End of Season Banquet

Brandywine Cross Country Awards Banquet
A Celebration of the 2009 Season!

Monday November 30, 2009
6pm
Brandywine High School Cafeteria

Catering by Café Riveria

Good Friends, Great Food, and an Outstanding Slideshow J
(A Limited # of DVD’s of the season will be on sale for $5)

Cost:
Athletes/young siblings $5
Parents and other guests: $15

Cash or Checks Payable to:
BRANDYWINE CROSS COUNTRY BOOSTERS

Reservations and Money due by Monday November 23, 2009
(To Room 224: Coach Rivera)


Name of Athlete__________________________________

# of Athletes/young siblings _____________ x $5=_______

# of Parents/other guests ________________ x $15=_______

TOTAL_____________

Saturday's State Championship Meet

The bus will leave Brandywine High School at 10 AM on Saturday!

We really hope EVERYONE will come down to Killens and cheer on the Varsity runners!

To all our JV runners: If you would like to pop by practice this week, we will be at Bellevue on Thursday and Friday. We'd love to see you!

Banquet Info: Our end of season celebration will be on November 30th! It will be catered by Cafe Riveria. Athletes $5/parents $15 Flyers will be handed out in school next week.

And Then There Was One

Girls Varsity all smiles at the starting line

Becca and Allison made the News Journal!

Matt with the leaders at the half mile

End of the day

Our State Championship Meet is this Saturday! I really do feel like somebody pressed the "fast-forward" button on this season!

We had a great day Saturday at the New Castle County Championhips! It was a BEAUTIFUL day at Winterthur! Congrats to Chanon Tuntivate who grabbed All County Honors!

We had a nice turnout in our Old Timers Race: Mr. McCoy, Mr. Holler, Mr. Streck, & Allie Gedney joined me on the starting line. Hopefully next year, they will move the start time so more of you can watch us run :) Half the fun of running the old timers' race is hearing your words of encouragement.

This week's practice schedule is below:

Monday: Bellevue

Tuesday: School

Wednesday: Killens (more info to follow)

Thursday: Bellevue

Friday: Bellevue

Saturday: Delaware State Championship Meet at Killens Pond State Park in Felton, DE

The race times are as follows:
Division II Girls at 1:00 p.m.
Division I Girls at 1:40 p.m.
Division II Boys at 2:20 p.m.
Division I Boys at 3:00 p.m.

Bus departure time will be posted later in the week.

We can only run our Top 7 runners in the State Meet; however, we would LOVE to have the JV join us at practice this week. We also expect you all to come down to Killens Pond and cheer on your teammates on Saturday!

Have a great Week!

Coach Flanagan :)

Two Weeks to Go!

Time flies when you are having fun! I cannot believe it is November already!

This week's practice schedule is below:

Monday: Brandywine Creek ONE LAST GAME OF TAG!

Tuesday: School

Wednesday: Winterthur (we need to check to see if there is a return bus to school. We will post when we have more information)

Thursday: Bellevue

Friday: Bellevue

Saturday: The New Castle County Championships at Winterthur

Race Day Schedule

12:30 pm Old Timers Race – open to alumni, coaches, parents and friends

(must be pre-registered to run, send name and division to ricks789@yahoo.com by midnight, Thursday, November 5)

1:15 pm Girls 6th, 7th, and 8th grade

1:45 pm Boys 6th, 7th, and 8th grade

2:30 pm Girls Junior Varsity

3:00 pm Boys Junior Varsity

3:30 pm Girls Varsity

4:00 pm Boys Varsity

4:30 pm Awards Ceremony

Race Day Info:
**General Admission Parking is free. Please enter Gate 3 located on Rt. 52. Please note it is a country walk over hilly terrain to the team staging area.
** Handicap Parking - Those displaying state-issued Handicap Parking credentials should enter Gate 5.
**Preferred Parking is available for $10 per car. Preferred Parking will enter Gate 5 off Rt. 52 and be located near the team staging area. Special hang tag will be sold in advance. Anyone not displaying this hang tag will not be permitted into this parking area and will be directed to the general admission parking. Hang tags will be distributed to coaches on your assigned practice day. Proceeds from Preferred Parking go to N5CTA.

If you would like a preferred parking pass, please send in $10 and I can purchase them on Wednesday at Winterthur.

Monday October 26th

Heading into the Home Stretch!

Our last duel meet is behind us as we head into our Championship Meets. I cannot believe how quickly this season is flying by!

Thanks to all the Parents who came out on Wednesday to honor our seniors. We had a beautiful day for their last run at Brandywine Creek!

This Week's Schedule is below:

Monday: Bellevue

Tuesday: Bellevue

Wednesday: Bellevue

Thursday: SCHOOL

Friday: Blue Hen Conference Championships at Lums Pond

Dismissal 12:45. Bus leaves BHS at 1PM

SCHEDULE
VARSITY BOYS (7 RUNNERS) 3:00 PM
VARSITY GIRLS (7 RUNNERS) 3:30 PM
JV BOYS (UNLIMITED RUNNERS) 4:00 PM
JV GIRLS (UNLIMITED RUNNERS) 4:30 PM
AWARDS 5:15 PM

VARSITY AWARDS: MEDALS TO TOP 15 INDIVIDUALS
TROPHY TO 1st PLACE TEAM
JV AWARDS: MEDALS TO TOP 10 INDIVIDUALS

Remember, cold and flu season is in FULL SWING! Be extra vigilant about washing your hands and please do NOT share water bottles at practice.

Have a great week!

Coach Flanagan :)

Week of October 19-24, 2009

First off, a HUGE THANK YOU to all the parents and athletes who chipped in to make the Joe O'Neill Invitational a big success! Despite the rainy conditions and cool temps, the meet went off without a hitch! T-shirts sold out and concession sales were steady :)

This week's schedule is below (sorry for the delay in posting!)

Monday 10/19: Brandywine Creek

Tuesday 10/20: School

Wednesday 10/21: Duel Meet with Ursuline & Sallies at Brandywine Creek: DISMISSAL 1:45. Bus leaves at 2PM. We are honoring our Seniors at this meet!

Thursday 10/22: Bellevue

Friday 10/23: CHANGE IN PLANS! 8 AM Bus trip to Killens. All team members can now come to this practice. We should return to BHS around Noon.

Saturday: Distance on Own

Have a great week!

Week of October 12th-17th

We had a great trip to New York on Saturday! It was a fun-filled day of running and eating and checking out the sights and sounds of the largest XC meet in the country! Thanks to all the parents who made the trip with us and to all those who organized our breakfast and snacks :) You can check out videos of the starts and finishes of all the races at the website below:
http://www.runnerspace.com/eprofile.php?do=videos&event_id=398&folder_id=1181

This week's schedule is below:
Monday October 12: School
Tuesday October 13: Meet with Archmere and Mount at Bellevue....bus leaves BHS at 2:30PM
Wednesday October 14: Bellevue
Thursday October 15: Bellevue
Friday October 16: Joe O'Neill Invitational at Bellevue....dismissal at 1:30. Bus leaves BHS at 1:45. As you know, we are hosting this event. Peggy McCoy, Lezlie Schoch & Dale Gregore are organizing volunteers. This is a great opportunity for us to raise funds for our program. Thanks in advance for your help!

The time schedule for Friday's races is below:
VARSITY BOYS 3:00 PM
VARSITY GIRLS 3:25 PM
JV A BOYS 3:50 PM
JV GIRLS 4:15 PM
NOVICE BOYS 4:45 PM

Pray for good weather on Friday!
(I'll add some pictures from our Manhattan trip tomorrow!)

Manhattan Invitational October 10, 2009

New York, Here We Come!

Details for our New York Trip are below:
* The name of the meet is the Manhattan Invitational; however, the meet is held at Van Cortlandt Park in the Bronx. The park website is below:
http://www.nycgovparks.org/parks/VanCortlandtPark/

**Our bus leaves BHS parking lot at 5:30 AM. Please arrive by 5:20 so we can take roll. We will provide bagels, bananas and water. We will also have granola bars for snacks later in the day. Please pack a lunch or bring money to buy your lunch. There will be plenty of vendors in the park and the bus will stop on the way home.

** The time schedule for the meet is below:
http://www.manhattanxcinvitational.com/timeschedule.php

** Brandywine is scheduled to compete in the following races:


Frosh Girls "C" Race 10:16AM

Frosh Boys "D" Race 10:25AM

JV Boys "B" Race 11:09AM

JV Boys "D" Race 11:53AM

JV Girls "D" Race 12:04PM

Varsity Boys "A" Race 12:51PM

Varsity Girls "A" Race 2:58PM

** Medals to the Top 75 in EVERY race.

We will be boarding the bus after the Varsity girls have cooled down (approximately 4PM).

**Saturday's forecast is calling for Morning Showers. Please bring an extra pair of shoes to jog the course. High Temp is 64 so PACK YOUR SWEATS!

Email me with any questions! pooh1932@comcast.net

October 4-October 10, 2009

(girls varsity all smiles before their race)

(Aidan & Bud in the last mile)

(Keith, Drew, & Brandon in the last half mile)

Time flies when you are having fun! I cannot believe October is upon us! Now if we could just get some cool, crisp, cross country weather, we'd be all set!

Despite the unseasonably warm weather on Saturday, we had some fine performances at the Sallies Invitational. The bulldogs ran in SIX races giving parents and coaches quite a workout running from spot to spot :) In the future, I hope more of you will stay around and cheer on your teammates after you run. There were only a handful of bulldogs left when the boys varsity toed the line at 4:20. It would also be nice to have more help cleaning up the mess you left behind :)

There are some changes to this week's schedule:

Monday 10/5: BELLEVUE

Tuesday 10/6: School

Wednesday 10/7: Concord/Middletown at BELLEVUE: bus leaves BHS at 2:30PM

Thursday 10/8: 9AM Bellevue

Friday 10/9: 9AM Bellevue

Saturday 10/10: Manhattan Invitational/ Bus leaves BHS at 5:30! Please arrive by 5:20 so we can take roll before boarding the bus (more details to follow later this week)

Bulldog Notes:

** I noticed many parents are snapping pictures at our meets. It would be wonderful if you could burn them onto a disc so I can use them for our end of season slide show.

** LOST & FOUND: These look familiar? It's a good thing I had my wagon, so I could haul away all the things you left behind on Saturday!

The End of September Already!

Some of the boys' JV relaxing after their race

Hi Everyone,

We had some great finishes at the Middletown Invitational. We're still waiting for the official results to be posted on http://www.n5cta.com/.

This week's schedule is below:

Monday 9/28: 9AM Brandywine Creek
Tuesday 9/29: School
Wednesday 9/30: New/ Char/ Wm Penn at White Clay: 1:00 dismiss/1:15 bus
Thursday 10/1: Brandywine Creek
Friday 10/2: Brandywine Creek

Saturday 10/3: Sallies Invitational
There is NO bus for Saturday. Boys Freshmen and girls' JV, please arrive at the Creek by noon. All other athletes, please arrive by 1PM. This is a rather large invitational and there will be traffic entering the park. Please allow extra travel time :)

SCHEDULE:
1:00 – Boys Freshmen
1:20 – Girls JV “B”
1:40 – Girls JV “A”
2:00 – Boys JV “C”
2:20 – Boys JV “B”
2:40 – Boys JV “A”
3:00 – Girls Varsity “C”
3:20 – Girls Varsity “B”
3:40 – Girls Varsity “A”
4:00 – Boys Varsity “C”
4:20 – Boys Varsity “B”
4:40 – Boys Varsity “A”
5:15 - Awards

Bulldog Notes:
The Joe O'Neill Invitational (10/16) is just a few weeks away. We will need lots of parent help on the day of the meet working the t-shirt and concession stand and helping in the chute. If you did not sign up at the parent meeting and are able to help in any way, please email me and let me know: pooh1932@comcast.net

We have a few extra seats on our Manhattan bus. If you would like to ride up to NY with us and cheer on the bulldogs, please let me know :)

Have a great week!
Coach Flanagan

Thursday Reminders

girls at the starting line


Hi Everyone!
After our never ending bus ride yesterday, both the boys' and girls' teams swept the competition at White Clay Creek! Since we were late in arriving, the photographer will come back on another day to take our team and individual pictures.


Tomorrow is the Middletown Invitational held at Lums Pond. Directions to the park can be found below:



http://www.destateparks.com/park/lums-pond/



The cross country course begins and ends in Area 5. Enter the park via the Main Entrance. Continue down the road until the end and bear right. There will be a large parking area. The two white poles are the start of the XC course.



The Varsity runners are listed below. Everyone else will be running in the Junior Varsity races.


Time Schedule:
3:30 girls J.V.
4:00 Boys J.V.
4:30 Girls Varsity: Maeve, Amanda, Allison, Ellen, Alison, Becca, Madeleine
5:00 Boys Varsity: Matt, Chanon, Mike L, Sam, Aidan, Mike S., Bill

Finally, there was a great article in yesterday's sports section about long time cross country coach, Joe O'Neill from St. Marks. Joe passed away this spring after battling cancer. An excerpt from the article is below. I believe it sums up what make XC such a unique sport:

A camaraderie exists between competitors and opposing teams in cross country that no other sport has. It is born of a shared understanding of the physical and mental anguish required to excel, and the tremendous satisfaction one draws from enduring those tests and making even modest improvements. When it comes right down to it, each distance runner is only truly competing against himself or herself, attempting to wring every drop of endurance left, when it seems there is none left.

You can read the entire article below:
http://www.delawareonline.com/article/20090923/SPORTS11/909230320/1032/Runners-honor-legacy-left-by-iconic-cross-country-coach

EARLY DISMISSAL UPDATE

There is a change to the dismissal times that I posted yesterday:

Wednesday the bus is leaving at 2:30PM. Athletes must hustle out to the bus after dismissal. If you don't think you have time to change and make the bus, then plan on changing at the park.

Friday the bus leaves at 1:15PM with a1:00PM dismissal.

Please read yesterday's blog entry for the rest of the schedule.

Take care!

Coach Flanagan :)

Week of September 21-September 27th

Hi Everyone!

I hope you enjoyed the BEAUTIFUL weather we had the weekend! Hopefully, there are more days like that ahead!

Our schedule for this week is below:

Monday 9/21: Brandywine Creek

Tuesday 9/22: SCHOOL

Wednesday 9/23 : Meet with Delcastle & Glasgow at White Clay

Bus leaves BHS at 1PM. If there are any parents driving their children to the meet that day, please email me if you are able to give any other students a ride. pooh1932@comcast.net There are a few runners who wanted to stay in last period and would like a ride to the park after school. The meet starts at 3:30 PM.

Thursday 9/24: School

Friday 9/25: Middletown Invitational at Lums Pond

Bus leaves BHS at 1PM

Time schedule for meet is below:

3:30: Girls' Junior Varsity

4:00: Boys' Junior Varsity

4:30: Girls' Varsity

5:00: Boys' Varsity

Saturday 9/26: Distance on Own :)

Sunday 9/27: LONG Run on Own :)

Bulldog Notes:

Congratulations to Allison Lofland & Sam Young for winning our first Bulldogs of the Week. Allison ran a LIFETIME PR in our meet against A.I & Christinia. She was our #3 runner and placed 6th overall in the race. Sam dropped over 2 minutes in that same meet to grab 8th place overall.

We hope to see you out at the races this week! Go Dogs!

Tough times don’t last, but tough people do. ~A.C. Green

One Down...Thirteen to Go!

Our youngest bulldogs before the Freshmen race :)

Hi Everyone!

We had a great time at the Viking Invitational yesterday! Lots of bulldogs walked away with medals and the boys placed FIRST overall while the girls grabbed third! Thanks to Coach Rivera for picking up the scoring error! The boys were originally listed as 2nd :)

This week's schedule is below:

Wednesday 9/16: Another Trip to White Clay! The bulldogs go against A.I. duPont & Christinia. Boys at 3:30....Girls at 3:40. 12:45 Dismissal. Bus leaves BHS at 1:00! Coach Rivera has put a call into District Office to see if we can get a later bus for our future meets to White Clay or Lums. We'll keep you posted.

Thursday 9/17: Practice at Belleuve

Friday 9/18: Practice at Bellevue

Saturday 9/19: 8AM practice at Brandywine Creek State Park. Practice will be over by 10 AM :) What a great way to start your Saturday!!!!

Bulldog notes:

**Please send all $$ for boosters, New York, or clothing in an envelope with your child's name on the front :) Some loose money has been getting lost in bookbags.

**It was great seeing so many parents and grandparents at yesterday's meet! Thanks to the Colemans for bringing oranges and pretzels to snack on!

Brandywine Cross Country 2009

Hi everyone,

Until the website is up and running, we are going to use the Blog to keep you updated on any schedule changes and announcements.

Please bookmark this site and check it periodically for changes :)

****Today's Viking Invitational has been postponed until Monday September 14th. They are following the same schedule:

2:00- Course walk. Please clear the racecourse by 2:45
2:45- Coaches meeting in the pavilion. Please pickup team packet upon arrival
3:00- Freshman Boys & Girls
3:30- Sophomore Boys & Girls
4:10- Junior Boys & Girls
4:50- Senior Boys & Girls
5:30- Awards

****Tuesdays at School*****

We have decided to have practice at SCHOOL on Tuesdays. This will give the kids a break from catching the bus and allow them to finish practice early once a week. There is only one exception to this change. On Tuesday October 27th, we will be practicing at Bellevue.

****Other Reminders****

Money and permission slips for the Manhattan Invitational are due ASAP.

Last Call for T-Shirt/Sweats Orders. Please email me before Sunday with any last minute orders: pooh1932@comcast.net

All athletes are encouraged to jog lightly and stretch this weekend! We are looking forward to everyone's season debut on Monday!

Enjoy the Weekend!

Coach Flanagan :)