Roosevelt to Start Cross Country Team

Everyone knows about Jeffrey Rector's 6th place state finish in the 3200 meter run at the state track meet for Roosevelt. What many people don't realize is that Roosevelt has a surprisingly decent set of distance runners behind Rector like Jose Guerrero (sr)(above) who quietly ran a respectable 11:02.75 in the 3200 meter run at the city track meet.

What is going on at Roosevelt? First they had Jeffrey Rector(jr) finish 6th at the state in the 3200 meter run. Thus becoming Roosevelt's first all-state track runner since 1932.

Now, the word is out there that Roosevelt is starting a cross country team starting this fall 2010. The new coach will be Michael Kroski, a Physics teacher at Roosevelt. I hear that he is really good at robotics and Physics. Though, I do not know about his cross country background.

I do know that the Roosevelt track coach, Nick Diedrich, will not be coaching the new cross country team. Diedrich, who does have a good athletic background, will be coaching the Rough Rider football team this fall. But Diedrich may indirectly contribute in other ways. Diedrich, in addition to having the credit for coaching Rector, quietly built up a group of distance runners supporting Rector.

Diedrich developed the following track distance runners and some of their 2010 season track times (class as of 2010-11 season):

• Jose Guerrero (sr) - 11:02, 3200 meter run; 5:16, 1600 meter run
• Ivan Hernandez (so) - 5:42.47, 1600 meter run
• Leonardo Bucio (so) - 6:11.53, 1600 meter run
• Alan Rangel - 5:50.59, 1600 meter run
  

I know the times are not eye opening, but for Roosevelt it is a great start. Roosevelt has 5 runners running below 6:12, nothing special compared to the Mather and Kenwood's of the world, but it is great compared to past Roosevelt standards.

Rector will not be running cross country because he plays football. Whether Guerrero and the other distance runners run cross country, we do not know yet.  I do know that every program has to start somewhere. For Roosevelt, just having a team is a great start.

Roosevelt 2010-2011 Cross Country Schedule

Day	Date	Event	Location	Time
Tuesday	9/14	Mather Invite	Legion Park (Bryn Mawr & Kedzie)	4:00 p.m.
Tuesday	9/21	Mather Invite	Legion Park (Bryn Mawr & Kedzie)	4:00 p.m.
Tuesday	9/28	Mather Invite	Legion Park (Bryn Mawr & Kedzie)	4:00 p.m.
Saturday	10/23	IHSA Regionals	TBA	TBA
Saturday	10/30	IHSA Sectionals	TBA	TBA
Saturday	11/6	IHSA State Final	TBA	TBA

Related
Von Steuben - cross country team preview
Lincoln Park - cross country team preview

Comments

[Amazing]

Yeah, but Kelvyn Park is gonna whoop them in both football and track. Brian Carter will be their worst nightmare. LOL

[aw]

too bad rector wont run, he would of been a favorite to win the city title

[Rough Rider]

Coach Diedrich told some coaches he is having Rector run Cross and play football this fall.

[Roosevelt chances]

That would be amazing if Rector ran. Even if he did, it would be difficult to do both sports at the same season. I would love to see Rector run. If he does, by pure talent alone, I can see him getting close to a class 2A all-state finish of around 15:36.

I'd also love Roosevelt to put together a good 5. I think they can get Rector finishing top 3 at city w/o lot of training. Then if they can get 4 other under 18 minutes, we are talking about a possible top 8 city team.

Too early to talk these theoretical. Let's see what Roosevelt does at Mather #1.

[Rector is a wide receiver]

Rector is a star wide receiver and best player on the Roosevelt team. I'm not sure how smart it would be for him to run cross country when his football team needs him so much.