Team,
Attached are today's results. Give them a look.
In terms of analysis I'll start off by saying most people got faster but most people did not hit their goal. If you fall in the group who didn't hit their goal there's even more pressure on you do get every workout in over break.
Overall this was not a great test for varsity. It ended up being a 1:53.4 top V8 average. This .4 splits faster overall than last test and is one split second slower than last year's group at this point. Keep in mind I'm talking generally here as a few people did hit their goals. There are a lot of injuries, but the main cause is several of the top guys are just not as fast as last year. As many of you are first year varsity I can understand the pressure, but at some point somebody needs to step up and push the team forward, not back. Not every test will be your best, but they can't continually keep being worse than the previous ones. That is inexcusable. One of your main priorities beside training over break needs to be getting as many varsity guys to return as possible. They'll inject both speed and competition into this group.
For novices the test faired a bit better. The Top N8 average was 1:52.5. Despite losing several of the fastest guys this is only .5 second slower than November's 6k and .7 seconds slower than the top novice group from last year at this time. Seeing as that group finished 4th in the nation and you aren't too far off their time right now a top finish in the nation is still a possibility. This depends completely upon the amount of work you put in this winter and spring. The potential is there to be faster than last year's group. Also a few people will come back from injury and we'll add a few more dudes, but that means if you're in the top 8 now you'll have to work very hard to remain there.
For the second novice 8, this went okay as several tested better than expected, but some did not. The current average is 2:00.7. This is 4.9 split seconds slower than last test (all due to quitters) but is only 1.3 split seconds slower than the same group as last year. Again this is not a huge amount to make up, but it will require work. The biggest thing to keep in mind is last year we didn't have a 2nd novice 8 come spring. We had a 2nd varsity 8 with one varsity guy with 7 novices. Just having you guys on the team puts you in a better position to win as you'll be in a novice event. Also keep in mind there's plenty of time to move up to the top novice 8, and those who work the most over break will have the best chance of doing so.
At our current trajectory every team is currently looking at a similar finish to last year. There's is plenty you can do to raise your stock and speed before we're on the water, but you have to be willing to work for it. The first step is coming ready to crush your 2k test. We need as many varsity as possible in the 6:40's and as many novices as possible under 7:00.
