Milford High School Cross Country

Killens Pond Water Park 5K Running (competitively or training) for the first time since Labor Day, Ol' Bloom took to the trails of Killens Pond and returned to solid form with a 21:32 - his second best time in 2000. That was good enough for No. 2 in the 19-29 age group and Lucky No. 13 overall. Unfortunately, that super cruiser from St. Thomas More, Coach Ray Rodriguez, took first with a 19:56 as he paced Raven Runner Luke Seemster to his best time, 19:57. MHSCC runner Keith Short (9th overall) followed behind Seemster with a strong 20:09, considering he ran at White Clay in the UD Invitational the day before, and senior MHSCC veteran Danny Ward continued to impress, finishing just ahead of Bloom with a 20:57 - a personal best by nearly 3 minutes at KPSP. Topping all MHSCC runners, though, freshman star Kourtney Short won her age group with a sizzling 25:05. Congrats to all! Have fun! Run! Barnyard Biathlon Ahhhh, finally! After nearly two decades of some sort of racing, Coach Bloom finally got to celebrate a victory. In his first bike race ever, Bloom and his uncle, Vernon Redding, teamed together for an overall win by nearly four minutes in the Barnyard Biathlon Sept. 30 in Milford. After leading the 12-mile bike course for the first mile, Bloom saw Seashore Strider pop, Mike Morris, fly by en route to a first-place finish on the bike in about 31 minutes. Bloom held on for a second-place finish (and a flip over the bike rack) in about 34 minutes. From there, Uncle Vern did the rest, cruising through the 5K in about 18 minutes to clinch the overall win. Later in the day, those attending the Land and Sea Festival got to see Bloom (and his uncle) battle in a barbaric canoe joust on the Missipillion. Though Bloom got battered and bruised (and wet) in three rounds of jousting, his veteran opponents donated their trophy for the tough challenge they received. By the way, the water was chilly, but refreshing, and if anyone happens to see Bloom's wedding ring floating at the bottom of the river, please tell me. Congrats also go out to MHSCC runners Keith Short and Joey Palumbo who won the under 40 team division in the Biathlon. Another MHSCC runner, Kelly Graybeal, teamed with Debbie Whalen (Morgan's mom) to place second in their division. A big thank you goes out to the Mallamo and Pastor clan, as well as Carole Carpenter, Amanda Schatz, Amanda Meade, Kourtney Short, Scott Hall, Danny Ward, Caleb Penney and Chris Battaglia who all helped on the course. Here's a look at all the winners: Over 80 team: Joyce Felton-Pat Timmons, 56:11; 60-79 team: Vernon Redding-Czar Bloom, 52:38, 2. Mike Tyler-Brittany Morris, 59:28; 40-59 team: Mike Morris-Brett Morris, 60:32; 2. Debbie Whalen-Kelly Graybeal, 68:55; Under 40 team: Keith Short-Joey Palumbo, 74:14; Over 40 solo: Male: Ray Parker, 64:06; 2. Doug Annand, 68:18; 3. Ernest Chizmar, 70:53; Female: Brenda Sharp, 66:41; 2. Nancy Hall, 74:25; 3. Roxann Parker, 77:57; 30-39 solo: Male: Michael Firch, 62:06; 20-29 solo: Male: Daniel Pennington, 57:03; 2. Christopher Hurd, 67:27. Hope to see everyone at the Reindeer Stampede 5K on Nov. 25 at MHS. Have fun!

More great shots of the Lake Forest Invitational compliments of Mrs. Rudd.

Well, the summer racing schedule is over, and Ol' Bloom wound up with a surprising summer best time of 21:20 on Labor Day. Unfortunately, it wasn't quite good enough for a third place trophy as fellow competitor Bryan Bowles held off Bloom at the finish. Great race, I gave it all I could. Still, the solid finish helped me secure fourth place in the series, right behind Bowles. Congrats to all the fellow competitors of the summer. All in all, I'm very excited to get back into running shape 10 years removed from my final high school cross country season. On Monday's Last Blast Prediction 5K, I couldn't help but put a personal best 20:59 down for my prediction. Of course, I settled in and ran a relaxed race in 22:28. Congrats go out to I.G. Burton's Gifford King who was two tenths within his prediction to place first. Fellow running friends Eric Payne and Matt Lindell each came within a second of their prediction. To place within the top 20, you had to be within nine seconds of your prediction. That's with no watches, clocks, or mile markers. Wow! Here's my summer race paces: June 17-Father's Day 5K 23:43 (3rd in age group, 56th overall) June 24-Bill Degnan 5K 23:24 (3rd in age group, 72nd overall) July 1-Firecracker 5K 22:42 (8th in age group, 73rd overall) July 4-Bulldog 5K 22:51 (2nd in age group, 36th overall) July 9-Mellon Bank 5K 22:19 (3rd in age group, 50th overall) July 15-Buffalo Stampede 5K 21:52 (3rd in age group, 33rd overall) July 30-Seashore Strider 5K 21:43(3rd in age group, 56th overall) Aug. 2-Flychaser 5k 22:50(yuck!!)(33rd overall) Aug. 6-YMCA 5-miler 37:10(3rd in age group, 65th overall) Aug. 12-Damn Mill 5K 21:38(5th in age group, 54th overall) Aug. 20-Run for JJ 5K 23:01 (ugh!) (7th in age group, 87th overall) Sept. 2-Labor Day Classic 5K21:20 (4th in age group, 44th overall) Sept. 4-Last Blast Prediction 5K 22:28 (24th overall) Special Sauce will likely return next summer, although I will continue to update folks in local races on the home page. My next race competition will be at the Barnyard Biathlon Sept. 30 when I bike and my uncle runs. Have fun!

Congrats go out to Coach Ray Rodriguez at St. Thomas More. His wife delivered on the first day of practice. Link to the Raven CC site for more info.

Link to this cool page that Mrs. Rudd put together and relive some spring 2000 MHS track moments.