stumbled upon even more. Being free to choose my own path in a high school sports and hopefully onto college, I often think about what if I had stayed in swimming. Truthfully if I had stayed in Jacksonville, Florida that's probably what I'd be doing now.

Having moved around a lot I found friends in many activities outside of school. My closest friends in Florida were members of my swim club. I believe that when I moved here I found that same sort of friendship in the people I ran with in track and cross-­‐country. I became fully emerged in the sport and started to love it. It's caused its share of hard times and rough seasons, but it has also been a source of amazing memories in which I'll never forget.

I’ve been lucky enough to have great leaders such as Kayla Snyder who was such a great inspiration. Tanelle Berard showed me how to aspire to be an amazing runner. Allie Vaughan and Diane Hubbell taught me how to have fun with their random singing and all the funny moments we shared along with the need to be focused and serious at the right times. Vanessa Miller and Erin Boggess showed me what it truly means to be a leader. The people that I've grown up in running with and those I continue to meet and surround me now have made my four years of XC truly memorable. The joys of the team; state championships, regionals, nationals, state track freshman year and the Drake Relays sophomore year when we qualified 5 people in the 3000. These are some of the obvious joys just joys, yet I've had so many other joys everyday.

As I enter my senior year of cross-­‐country we have a goal, “To come back from last year to show people that we are better than last year. That we are still a talented group of girls.” We come to practice, everyone works hard and we still find ways to have fun. A state championship is nothing if we don't have a little fun along the way, enjoying our time together and enjoying the road as it takes us to conference, districts and state.

Editors Note: Nicole is one of the toughest kids I know! I don’t know any athlete who would choose to, or even could tolerate the things that Nicole has endured just to keep her on her feet and participating in her sport. Seriously, how can you be a cross-­‐country runner and literally be allergic to air like Nicole is. But look out this year!

When the pollen count is low and the stars finally line up, Nicole will be up toward the front shocking the world!

Dowling Catholic “”The Dowling Project” The Bobcat Invitational September 12, 2013 Tonight’s Preview Tonight’s meet will be several in a line of very competitive races for us. We will face some of the best in the state. Last year’s team champion Pleasant Valley, Waukee, Roosevelt, Ankeny Centennial and Urbandale. It will be a good view of how we sit in the mix at this point in the season.

Freshmen/Sophomore Race We have traditionally taken our next fastest seven runners and entered them in the JV race, regardless of their grade. In tonight’s Fresh/Soph race keep an eye on sophomore Juliette Kennedy, as she is ready for a breakout season. Also, sophomore Meagan Halliwell will continue to surprise as she demonstrates her “Little Engine That Could” method of competing. Meagan is one of the toughest kids on our team.

Junior/Senior Race Today, Freshmen: Jillian Jagger, Allie McLuen and Olivia Denkinger and sophomore Caroline Warmuth move up to JV as our second seven. Junior Shannon “Beyoncé” Beh who is having an incredible summer of training will join them. Our beloved senior Addie Schumacher who is back running again after such a tough illness and injury riddled 2012 season. Addie brings so much to our team and even though she is till working hard to get back to the level she once was, we are so lucky to have her back with us. Junior Claire Hartlieb rounds out our second seven, but don’t forget Jeanie Gookin who had a great race at Urbandale and is hungry for more!

The Varsity Race Tonight we will see how we measure up with some of the best in the state.

Karissa Schweizer continues to run brilliantly and will contend for the individual championship. Jenny Luksan, Hannah Thomas, Erin Cahalan and Ellen Sullivan have had a great week of practice and are can’t wait to show the state the depth of our team. Possibly the brightest part of our summer has been the emergence of freshman C. Vivian Broderick. Vivian was fourth overall in her first high school meet last week, running cautiously, but look out this week as we are going to let the reins out and see what she can do. “"Find though she but little, she is fierce”

William Shakespeare

Middle School XC Wrap!

“The Dowling Project”

The Dowling's Middle School Cross Country Team traveled to Johnston last Tuesday to kick-­‐off their 2013 campaign.

Hot weather delayed the start by 90 minutes but that didn't prevent the team from running "hot" times. Dowling took the title in the 10-­‐team meet with an impressive score of 39. Ankeny Centennial was second with 89 points.

Individually, Janey Meilander won the event, 7 Dowling runners placed in the top 18 overall, 5 of the top seven runners are 7th graders, 20 of the 28 Dowling runners set new 2 mile PR's (Personal Records). Great team effort by the Maroons.

Editor’s Note: Wow! If you were unable to attend the middle school meet you missed quite a display of talent, toughness and enthusiasm. We are so lucky to have the middle school XC coaches that we have! Coach Storts and his staff bring so m uch wisdom and spirit to our program. The fruits of their coaching show more and more each meet. Our program is in good hands and the future for Girls XC at Dowling Catholic is so bright WE HAVE TO WEAR SHADES!!!!!

Next week we head to the Valley Invitational on Tuesday.

From the Other side of the Ropes Jodie Cahalan

The first time cross country came up as a possible sport for Erin, she was getting set to enter the seventh grade and was still feeling around for the sport or activity for her.

She was or had been actively involved in a variety of activities, from musical endeavors in s how choir and band, to acting and singing in the school musicals, cheerleading, track and eight years of dance. As middle school girls are prone to do, when I first asked Erin if she might be interested in exploring cross-­‐country, she first had to find out if anyone else from her school was going to go. That first day, I remember driving three girls from Sacred Heart to the first exploratory practice. I was a little worried when the other two declined to go back for the second day, but Erin was hooked and it no longer mattered that she was the only one of her classmates participating.

That seems like so long ago. She’s run many miles, gone through more pairs of shoes than I can remember, and has continued to grow both as an athlete and also as a person. Not being able to finish her eighth grade cross country season due to a stress fracture and lingering injuries during track that same year, took not only a physical, but also a mental toll that, as many of you have also experienced, is difficult for all involved. I know it was a bit intimidating for her, having lost so much of her confidence, to head into high school and join a team of such a high caliber. It was so exciting for her, and us, to see her competitive spirit and confidence rebound by interacting with such a great group of athletes and coaches. She had found her support group, those who were with her mile after mile and who stuck by her outside of the sport as well. Unlike some of her other activities, there was relatively very little drama to contend with in cross-­‐country—the girls simply ran and supported each other.

The discipline required to be committed to a sport and team has also had a positive effect on Erin outside of the sport as well. While it had always been difficult to get Erin to focus on studying after school previously, once she hit high school, it was a completely different story. I can only attribute this to the sense of discipline it takes to compete in this sport and a positive side effect is that it has trickled into other parts of her life as well. Not getting home until nearly dinnertime each night leaves very little time for messing around, and she has become a dedicated student as well as athlete.

It was fun to see her gain her confidence one race at a time and to improve throughout her freshman season. As her sophomore season gets underway, she and the rest of her teammates remain in our prayers as we pray for the safety and health of each of them. It is a relief that we are blessed with the sage coaching and training offered by Father Kirby and Coach Parriott to our girls. I’m glad that Erin has so many positive role models in the upper classmen and even the graduates of the program who show up to support the girls. These girls seem to get it—even though each of them must run the race, this is a team sport and they’re in this together.

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NOT AN OFFICIAL COURSE MAP!!!

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