Sectional - 5th Place

Each Spring the WIAA puts out the Sectional assignments for cross country and the path is set for 120 division 1 schools to attempt to be one of the 20 teams that qualify for the state championships. The Verona sectional this year pitted some of the best teams in not only south-central Wisconsin but the entire state against each other. Madison Memorial toed the line in this sectional and put out their best effort to represent the Spartans on this day. Today, that meant we finished in 5th place and that was a great showing by our team. The Spartans were in 3rd place as a team at the 1-mile mark and were racing side-by-side with Middleton who eventually finished 2nd. Will L-S ran a great race strategy and earned his fourth straight birth to the state meet and continued the long streak of Madison Memorial runners competing at the D1 State Meet. Our 2 - 5 pack ran strong and helped each other to the finish led today by Charlie G in 16:52 and only 2 places off qualifying for state, Paul K in 17:31, Ian G in 17:38, and Patrick H in 17:57. Max B and Berndt R  6th and 7th place finishers, capping off successful season for each of them. It was very impressive to have all 5 scorers breaking 18:00 on the tough Verona course and in unseasonably warm conditions. With several of our varsity and top JV athletes returning next year, we hope to continue the charge towards the front of this pack. We know the teams that survive and advance from this sectional will perform at a high level at the state meet. Will L-S will represent the Spartans at State this year but we look forward to trying to get our entire team to state in the near future.

RESULTS
WIAA Division 1 - Sectional 05 - Verona 2026 - Complete Results

NEXT COMPETITION
Saturday November 1st
WIAA State Meet @ Ridges GC in Wisconsin Rapids (Course)
Van - 10:45am
12:00pm 1st Race
1:20pm - D1 Girls Race
3:10pm - D1 Boys Race 
3:45pm - Awards - top 2 teams & top 10 individuals

SPECTATOR INFORMATION
Come watch some great cross country & cheer on Will at the WIAA State Meet
Tickets = $9 (+ processing fee)...must be purchased in advanced & on a mobile device
Parking & Shuttles = $10 (pay with cash) per car --> Arrive early to park & ride shuttle to the course (come watch all the races too)
Course Map - HERE

NEWS & NOTES

Sectional runners...Monday practice = turn in uniforms, last chance mile Tuesday, & run with Will
End of year awards ceremony will be Wed Nov 4th @ 5:15pm @ Memorial...more info to come soon via email

Big 8 Conference - Varsity 4th, JV 5th

Another great week of performances by the Spartans at the 2026 Big 8 Conference Championships, which is arguably the most competitive conference in Wisconsin for Cross Country. The team got out well at the start of the race and battled for a 4th place finish, tying our finish from last year. Individually, Will L-S lead with a 2nd place finish in a field with many talented athletes. Berndt R also nabbed all-conference honors with a 12th place finish and PR of 16:38. Paul K and Ian G also ran PRs and Max B and Patrick H rounding things out with strong races and both running in the 17:20s. This group has a lot of strong momentum as we head into the end of the season.

Our JV squad finished a strong 5th place finish, a big improvement from 7th place last year. Anthony L was top finisher for the JV team and was closely followed by Bowen D who ran a PR of 18:28. Mitchel S ran a PR of 18:54 for his first sub 19, Henry M ran another sub 19 with 18:59, and Ryan S was the final JV scorer with a PR of 19:18. PRs were also ran by Ephraim M, Asher W (first sub-25!!), Levi B, Luke H, Eli S, Noah H, Jacob S, Eli K, Milo L, Jaxon P, and Ryan S. The JV team has run 110 PRs this season and the coaching staff is incredibly proud of how much they improved and everything this group has accomplished this season!

RESULTS
Badger State Timing - Live Results

NEXT COMPETITION
Saturday October 24th
WIAA D1 Sectional @ Verona High School (Varsity only)
Bus = 9:30am
11:45 = Boys
~12:30 = Awards

JV athletes are encouraged to ride the bus to the meet to cheer on their teammates. Let's have as many Spartans on the side of the course as we can next week! Will have a sign-up sheet in locker room if you want to ride the bus to Verona.

NEWS & NOTES

--> JV runners turn in uniforms and other checked out items to the locker room after school this week. Please wash uniforms before turning in and place in a bag labeled with your name!

--> JV runners will have optional practices on Monday-Tuesday next week to run a last chance mile on the track. Monday will be a short shakeout run and the last chance mile will be Tuesday

--> Only varsity runners preparing for Sectionals and State will have required practice Oct 20th & beyond. JV runners are welcome to attend if they want to!

- For all the photographers - Upload pictures here https://photos.app.goo.gl/XCx5pYMw4uhwsVht8

- Sign up for meet snacks - https://m.signupgenius.com/#!/showSignUp/10C0948AEA72CA3FB6-65337408-memorial?useFullSite=false

Don Loker City Championships - Varsity 2nd, JV 3rd

A great afternoon of racing by the Spartans at the 2026 Don Loker City Championships. The Madison area has produced a lot of talented runners that have competed at the City Championships over the years. Future state champions, national champions, and Olympians have toed the line at the Madison City Championships and although the meet might be small in number of teams the competition is always in big in depth and talent. This year was no different and our Spartans came prepared to battle. The team is running well at the right time of year and our varsity started the night off with a bang. Our guys battle for 1st place through the first half of the race, before the Lancers pulled away over second half (we will see LaFollette again at Conference and Sectionals) but finished a very solid 2nd, our highest finish since 2021. Individually, Charlie G led with a hard-earned 5th place finish and PR of 16:28. Berndt was close behind in 10th place and with another sub 17 time on the season. Paul K and Max B both also ran PRs and Patrick H and Ian G rounded things out with 24th and 25th place finishes and solid races. It is great to see this group keep improving from week-to-week as we head into the end of the season.

Our JV squad finished a strong 3rd place and were battling for the win throughout the entire race. We also saw some big time drops as these guys let the strong competition push them to lots of PRs. They were led by top 10 finishes from Anthony L and Bowen D. Bowen ran a PR of 18:31 and was followed by Henry M who also ran a big PR of 18:39. Henry S also ran a huge PR of over 1-minute to get 19:10 and be the 5th finisher for the Spartans. There were tons of other PRs from Levi B (first sub 24), Eli B (first sub 20), Grey H, Miguel M (first sub 25), Ethan P, Kaiden S, Eli S (first sub 23), Owen G, Devon M, Jacob S, Milo L, Jaxon P, Coda S, Ryan S, and Walter S (first sub 20). The young guys on this team showed some great effort and were rewarded with nice PRs....who from this group can make the big jump in the off-season to challenge for a varsity spot? S These guys prepare for their final meet of the season at the Big 8 Conference Championship but have many future races in their lifetime where they will continue to run faster as they continue to embrace this sport and their training. 

RESULTS
Badger State Timing - Live Results

NEXT COMPETITION
Saturday October 17th
Big Eight Conference Championships
@ Janesville - Black Hawk Golf Course (Course)
Bus = 7:30am
10:05 = Boys Varsity (Box 1)
11:15 = Boys JV (Box 1)
~11:50 = Awards - top 16 finishers in each race

NEWS & NOTES
--> Team picture on Thursday. Remember your uniform!

--> Thurs & Fri practice this week still at normal schedule time (4:00pm)
--> JV Runners will have optional practices on Monday-Tuesday next week to run a last chance mile on the track (We will pick the day with the best weather to run the mile)

--> JV runners turn in uniforms and other checked out items next week
--> Only varsity runners preparing for Sectionals will have required practice Oct 20th & beyond 

- For all the photographers - Upload pictures here https://photos.app.goo.gl/XCx5pYMw4uhwsVht8

- Sign up for meet snacks - https://m.signupgenius.com/#!/showSignUp/10C0948AEA72CA3FB6-65337408-memorial?useFullSite=false

Arrowhead Invite: Varsity 9th, JV1 13th, JV2 9th

The calendar has turned to October which means there is only 1 month left of cross country season. To kick off the final week the Spartans traveled to the Arrowhead Invite, our first time attending this meet. There was good competition and a chance to face off against teams we don't normally compete against. Will L-S had a great race up front finishing at 2nd place and a season's best time. Charlie just missed a top 25 finish with 29th place and he was followed by Berndt who ran a solid race with 16:50 finishing time. This led to a 9th place finish out of 25 teams, although the varsity squad will need to be more aggressive the first half of the race to improve their team finish over the coming meets. We saw many of our JV runners embrace the opportunity to run fast in the Varsity Reserve race This group was led by Bowen and Andy both running 18:46 and saw freshman Ryan S and Eli K both run PRs. The rest of the JV squad took to the course for the final race as the sun was drying out the course. The JV squad ran a great race as a team to achieve a 9th place finish and PRs from Abhi K, Ephraim M, Christian D, Luke H, Miguel M, Kaiden S, Eli S, Hunter E, Owen G, Noah H, Devon M, Luke S, Brayden T, Declan K, Coda S, and Walter S. It is exciting to see our guys chasing fast times and working with their teammates to accomplish difficult things. We look forward to every runner, running hard every run, on every day...big things to come in the closing weeks of the season!

RESULTS

Arrowhead Invitational

NEXT COMPETITION
Friday Oct 9th
Don Loker City Championships @ Lake Farm Park - Madison, WI (Course)
Early Release = 1:43pm (end of 5th period)
3:30pm - Boys Varsity
4:40pm - Boys JV 
~ 5:45pm - Awards

NO BUS!!!! Athletes are responsible for their own transportation to Lake Farm Park and home after the meet.

NEWS & NOTES

- For all the photographers - Upload pictures here https://photos.app.goo.gl/XCx5pYMw4uhwsVht8

- Sign up for meet snacks - https://m.signupgenius.com/#!/showSignUp/10C0948AEA72CA3FB6-65337408-memorial?useFullSite=false

- Snap Raise... Thank you everyone who has donated! Try to get 20-emails uploaded! Fundraiser runs through 10/6

- Thursday 10/8 -- Team Picture (bring uniforms...)
Championship season...JV = City & Conference, Varsity = City, Conference, Sectional, & State
JV athletes will have practice through the Conference meet