The Sports Machine

Friday, JP ran in the Metro Championships at Harpeth Hall.  

The 1,600 was his first event.  For almost the entirety of the race, JP ran toward the back of the lead pack in sixth place.  He finished in 14:23, a PR for the 1,600.

In a stirring finish, JP's teammate and friend, Gabe, ran down the leader, Ryder Ortner, and won the 1,600 by .100 of a second.  He finished in 4:15:73, also a PR for the 1,600.  Running in fourth place, he passed the third and second place runners in the last 150 meters, caught Ryder, and beat him win a lean at the finish line.

Less than 30 minutes later, JP ran the 800.  He held his pace longer than he had been able to the last couple of races, but fell in the last 100 meters.  Still, he ran a 2:00:13, barely missing breaking 2:00.  I though he finished just under 2:00 but apparently not.  My guess is he was looking at a 1:58 before he faded at the end.

As JP regain his running fitness after being injured, what's missing, I think, is the finishing kick.  He doesn't have the ability - not quite yet - to out kick other runners at the end of the 1,600 or the 800.  In the 1,600, that meant he ran in sixth place, stayed in sixth place, and finished in sixth place.  In the 800, that meant he fell off at the end, was passed by a couple of runners, and didn't break 2:00.

Here's the thing, though.  For him to be able to set a PR in the 1,600 and run, basically, a 2:00 800 with as little running as he has been able to do until very recently is impressive.  While he has been cross-training religiously on the elliptical, stationary bike, and with weights, the only way to get faster at running is to run and run a lot.  He doesn't have the mileage base right now to slip it into 5th gear when he needs to during a race.  I think it's coming, though, and when it does, he's going to be a problem for other runners to deal with.

Saturday morning, Joe played two basketball games with his Stars' team at Maplewood High School.  Both were close losses, the second game in sudden death, double overtime.

In game one in the main gym, the Stars fell behind, early, in what looked like was going to be a blowout to a bigger and more athletic team.  However, in what is becoming this team's hallmark, they rallied in the second half, tied the score, and lost a close one.  Joe played a lot and well down the stretch, going 4-5 from the line and hitting a key 3-pointer.  He just missed another 3-pointer late that would have given him double figure points for the game.

In game 2 in the practice gym upstairs, the Stars again fell behind early but rallied late.  Losing a game in sudden death double overtime is brutal.  This one hurt Joe more than others because he didn't play particular well down the stretch.  

Late in the game, he foolishly fouled a kid from behind on a put back after a rebound, resulting in a 3-point play that tied the game.  Then, in overtime, when the Stars had the ball under their own goal with 7 seconds left, Joe caught the inbounds pass at the top of the key and clearly shuffled his feet before passing the ball to the wing.  Travel.  That one really hurt, as his team had the ball with a chance to win it.

In the second overtime, Joe brought the ball up the course after the Stars won the tip.  At the top of the key, Joe walked into a 3-pointer that he missed badly.  The other team rebounded the ball, drove up court, set up the offense, then scored the winning bucket when a kid drove the lane, jump stopped, and hit the bucket.

A great game was marred when the other team's best player suffered what appeared to be a torn ACL on a drive into the lane in the second half.  It was hard to watch, as he writhed in pain on the floor.  Tough kid. almost Amish looking with long hair tied up behind his head.  A guard, Joe and his teammates couldn't stay in front of him.  I don't think the game would have ended up in over time had he not gotten hurt. 

While Joe's 3-pointer in the second overtime was ill advised given that his team had a decided size advantage, I give him credit for having the courage to take the shot with the game on the line.  That's Joe.  

Yesterday, Joe played a lot of minutes.  He played hard, made most of the right plays, and only had one turnover that I can recall.  He hit key free throws in game one.  That's Joe, too.  

I'll be curious to see how much he plays today in his game at Glencliff. 

A busy weekend of sports.