It is the time of year when practices seem long, legs seem tired, and minds are packed full. Sometimes the best break is getting out to the cross country course and JUST RUNNING. It was fun to see our team compete at the Midwest Invite, arguably one of the most competitive meets in the state (outside of the state meet) and definetly one of the most overall "fast meets" that we go to throughout the season. I was amazed to see so many PRs after such a tough week of practice. I really think we can still improve upon these times in the coming weeks because of the work we put in this week at practice. I encourage every boy on the team to commit to cross country over the upcoming weeks and plan on ending the season on a high note.
The day started off with a great performance by our frosh/soph group. Some teams run their varsity frosh/soph kids in this race and we do not (so NO Sam, Bryce, or Brad) I was impressed how well our boys competed in this race. This group went 7 for 7 on PRs for the day. Mason and Connor G-T led the way with 18:00 and 18:04 performances. I really hope these guys continue the improvent and see that sub 18:00 yet this season. John H. and Marcus worked together throughout the middle of the race to pull our whole pack through the big field. This group will continue to pursue that 19:00 barrier. Jacob R., Liam, and Calder ran great races there was a little bit of "holding on" at the end of the race and hopefully these guys will continue to get stronger going into the next couple of years and we look forward to big things from these guys.
Our varsity was led by an oustanding performance by Jonah as he was able to go under 16:00 for the first time in his career (and unofficially the first athlete to do it at Memorial since Phil Downs). This performance helped a ton at a meet of this caliber. Our gap of 1:20 between 1-5 stayed the same and we will need to close this down a little bit. We didn't hit on all cylinders today and we still placed similiar to last seasons finish (12th in 2010). If we can correct just a few things going ahead we are still in really good shape. Jordan B. performed well at #2 and Sam B. had a nice race today, closing the gap back up for our #3 runner. It was fun to see Bryce and Brad G. pass a lot of guys in the last mile of this race and I wish I would have seen Ben A. finish because when I saw him at 400 meters to go I wouldn't thought he would of caught these guys. It is nice to have a group of guys working together to improve this # 5 spot.
Our JV proved again that it can be a factor at any meet we compete at during the season. I hope this is a trend that continues because these athletes will be the guys leading our varsity in the future. Andy R, Ryan W, Nick H, and Joey D ran as a great group spending most of the time in the top 20. Arrowhead and Lax Logan are ranked 1 and 4 in the state for varsity and have great depth on their JV teams we competed well with them and Lake Park, IL today. We are getting healthier as Thejas joined the ranks of competing to help our team score. The last step for this group will be putting some guys in the top 10 at every meet. Chris D. and Max B had great races today to lead a large group of guys including Nick S, Stefan, and Edwin all under 19:00. Also Ben B. joined Liam and Calder as freshman who have run under 20:00 this season. It was nice to see many of the freshman really compete hard today and see the process pay off with some great PRs in this group. It has taken awhile for us to get into shape but we have many great runners in this class that I hope can commit to 4 years of running.
MIDWEST INVITE RESULTS
Frosh/Soph
Varsity
Junior Varsity
Pictures have been added to the 2011 Album
UPCOMING EVENTS
September 28th - Light of Life Walk ($5 to Coach Casey by 3:45pm on Wednesday -- a fundraiser for cancer research that is a part of Homecoming Week festivities...we will be doing this as a team (required) parents and familes are welcome to join)
NEXT COMPETITION - September 27th (Tuesday)
Big Eight Split Meet @ Sun Prairie
4:45pm - Girls Race
5:30pm - Boys Race (all boys in ONE race)
TEAM NOTES
Clothing Items -- MOST items are in (some had to be "back ordered")...put names into clothing items so boys can keep track of their clothing
Captains Shirts -- $12 is due to captains ASAP if you are hoping to get the 2011 Team Shirt
Homecoming Week -- Make good choices, boys are still expected to be at all practices and meets, take care of yourself and get some sleep so we can compete well still this week
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