by Brad Jaegerbjaeger@digitalsports.comIt is rare that a high school has not only a coach, Nathan Timm, who is insanely dedicated to not only making his team the best that it can be, but helps raise the visibility of the sport throughout the state and an assistant coach that helps feed the high school program.
Mike Smith is in his first year as an assistant at Magruder, but before this Smith was the head track coach at Shady Grove Middle School which just happens to be the feeder school for Magruder. “Montgomery County started a fall season middle school track program about three years ago”, said Smith. “We practiced three times a week and had six meets a year for the kids.” The team had twelve athletes on the squad, three of which were at the first day of practice for Magruder High this season.
One of these freshmen that Smith thinks might have a chance to break into the top ten at Magruder by the end of the season is Nick Farrentinos. The boys squad return eight of the top ten this fall from a team that finished ninth the tough 4A West regional last season. To this end Timm thinks a freshman breaking into the team’s top 14 this season could be tough. “We have a veteran team and a lot of dedicated sophomores coming back and they’re really looking forward to battling for those varsity positions”, said Timm.
Magruder rarely practices at their school during the season, but instead counts on the parents to shuttle the athletes to either Lake Needwood or the Agricultural Farm Center during the season. “It’s tough running at the school. We have a lot of woods and fields behind our school, but little in the way of cleared trails”, said Timm. Montgomery County does a fantastic job of grooming Lake Needwood and with the trails and intense hills in the park; a cross country team has everything they can ask for at Needwood.
The team also runs at the Agricultural Farm Center in Derwood. The course designed by Timm with assistance from Sherwood Coach Dan Reeks is also being used this fall for the USA Cross Country Championships. “We kept tweaking the course from last year so we would come up with a true 5K cross country course”, said Timm, “and I think we got it right.”
Magruder is holding a scrimmage there on August 29th beginning at 5:30pm with the boy’s race, followed by the girl’s race at 6:05 and concluding with a coaches/open race at 6:40pm. Schools that will be attending are Einstein, Seneca Valley, Springbrook, St. Johns, Walter Johnson, Churchill and Oakland Mills. (Running Maryland will be there for full coverage).
You would think that the travelling back and forth to courses would be time consuming and irritating for the athletes, but senior Chris Gregorski thinks it is a plus. “It’s much less boring than just running at home. Plus we get all these hills and a variety of surfaces. It really helps us be a better team,” said Gregorski.
Beside Gregorski, Magruder has Nicholas Escobar as their number one runner and Mark Mechak coming back as their number three. The team is still looking for anyone from their squad of 45 boys to fill those crucial four to seven positions. Timm said, “The team has bought into the program and they know that we need runners to step up.” Magruder is hoping to be able to step into the top three in the county this season, but Timm knows that hinges on one crucial outcome. “We can’t be afraid of the Quince Orchard’s or Northwest’s of the county. We have to be able to meet them head on,” said Timm.
The girl’s squad will be looking to build from the ground up. “We worked the freshman orientation hard this morning”, said Smith. “Anyone that looked athletic, we went up to them and see if they wanted to run.” They return Svati Narula and Sam Fritts returns from injury last season. There are two freshmen that show promise in the early season, Jessica Marques, who might double with cheerleading and Shannon Oleynik. Timm knows though he has some work ahead of him, “They are going to be very young. I have a lot of teaching to do this year.”
The team plans to give their squads a good taste of competition this year with Great Meadows, William and Mary, Bull Run, Glory Days and their own Magruder Invitational on tap for this year.
Each school needs one athlete who keeps the spirit light during practice. On Magruder’s team, that is Tom Keene. At practice, Keene surrounded himself with four logs and was stretching inside his own little square. Asked why he was doing this, he replied, “I get special powers from the running God’s.” Timm said Keene last year ran the first three days of practice in long jeans with a belt. Keene was asked if he did this because he didn’t have running shorts. He said, “Not really, I’m just really pale.”