Thanks for a Great Season

The 2012 season saw the largest boys team in JMM cross country history with 82 ninth through twelfth grade boys participating. This year our team depth was challenged with injuries and illness. Our team took some bumps along the road but saw many successes (especially at the JV level) which shows we are growing quality depth. Although we only had two athletes go under 17:00 this fall (one of which ended the season injured) we had thirteen athletes go under 18:00 (which is a team record). As we move forward as a program I look forward to seeing us grow our top end "elite" performers and continue to support these runners with our great depth. I wish the graduating seniors the best as they move forward in their running pursuits. I challenge the returning underclassmen to establish a goal for the 2013 season and make a plan to achieve this goal. I look forward to a very successful 2013 season.

2012 Highlights
Jonah W - 16:21 @ Grade Level Challenge
James A - 16:58 @ City Championships
10 Runners under 18:00 @ Big 8 Championships
JV1 2nd Place @ Big 8 Championships

2012 Results
Division 1 State Meet
Madison West Sectional
Big 8 Conference Meet (Var, JV1, JV2)

Team GPA - 3.535

For the third season in a row our team has exceeded our team goal for GPA (3.4 or higher) and was the third highest GPA in team history (top GPA was last year - 3.577)....KEEP WORKING HARD IN THE CLASSROOM!!! Our team has ELEVEN student athletes with a 4.0 GPA, who were joined by three other teammates for a perfect 4.0 GPA during the 1st quarter. 87.7% of our athletes met our individual goal of exceeding 3.0 for their cumulative GPA. Those athletes needing help in the classroom should ask a teammate, talk to their teachers, and get a tutor. There are many options available at Memorial if you take advantage of them. Keep up the great tradition of Memorial Distance Runners in the classroom.

Off Season Running 

www.madisonmileageclub.blogspot.com

See You Next Season

2012 WIAA State Championships

The WIAA held its 2012 State Championships this Saturday at the Ridges Golf Course in Wisconsin Rapids, WI. This was the 25th year the event was held at the Ridges and the 100th running of State Cross Country. Many dignitaries were on hand to help celebrate the 100th anniversary including Madison Memorial's very own 3-time State Champion Phil Downs. Additionally, Madison Memorial athletes who attended the meet were able to spend some time talking with Phil and state meet course record holder Chris Solinsky. The weather was perfect for cross country on Saturday and the course was in great shape. The competition helped lead to amazing races, performances, and times throughout all the divisions.

Although JMM did not have any competitors at the state meet this year we were able to learn a lot about where our team ranks in the state. As we have talked about all year long, we do not shy away from competition and being in the city of Madison and the Big 8 Conference we can not avoid competition. When we learn to be competitive at the city, conference, and sectional level by default we will be competitive at state. Our last team trip to state (2009) the boys team was able to finish 2nd at city, 2nd at conference, and 1st at sectionals...this team took 6th (out of 20 teams) at that 2009 State Championships. At the 2012 championships the Madison City was represented by Madison West (state champions) and Madison LaFollette (state runner ups). Additionally, our conference was represented by Janesville Craig (7th place) and two of six podium positions by Ryan Nameth (Verona) in 3rd and Chandler Diffee (LaFollette) defending state champion and 5th this year. Overall our first team all-conference (top 7 guys) finished in the top 26 at state...all being recognized as all state runners. Teams that beat JMM at the start of the season (when we were semi-healthy) LaFollette (2nd), West (1st), Craig (7th), Baraboo (15th), and Wisconsin Lutheran (3rd in D2). Teams that we got beat by in the middle/end of the season (when we were missing some more key components) Stevens Point (3rd), Eau Claire Memorial (10th), Kimberly (12th), Wausau East (16th), a plethora of teams at Midwest. What does all this mean? If we can go to our invitationals all season long and be competitive, we will be ready at the end of the season to compete at state. Also, it means it is easy for us next year to compare to kids who were at state this year in our 2013 invites and see where we are ranking and how we need to improve.

RESULTS - (look at mile splits and places...very telling/interesting)
Boys Division One
All State Meet Results

More pictures added to Picasa Web Album (almost have them all up now)

UPCOMING EVENTS
November 1st - End of Season Banquet @ Rocky's - 5:30pm (RSVP to jmmcc@rocketmail.com)
November 6th - Begin Winter Speed & Strength Training - 3:45pm (lower weightroom)
November 7th - End of 1st quarter (get in all assignments, be ready for tests, end the quarter strong)
December 1st - Boys Cross Country WORKS Basketball Concessions - 5:00pm - 9:00pm

Sectional - Varsity = 6th

The 2012 season came to a close today for the JMM program with a great performance at Yahara CC Course as the team finished in 6th place. The team ran hard and performed well to bring a close to this up and down season on a positive note. Madison West (a trophy contender team at state) and Baraboo (a top ten contending team at state) earned the berths to compete at the Ridges next week in Wisconsin Rapids. Both of these programs are very strong and will be forces to be reckoned with in the coming years. Our team today competed great coming back to beat Middleton (who beat us at conference) and run well in the pack to stay ahead of many teams that were equal to our program. Coming into the meet we thought we would finish between 4th and 8th and I was very pleased with our 6th place finish. Our team today was led by James A with a great individual performance finishing 20th place. John H probably had the race of the day running a PR of 17:25, it is hard to believe just at city his goal was to break 18:00. Nick H capped a great senior season as our # 3 runner within 2 seconds of his PR and Bryce H held on to be our #4 runner. Tyler M ran a strong last straight away and finished in 45th as our #5 runner bringing a close to a great season of improvement (Tyler's PR last year was 18:36 on this course...he ran 17:45 today). Connor GT got some amazing experience in his first Sectional competition and will use it to help power this squad next season. Ryan W ended his senior season competing strongly wearing the JMM pride at his first sectional performance. Our team gap (#1 - #5) was great at :27 seconds and we had all five scorers under 17:45. This performance was very similar to our conference performance on a course that was softer and muddier and in my opinion slightly slower. The 6th place finish does not meet our team goals for the season but in the big picture accomplishes many things that this group of runners has worked hard to be a part of at Memorial

The big question from our underclassmen today was...How do we get JMM back to state? Let's look at the numbers...West's #1 - #5 gap was :32 but they put 5 runners under 16:49, Baraboo's #1 - #5 gap was :32 but they put 5 runners under 17:12. Our team gap was great today, as a team we just need to be faster. What does it take to run under 17:15? 17:15 is averaging 5:30 per mile (track guys...that's like running 11:00 for 3200 or faster) but also means being able to get out around 5:15 - 5:20 and hold on to run 17:15 (very few people to NONE run negative splits or even splits in cross country...it is really hard to do!!!) So if we have five guys who can do this, will we make it back to state? NO West had 4 guys and Baraboo had 2 guys run under 16:45 (which was 10th place today). We would need 2 - 3 guys who can run under 16:45 to be competitive with these squads. What does it take to run under 16:45? 16:45 is averaging 5:21 per mile (track guys...that's like running 10:40 for 3200 or faster) but also means being able to get out around 5:15 and hold on to run 16:45. How do we accomplish these goals? Getting stronger, faster, and fitter....these things happen in the next 9 months when you are away from the cross country team. They happen with hard work, dedication, and purpose. As individuals we need to sit down and make a plan of how to make this happen. We will be given blue prints of what to do at the team banquet and throughout the school year. But how do we accomplish this?? That is the question....How bad do we want to go to state? West returns 4 guys from this team and have a very deep JV program, Baraboo returns 4 guys from this team including two 9th graders, East returns 5 10th graders from their team....these teams were better than us today, we can't just count on our 4 returners to get this team to state, we need to have improvement from all returning athletes and people to step it up to the next level.

SECTIONAL RESULTS
Madison West Sectional
All WIAA Sectionals

REMINDERS
- RSVP to jmmcc@rocketmail.com for November 1st Team Banquet (@ Rocky's = $10 per person)
- Turn in uniforms to Coach Casey
- Turn in $5 to captains (for coaches' gifts and Thanksgiving Baskets)
- Attend Team Banquet to get information on Season Results, Team Certificates/Awards, and Off-Season Running/Lifting/Training options

Want to go watch state??
Talk to your captains as there will be some athletes heading to Wisconsin Rapids next weekend to watch the meet...Information on parking and shuttles

Big 8 Conference Championships - Varsity = 7th, JV1 = 2nd, JV2 = 5th

After having the Conference meet delayed from Saturday to Monday (for inclement weather that never arrived) the Madison Memorial Spartans took back to the Yahara CC Course to finish the season for JV runners and compare ourselves in one of the toughest (if not the toughest) conferences in the state. The course was much softer today then at City but the competition was just as stiff. We took our bumps and bruises today with a squad that has weathered many adversities this season. I was proud of how we competed and took away many positives from today. I hope our young runners caught the running bug and will put in the effort this off-season to return JMM Cross Country to the top of the Big 8 in all races for next season. I hope our seniors are proud of the accomplishments they made this season and continue to support our program in the future. As I wash another season of uniforms I hope every athlete who wore the "JMM" across their chest this season wore it with pride and will carry this tradition of hard work, perseverance, and dedication into every facet of their life.

Our JV 2 started the meet off for the program today and were led into battle by three freshman, two seniors, a junior, and a sophomore. I've commented all season on the efforts of our freshman group and I really hope to see some of these kids on our varsity very soon. For example, Ben B ran 19:34 on this same course for JV2 last season and earned his way onto varsity one year later through much hard work and training. Today Benton DD led all JV2 runners with his time of 18:58 for 12th place and Trevor R was 19:33 for 24th place. These freshman were joined by a great performance by senior Justin X who missed earning a ribbon by one spot with his 16th place 19:17.  Nick S and Will B rounded out our scoring five with their 27th and 30th finishes and Matt J and Sam K gave us all 7 runners under 20 minutes for the race. With the soft conditions of the course there were not many PRs today but we did have lifetime PRs from Michael M (:16), Jack K (:16), Ben T (:04), Austin W (:21) and Michael Y (:22). I hope this group of guys can find some time in the off-season to do some running on their own or with teammates so they can see continued growth in their improvement as runners. The more miles we log on our legs the easier running becomes.

The performance of the day was turned in by our JV1 team. After finishing 3rd at the city meet this group had a chip on their shoulder that they took out on the rest of the Big 8 Conference. All five of our scorers in this race will return next season to compete for varsity spots and to improve not only our varsity but our JV1 team. We had control of this race early on and gave West a scare before slipping a little in the second half of the race. I was pleased with how well everyone competed in this race and delighted at our 2nd place finish. Mason R led the charge with a 17:50, followed closely by Jacob R and Hans H in 17:59 all three earned conference ribbons with their 6, 7, and 8th place finishes. Sam B ran a tough race to place 17th and Ben B hung on valiantly to finish 24th. Branavan Y and Chris D ran great last miles to help bump some important place scorers for other teams. The will and determination on these seniors' faces the last home stretch was priceless. I will issue the challenge for our 2013 JV squad today...can next year be the year that we break West JV's streak??? West returns 7 runners from today's race who ran under 18:45 and JMM returns 8 (not counting any of our injured runners). Do we have enough runners willing to work hard to tighten up the gaps and improve our JV 1. To win today's JV1 race West had 5 runners under 18:15...on the day they had 10 runners under 18:00. For second place our JV1 had 5 runners under 18:45 but we also had 10 runners under 18:00. Our goal for next season is to put 14 runners (on the same day) under 18:00 minutes and bring home a JV1 conference championship.

Our varsity team put a great effort together today for 7th place. Missing a runner who could pull a single digit for our team hurt our cause today. To perform well in this conference you need to have someone who can accomplish a top ten finish which today was 16:35. This should be a goal for every runner who returns for varsity next season, as we will need someone to step up and fill this role. This season our 3rd, 4th, and 5th runners were faster than our 4th place conference team on this same course last season. The chart below shows the difference a years make too as similar times yielded lower places (better competition this season). James A and Bryce H led the varsity with their 22nd and 23rd place finishes. Seniors Ryan W and Nick H stepped up well to run 34th and 38th and John H rounded out our scorers with 42 and giving us 5 runners under 17:46. Connor GT in 51st and Tyler M in 53 completed our varsity group today.

What do we need to do as we move forward as a varsity? Become a team who can come into the season ready to run PRs so we can spend our season improving our speed and becoming better racers. Teams that perform well in our conference (top 3 or 4) generally have at least 3 runners who can go under 17:00 all season long. This takes consistent training that begins during the summer and carries into the season. We return a lot of experience for next season but what will we do in the next 9 months to turn that experience into a Big 8 powerhouse team?

This season 82 high school boys came together for 9 weeks and were asked to run 3 - 9 mile distance runs, 6 - 10 mile workout days, do 100 pushups and 10minutes of abs, get 3.0 or better in their GPA, attend class on time everyday, remember to keep track of their uniforms (or any of their clothing), and improve themselves as a person. Very few young men will even try this and even fewer can accomplish this. I challenge every member of this team to sit down this week and contemplate which of these things they do well and which ones they still need to improve upon. One of my many philosophies in life is to take a weakness and work on improving it until it becomes a strong point. What will each of you work on improving next? Over the coming days and weeks I will have different updates about season recaps and statistics...I encourage all athletes and families to check back for the latest news.

BIG 8 RESULTS
Varsity - Team - Overall
JV1 - Team - Overall
JV2 - Team - Overall
Rock/Paper/Scissors - Justin H took down brother Noah H in a best of 5 championship match

TUESDAY PRACTICE FOR ALL ATHLETES - Athletes who are done competing will just meet with Coach Casey and receive end of the year handouts and information. Athletes will not be able to take the buses home, so everyone should plan for transportation around 4:15 - 4:30. Athletes who have not yet turned in their uniforms should do so on Monday. Also, athletes who have not yet given their captains $5 yet should do so ASAP (Thanksgiving baskets and Coach gifts)

Pictures from Stoughton, City, and Conference to be uploaded soon (sorry for the delay)

NEXT COMPETITION
Sectionals @ Yahara Course (the Dump)
Saturday October 20th
Boys Race 11:00 (2011 Results)
Girls Race 11:45
Top two teams and top five individuals advance to state
EVERYONE SHOULD COME OUT AND CHEER ON THE TEAMS

City Championships - Varisty = 4th JV = 3rd

Tonight was a great meet for Madison Memorial. I was very pleased with how well our team ran tonight and the times we posted. Our team has persevered through many trials and tribulations this season but we continue to pull out meets like tonights. The team places we had tonight are not indicative of how well we ran but instead of how tough our city is to run in. We had 36 athletes run lifetime PRs tonight and 9 athletes break 18 minutes. With our patchwork team this is a very impressive feat. I would have never guessed this would only be good enough for 4th place in varsity and 3rd place in JV. It goes to show the importance of having a healthy and complete team and it goes to show when we are a team that can be tops in the city we can also be tops in the conference and state. I hope we learned from tonights experience and can carry this momentum into Conference and Sectional (both at Yahara...it will be hard to duplicate these times...but we might as well try :)

Our JV started off the day with an impressive performance putting all scorers under 18:11. Ryan W led the way with an impressive PR of 17:32 and there are plenty of years where this is fast enough to win JV city (this year it was good for 7th). John H wanted to break 18 minutes today and accomplished that by 22 seconds and earned himself a top 10 finish. Our 3, 4, 5 guys finished up together as Hans H, Sam B, and Mason R finished within a second of each other. The other times we competed here at Yahara our 5th JV guys were at 18:51 and 19:02...nice improvement since then. Seniors Chris D and Branavan Y completed our JV 1 heading into conference. Some big PRs at the city championships were Noah H (:37), Joe C (:56), John H (:33), Sam R (:39), Evan S (:44), Max C (1:30), Caleb H (1:24), Brendon P (:37), Ben S (:41), Connor S (1:25), and Trevor W (:37). I look forward to these kids finishing on a high note next Saturday at Conference. Be ready to bring your best to the dump next week.

I really can't explain the varsity race. It was amazing and crazy all in the same time. LaFollette put all five of their scorers in the top 10 and lost the meet. West put four runners in front of the number two team in the state's #2 runner. Our team had a 1 - 5 split of only :36 seconds (which is great) and had 4 runners under 17:30 and our 5th at 17:34 (which is great too). When you have five runners under 17:34 on this course you are running well but today that was only good for 4th place in the city. I challenge this group to come out again next week and repeat this performance and they will see nice rewards for such a performance. James A led our group today with a nice PR and dipping below 17 minutes for the first time in his career. He was followe closely by Bryce H and Tyler M. Nick H and Connor GT rounded out our top 5 both having PRs. Jacob R and Ben B did not dissappoint in their first varsity experiences both running PRs in the meet. Here's to hoping there are more varsity races in their future and even better PRs. We learned a lot about ourselves as a team today and will use this to help us take on the Big 8 next week Saturday.

CITY RESULTS
Varsity (partial)

UPCOMING EVENT
Saturday October 6th - Team Practice @ Zimmer Cross Country Course
8:00am ~ 9:45am - park in first lot (NOT BY THE CLUBHOUSE)

NEXT COMPETITION
Saturday October 13th
Big 8 Conference Championships @ Yahara CC Course (the Dump)
BUS TIME - 7:30am
Boys JV2 - 9:10 am (2011 results)
Boys JV1 - 10:30 am (2011 results)
Varsity - 11:30 pm (2011 results)
Awards - 12:40 pm (Varsity - top 15 = medals, JV1 & JV2 - top 15 = ribbons)

ALL JV RUNNERS WILL TURN IN UNIFORMS SATURDAY AT THE MEET (bring a change of clothes) If uniforms are not turned in, a hold will be placed on athlete's academic records. Also, any lost unifroms must be paid for: top = $35 and bottom = $35

All athletes will be expected to be at meet until last race is completed and cool down jogs are run (even if leaving with parents)!!! Be there to support your teammates until the end!!!

Captains Money - Captains are collecting $5 from each athlete to help pay for Spartan Leaders' Thanksgiving Baskets (a service project our athletic department has participated in for nearly a decade) and for coaches gifts. Please help remind athletes this money should be turned in ASAP to help out the captains.

Monday October 15th - MANDATORY MEETING for ALL ATHLETES 3:45 till about 4:15
Athletes will recieve information about end of the season meets
Athletes will recieve information about end of the year banquet
Athletes who are not competing/practicing for Sectionals will be asked to clean out lockers
All athletes need to attend

Stoughton Invite - Varsity = 7th, JV = 3rd

On a warm late summer/early fall morning our JMM Spartans went out and raced against some of the states top competition. We saw an epic battle between SPASH (state #1) and Madison LaFollette (state #2) and saw how the depth of their teams carried into the JV race. Our team is very capable of matching the depth of these programs. The next step for our squad is taking on the intense physical and mental committment to have runners who can consistently be under 17:00 for 5k. It is not an overnight task or something that "just happens" the boys at SPASH and LaFollette have put in many miles and hours of work to get their varsity programs at this level. As we bring our 2012 campaign to a close I look forward to seeing our teams compete at their bests at Conference (Sat 10/13) and/or Sectionals (Sat 10/20). I hope our Seniors are able to finish their cross country careers with races they are proud of and leave our underclassmen with many memories. I hope our underclassmen can set themselves up to take this team forward.

The JV team started off the meet on Saturday with an impressive 3rd place finish. We have our work cut out for us to compete with LaFollette the next two weeks but I think we can get the better of them yet this year. Hans H and Jacob R led our team with their 10th and 11th place finishes. Ben B and John H moved through the crowd well finishing in the top 20 team scorers. Benton DD stepped up today as our #5 runner on JV and helped solidify our 3rd place team finish. The warm weather made it a little difficult to PR today but we still had 6 PRs from Caleb H, Nathan L, Alex VB, Zach H, Jack K, and Connor S. I continue to be impressed by our freshman group of athletes. I really like how hard this group works at practice and how they compete in meets. This is not something we can take for granted and I know if we stick with this competitive attitude this group will see big things in the coming three years at Memorial. Our depth in JV is very solid and the next step for these kids is taking it to the next level in training and focus to be the next JMM varsity athletes.

Our varsity squad ran today again with out Jonah and needless to say we miss having him in the race. As a team we must move forward and hope that we put ourselves in the right place so when he comes back the pieces all just fall into place. Today we had a nice group working together and the desire is to move this group about 15 - 20 seconds forward to meet our end of the season hopes (again 15 seconds over a 5k race is just 5 seconds faster per mile). We will see Middleton and Verona in two weeks and our top guys were less than 10 seconds away from their competitors they need to beat. Our goals are still within sight for this group as we move into the closing weeks. Bryce H and Tyler M again led this group at the end today both achieving top 30 finishes. James A and Connor GT finished together in 44th and 45th and Nick H rounded out our scoring five with his 52 place finish. Mason R gained some more valuable experience in varsity competition and Ryan W filled out our varsity squad nicely. This group will see marked improvements in the coming weeks as we prepare for our championship series run. Additionally, today we beat conference foes Madison East and Janesville Parker. Even as we work out the kinks we are beating many schools varsity squads and competing with some of our toughest conference and sectional foes.

STOUGHTON RESULTS
JV
Varsity

UPCOMING EVENTS
September 30th (Sunday) - Haunted Hustle Packet Stuffing (We still could use about 5 more volunteers)
2:00pm - 3:15pm in Greenway Station (empty store next to Justice Girls Clothing)
NEXT COMPETITION
City Championships - Friday October 5th
Yahara Cross Country Course (the Dump) - Madison, WI
Boys JV - 4:00pm
Boys Varsity - 5:00pm (2011 results)
ALL - CITY BANQUET @ Pizza Oven on Monona Dr (immediately following meet)
$6/per person (payable at restaurant) for all you can eat/drink pizza, bread sticks, and drinks
Due to All - City Banquet THERE IS NO RETURN BUS FROM CITY CHAMPIONSHIPS
Athletes must stay until after the varsity race and team cool down before departing (no exceptions)

Big 8 Split Meet - Varsity = 3rd JV = 1st

The Big 8 Split Meet lands at a challenging time of the year. We use this meet as a workout and a stepping stone for our end of the season meets. I was very happy with how our team competed today. We have a few athletes who are nursing injuries and we need to take care of this as we move forward. Otherwise today was a very successful meet. We knew times would not be as fast as at Midwest (for a number of reasons...less competition, afternoon meet, it was a lot warmer, we just ran really fast on Saturday, etc..) but many of us ran our second fastest times of the season. We have set ourselves up for having a great race at Stoughton for more PRs. Today we finished in third place to Janesville Craig 25 points and Madison East 54 points. We had a nice pack that ran together and used the meet as a workout finishing with 60 points, outdistancing Sun Prairie and Beloit. We are waiting on complete results yet from the meet but by the naked eye our JV did a very nice job today representing our depth. The results are in...JV missed by one point (again) for that illusive perfect score (1st - 5th places). Our JV scored 16 points outdistancing Craig in second who had 67 points. This group continues to work hard and impress. We look for big things out of these guys come city and conference (and for the underclassmen...in the coming years). Lets take care of business this week so we are ready to compete at Stoughton on Saturday.

SPLIT MEET RESULTS
JMM Times and Varsity Results
Complete results will be posted in team room

UPCOMING EVENTS
September 30th (Sunday) - Haunted Hustle Packet Stuffing (VOLUNTEERS NEEDED)
2:00pm - 3:15pm in Greenway Station (empty store next to Justice Girls Clothing) -- free food and drink provided

THANKS to EVERYONE for Light of Life Walk Donations...the Boys Cross Country team donated $430 towards cancer research!!!

NEXT COMPETITION
Stoughton Invite - September 29th (Saturday)
Stoughton High School - Stoughton, WI
9:30am - Boys JV
10:40am - Boys Varsity
11:45am - Open Race (parents and families members can participate - FREE)
12:15pm - Awards - top 25 varsity and 2 teams, top 15 jv and 1 team
2011 Varsity and JV results
--We will not stop to eat...bring $ money for concessions, snacks, or eat when we get back

Midwest Invite-Varsity=18th, JV=5th, Frosh/Soph=12th, Middle School=11th

Today we saw the potential for our team. Many young athletes stepped up their game running great times. Many veterans helped pick up their teammates late in the race and got them through to strong finishes. Today's meet is by far the most competitive meet we compete at all season long and many of us came ready to show their best against the top teams from the state (and even Iowa, Illinois, and Texas). We had 51 PRs today as we sharpen our race tactics over the final weeks of the season. I encourage every JMM boy to dedicate themselves 110% towards cross country over the next 3 - 5 weeks to continue this momentum into our championship races. We still have room for some small improvements and can end this season on a high note meeting many of our team and individual goals.

Our frosh/soph team started the day off on a positive note with each athlete performing at the top of their game today. Ben B worked really hard to get a top 20 finish, just missing out with a 24th place performance. His focus and effort on competing in the race led him to a 48 second PR and a time of 17:52. Calder B and Benton DD worked great together throughout the race trading duties passing the competition and leading each other to PRs (Calder - :42 and Benton - 1:31). Sam K (:54) led the next group through the crowd and Liam M (:21) finished strong to finish 4th/5th on our team right ahead of Trevor R (1:09) and Geordi HH (:51). I look forward to seeing the improvements these guys will make in the coming weeks, months, and years. If this group can work hard in the off season and put in the miles at practice they can lead this team to big things in the near future.

41 teams toed the line for the varsity race on Saturday and we were better than 23 of those teams. We were not at our best but we still finished in the top 20 with a strong 18th place. To be competitive at a meet of this style we need to have more of our runners in sub 17:00 shape. That did not happen this year but can in the future with improvement. Our varsity today was led by Tyler M, Bryce H, and James A. Bryce got out great today and Tyler and James closed strong. They showed that there is multiple ways to have a good race. Seniors Nick H and Ryan W held strong the last mile to fill out our top 5 today. Sam B and Connor GT competed hard today for our varsity. We have some work to do to catch some teams from our Conference and Sectional but we know we can perform better than we did today. We move forward with a new race on Tuesday.

Our JV team took the most hits today with athletes being moved up to varsity and moved over to the frosh/soph race. Instead of complaining this group stepped up and filled in the voids to finish a very respectable 5th place against some of the top JV teams we see all season. Our group was led by the top five finish of Hans H with a nice 30 second PR. Mason R and Jacob R joined him in the sub 18:00 group for the season finishing 16th and 22nd. John H continued to step it up with a 36 second improvement and Branavan Y had a 1:04 improvement to round out our scoring 5. Big PRs were abound by our JV group and hope we keep this fire lit as we go into next week. Some other large PRs by KeYaunne B (:59), Pablo A (2:35), Sam S (1:04), Isaac T (1:31), Michael G (:52), Jake H (1:09), Justin H (4:09), Brian L (1:36), Tom N (1:13), Leon P (2:59), Alex V (1:32), Ale C (1:25), Grant D (:48), Matt J (1:27), Jack K (1:39), Elliot P (1:35), Noah S (2:35), Braxton S (2:50), Phil S (4:26), Cullen S (:50), Ben T (1:17), Trevor W (1:14), Michael Y (3:43), and Sam Z (:53). A great day for us in Janeville and set ourselves up to meet some of our time goals and all-time list accomplishments going into the final weeks.

Today was a 1st!!! We had a middle school team (comprised of Memorial brothers and sisters). It was fun to see these young athletes (4th - 8th graders) have a chance to compete today. I hope many of them caught the running bug and will join us in the future at JMM.

Busy week ahead! Get some SLEEP. Take care of your body!
   
MIDWEST INVITE RESULTS
Frosh/Soph
Varsity
JV
Middle School

UPCOMING EVENTS
September 26th (Wednesday) - Light of Life Walk -
6:00pm ~ 6:30pm - $5 donation to cancer research (REQUIRED)
September 30th (Sunday) - Haunted Hustle Packet Stuffing -
TBA - Greenway Station (volunteer opportunity)

NEXT COMPETITIONS
Big 8 Split Meet - September 25th (Tuesday)
Sheehan Park - Sun Prairie, WI
4:45pm - Boys Race (all together in one race -- Varsity & JV)
5:30pm - Girls Race

Stoughton Invite - September 29th (Saturday)
Stoughton High School - Stoughton, WI
9:30am - Boys JV
10:40am - Boys Varsity
11:45am - Open Race
12:15pm - Awards Ceremony - top 25 varisty and two teams, to 15 jv and one team
*** Please note race times...different then parent handbook information

Smiley Invitational - Varsity = 7th JV = 2nd

Up before the sun, countless hours on a bus, push your body to its limits before lunch time, enjoy the afternoon....it is great to be a cross country runner. This meet is one of my favorite meets every year because it allows our team some great bonding time and an opportunity to really be cross country runners. We endured the three hour bus trip to Wausau (for some it was easier than others...leather seats, really?) and emergency bus stops on the way home (what happens when the bus driver needs to go to the bathroom?). From it we have many stories to tell and some are better than others. Some day we will learn that WE NEED TO GET OUT on this course and it will make it easier for all of our team but all things considered today was a good day to be a JMM CC runner.

The boys races were the last two of the day and the varsity led things off. Bryce did a nice job of putting himself in a good position early in the race and reaped the benefits of this strategy with a medal and an 18th overall place. His teammates sat back in the pack and used a lot of energy to pass the runners who were slower than them. We worked our way through the pack with Tyler M and Nick H having a nice last mile to help the group move up a couple places and ended up being our 2nd and 3rd runners. Nick H and Mason R took advantage of their first varsity races of the season to have season bests and we look for them to continue to build on this experience. Sam B and Connor G-T were our 4th and 5th runners today and gained some beneficial learning experiences from being in this competitive field. Ryan W had a nice race today keeping our pack close together. Our pack today was between 17:55 and 18:24 which is a great group, we would like to see this group about 20 - 25 seconds faster (or 6-8 seconds per mile). We had hoped to place a little higher as a team today but considering we finished without a few of our key pieces we will take away the positives and build for Midwest Invite (another big meet...where we need to get out well)

In the JV race James A and Hans H did a great job of getting out well and reaped the benfits of being in the race right away and getting to make a great move heading into the last mile. James used the move to propel himself into first place and we look forward to having him back on varsity next week. Hans hung on tough for a hard fought 5th place as he continues to build his racing experience. The rest of our team did not get out so well and had to hear me yell a lot "We need to move up!!!" There is a chance that Jacob R, Ben B, and John H passed well over 100 runners to finally get to where we finished but we did finish really well as a team the last mile and these guys led the charge. Jacob finished 9th, Ben 16th, and John 22nd to round out the top five for our JV. We had hoped to push SPASH today in the JV race but left ourselves too much work to do in the second half of the race. We finished in 2nd place 16 points back and had a great last mile to out distance Eau Claire Memorial by 16 points ourselves. We will have a rematch with SPASH at the Stoughton Invite and will have to see what we can do in two weeks. Our JV kids had 21 PRs today on a difficult course and we look forwarded to seeing what everyone can do next week on the Midwest course. Some big PRs go to Sam S (:48), Tom N (1:25), Brendon P (:49), Colin P (1:27), Ale C (:31), Grant D (:34), Zach H (1:36), Jack K (1:17), Elliot P (1:06), Connor S (:39), Cullen S (:38), and Trevor W (1:10). Great Job guys...keep up the good work and aggressive racing. Benton DD was our first (of hopefully many) freshman to break 20 minutes and he is hoping that Trevor R, Cullen S, Zach H, and Matt J are some of many who accomplish that yet this year. Ben B and Calder B were our top sophomores and will lead our Frosh/Soph team into battle next week at the Midwest Invite. The JV group is really rounding into shape and encourage this group to take advantage of the coming days to workout and race at their highest level. Everybody can help make this team better. Lets stay eligible, stay healthy, and get some rest as we have some fast and fun courses/competition coming up in the next two weeks.

SMILEY RESULTS
Varsity Overall
Varsity Large Schools
JV Overall

Pictures added to Picasa Album

UPCOMING EVENTS
September 17th (Monday) - TEAM PICTURES -
3:45pm - Need uniform top and bottom
September 26th (Wednesday) - Light of Life Walk - 6:00pm ($5 donation and walk - REQUIRED)

NEXT COMPETITION
Midwest Invitational - Saturday September 22nd
@ Blackhawk Golf Course - Janesville, WI
9:15am - First Race
9:50am - Frosh/Soph Boys (2011 Results)
11:00am - Varsity Boys (2011 Results)
12:10pm - JV Boys (2011 Results)
12:40pm - Middle School Mile (***4th - 8th graders -- parents with brothers/sisters interested in participating need to e-mail coach at jmmcc@rocketmail.com before Wed Sept 19th)
1:00pm - Awards - Frosh/Soph and JV 1st - 20th, Varsity 1st - 30th
Bring money...we will stop to eat on the way home

Big 8 Grade Level Challenge - 4th Place

Going into the meet we weren't sure how we would fair in a grade level style meet and competing on the same course we ran on last week. It is hard to PR on a course you just ran on less than a week earlier, especially when not much has changed in our training to improve us (Saturday's workout won't help us for another week or two). So we didn't expect many PRs and instead were looking for how we competed against other teams in our conference. This meet is hard to do well at when your varsity team is comprised of only juniors and seniors. In spite of this we were able to perform well today and finish a very respectable fourth place and only 5 points out of third place. We score seven runners at this meet and scored 5 runners out of the junior race and 2 runners out of the senior race (although our #7 runner could have been a junior and/or a freshman too...all three finishers were 18th). I was very impressed with how we competed today and that is what we need to take away from today's race. The three teams who beat us are ranked in the state and we know that we need to improve to compete with them and meet our team goal of qualifying for state. West is ranked 3rd in the state, LaFollette is 4th, and Craig is 12th...so we are seeing great competition and we need to continue to rise to this level of competition.

The day started with the Frosh/Soph race and although none of these guys run on our varsity yet, they are closing the gap and will be leading the team in the future. It continues to be fun to see the improvements this group makes as we build our varsity future. We had 15 athletes make improvements in their PRs just from Thursday. Our sophomores were led by Ben B and Calder B again. We had big PRs from Jake H (1:27), Zach H (:58), and Liam M (1:59) which just goes to show that we still have plenty of improvement for this group. Our freshman were led by Trevor R and Matt J with a large group chasing them down in the last mile. I encourage these kids to continue to work hard at practice to make gains physically and as the season moves along they will see even bigger time drops.

During the Junior/Senior race we ran well even though not everyone was happy with their times. This group needs to continue to show the way at workouts, meets, and in the classroom. We can have ourself a great season this year and lay the foundation for the younger runners to follow in your footsteps. Jonah had a very nice race today finishing 4th overall (and among seniors) in a time of 16:21. This led to a larger gap between our 1 and 2 runners (1:03) and our 1 and 5 runners (1:43) which we know we need to improve upon. We know we are capable of having that gap be closer and I am confident we will get it back to where it needs to be by the end of the year. Meets at this time of year are meant for us to learn and improve...at the end of the year we need to be ready to perform. Our junior group of Bryce H, Hans H, James A, Sam B, and Connor G-T led the way for our scoring group (Mason R was also the same as our #7 scorer). Our seniors scorers were Jonah W and Ryan W. Today lets us see where we stand against the conference teams and now we have a month to improve our standing and finish even stronger at the conference meet.

GRADE LEVEL CHALLENGE RESULTS
Frosh/Soph Race
Junior/Senior Race
Team Results
Frosh Only
Soph Only
Junior Only
Senior Only  

UPCOMING EVENTS
September 12th - Athletic Code Meeting - 7:00pm Main Gym - All athletes and a parent
September 17th - Team Pictures - 3:45pm (need uniform top and bottom)  

NEXT COMPETITION
Smiley Invitational - Saturday September 15th
@ American Legion Golf Course - Wausau, WI
ARRIVE FOR BUS AT 5:30AM - WE WILL NOT WAIT FOR ANYONE
8:30am - First Race (small schools)
9:55am - JV Girls Race
10:25am - Varsity Girls D1 Race
10:55am - Varsity Boys D1 Race (2011 Results - Overall D1 and Large School)
11:20am - JV Boys D1 Race (2011 Results)
11:45am - Awards (top 2 varsity teams and 20 individuals, top 1 jv team and 20 individuals)
Bring money to eat at Culvers...we will arrive back at Memorial around 4:00pm

West Invite - Varsity = 3rd JV = 2nd

Tonight our team continued to take a step forward towards our season goals. We closed the gap on some teams from last week but we still have lots of room for improvement. This was our first of four (five for varsity) races at Yahara Cross Country Course and I feel we got off to a good start. Those who were not happy with their race tonight can make changes and adjustments. We need to be students of our races and learn from each one to improve throughout the rest of the season. Our team will be back at the dump on Tuesday for the Big 8 Grade Level Challenge and today gives me a positive outlook towards Tuesday. Lets make sure we put in some positive work in the coming days and be ready to compete against the Big 8 on Tuesday.

The JV started the meet off for us on a positive note today. We had many guys who got in the lead group right away and put themselves in a great position to run well. The West athletes made a strong move in the second mile that we need to be able to respond to but we still had our top guys hold on to perform well. Hans led our JV group with a solid 2nd place finish and a 34 second PR from last week. On Saturday we had no runners in West's top 5 and our 5th guy was 59 seconds behind West's. Today we had one runner in West's top 5 (right behind their #1 runner) and our 5th runner was only 27 seconds behind West's. Our top 5 today was Hans H, Nick H, Jacob R, Ben B, and Connor K and were seperated by 49 seconds. We want to get this gap to less than 30 seconds (West's #1 - #5 gap today was 26 seconds) to be competitive against all teams we see this season. We saw another 25 PRs tonight and had large improvements by Michael M (1:04), Isaac T (1:02), Colin P (3:07), and Sam Z (1:04). Benton DD was our top frosh again tonight but was joined by Trevor R in the sub 21 minute club. Matt J and Austin W are getting close and we are seeing some great performances from this group. Our freshman group is working really hard at practice everyday and I can't wait to see how much MORE time they will continue to drop the rest of the season. Ben B led the sophomore group tonight with his first sub 19 minute race close behind him were Calder B and Sam K who are under the 20 minute mark and are ready to join Ben in the sub 19 group. We have a lot of new faces in this group and I look forward to seeing these athletes grow as cross country runners.

Our varsity team knew we were in for a battle tonight with West and Wisconsin Lutheran (D2 state champs) and the race didn't dissappoint. We closed the gap on West from the Verona Invite and finished a strong 3rd place to these teams. Our number two runner was 50 seconds behind West's number four runner on Saturday and today it was down to 17 seconds. Jonah was able to break up their top 3 today which was an improvement and we need to work our pack to run with West's number 4 runner. Jonah led the way with a 5th place finish and Bryce just missed out on a top ten finish and had a nice PR for 13th. The gap from 1 to 2 today was 41 seconds and fits into our goal for the season but we need to close up the gap to Bryce with our other guys as our 1-5 gap was 1:15 and we need this to be under 1:00. Our hope is to have 5 runners (or more) under 17:30 on this course by the end of the season and I think we are in position to accomplish this. Sam B and James A finished 21st and 22nd to earn medals and Connor G-T rouned out our top 5 with a PR of his own. Tyler M was sub 18 and Ryan W just missed, we had hoped to have seven guys under 18:00 today and instead we had 8 guys under 18:02. Last year our #5 runner was 18:06 so this is a really nice improvement but we know how competitive our Conference and Sectional will be this season so we are going to continue to look for improvement. In 2009 (last team to go to state) we had 5 guys under 18:00 at the West Invite and put 7 guys under 17:30 at the City meet (our last meet at Yahara that season) so our goals are well with in reach if we stay healthy and continue to work hard at practice.

Pictures have been added to the Picasa Album

WEST RESULTS
JV
Varsity

UPCOMING EVENTS
September 8th - Team Practice - 8:00am @ Elver
September 9th - Ironman Volunteering - 12 - 4pm or 4 - 8pm @ Lot 60 on UW Campus
September 10th - Fall Sports Potluck - 6:00pm @ School Cafeteria
September 12th - Athletic Code Meeting - 7:00pm @ School Gym - ALL Athletes AND Parents

NEXT COMPETITION
Big 8 Grade Level Challenge - September 11th (Tues)
@ Yahara Cross Country Course (the Dump)
4:30pm - Frosh/Soph Boys (2011 Frosh / 2011 Soph)
5:00pm - Frosh/Soph Girls
5:30pm - Junior/Senior Boys (2011 Junior / 2011 Senior)
6:00pm - Junior/Senior Girls
6:45pm - Awards Ceremony (Team Trophy and top 5 individual in each grade level)
(2011 Overall and Team Results)

Verona Invite - Varsity = 5th JV = 4th

Saturday brought an end to a great week of training for our 2012 squad. The kids have been working really hard day in and day out and I am excited to see big improvement throughout the year. The Verona Invite exposes us to the top teams in our conference (LaFollette, West, Craig, Middleton) and the top teams from our Sectional (West, Baraboo, Middleton) and lets us know where we stand for the season and what work we still need to accomplish. We've discussed this year that we need to be hungry to improve all season long and that means hard work during the week. We had a mixed bag of results with our times at Verona and I'm okay with this because I know how hard we have worked this week. Stay with what we are doing at practice and the times will drop for everyone throughout the season. As always, it is important to stay healthy and get our rest so all of the hard work can pay off on race day.

In the varsity race our team looked a little sluggish and paid the price for a slow first mile. We did not run our best and LaFollette and West took advantage of this to show their strength. We now know what they have and can start setting our sights on closing the gaps to their runners. We were in a very close battle with Janesville Craig (2 pts) and Baraboo (1 pt). Jonah led us on the course with a top ten finish in 8th place. Our gap from our #1 runner to #2 runner was down to :52 seconds and we would like to see this under :45 seconds. Sam B and Bryce H finished together in 27th and 28th. Our gap for our #1 to #5 was 1:10 and we need to get this under one minute...it seems like small things but had our #5 runner been 11 seconds faster our team score would have improved by 8 points (we missed out on 3rd place by 2 points) and this will become a bigger deal as the season moves on. Tyler M had a nice race as our #4 and James A held on to be our #5 runner after losing one shoe early in the race. Our varsity squad was rounded out with Ryan W and Connor G-T. We had hoped to have all varsity runners under 18:00 and we did not miss by much at this meet and hope to accomplish this by next week. I look forward to watching this group continue to grow and hope to see us improve and compete with the best teams in the area. We have big things to accomplish.

Our jv team is big (to say the least) our goal this year is put more of those jv guys in the top half of the race as we hope to have a really strong jv team this season. To accomplish this it is important that this group is competing for those varsity spots, earning varsity points, and looking to compete at every meet we go to this season. Our scoring 5 today were Hans H, Jacob R, Ben B, Mason R, and Connor K. These guys helped lead an onslaught of PRs in the jv race as every freshman improved upon their time from intrasquad and we had 31 total PRs. This goes to show that we are learning from our past races and becoming better racers of the 5k distance. Our top frosh on the day was Benton DD as he approached the 20 minute mark with his time of 20:27. I think the freshman group can make a big impact on our all-time list if they continue to work as hard as they have in the first three weeks all season long. Our top sophomore time today was Ben B as he approached the 19 minute mark and we hoping to see a bunch of sophomores break 18 minutes throughout the season.

Pictures from meet added to Picasa Album --> click on album in right column

VERONA RESULTS
Boys Varisty (Team and Individual)
Boys JV (Team and Individual)

UPCOMING EVENTS
NO PRACTICE MONDAY - Run 45 - 60 minutes On Your Own
September 8th - Team practice - 8:00am
September 9th - Ironman Volunteering
September 10th - Fall Sports Potluck - 6:00pm
September 12th - Athletic Code Meeting - ALL ATHLETES AND PARENTS - 7:00pm

NEXT COMPETITION
West Invite - September 6th (Thurs)
@ Yahara Cross County Course (The Dump)
4:00pm Boys JV Race
4:30pm Girls JV Race
5:00pm Boys Varsity Race
5:30pm Girls Varsity Race
6:15pm Awards Ceremony (Top 2 teams varsity, top 25 individuals varsity, top 20 individual jv)
(2011 West Invite Results - JV and Varsity)

The CORE Wins...New Course Record and Record Number of Runners

When we started our Intrasquad race six years ago we didn't know how successful the event would be or how challenging the Elver course would be for a first race. In 2007 the race was wet and sloppy, we had 43 total runners (8 alumni) and the winning time was 18:22. Over the years the team has grown, athletes have become comfortable with the course, and Intrasquad has become a great event. Today we had 68 total runners race (9 alumni ran the 5k and 13 total alumni attended the event) and a new course record of 16:40 was set on the course. We had 7 total competitors run faster than the 18:22 time run back in 2007. Intrasquad has had its fair share of ups and downs and it is an event that continues to grow and I look forward to more people participating in this event each year.

The meet has been won twice by the Warhawks ('07 and '11), twice by the Thundercats ('08 and '09), and now twice by the CORE ('10 and '12). The CORE won in 2012 with 672 points, outdistancing the Thundercats with 697 points, and the Warhawks with 708 points. A new course record was set by '08 graduate Ben J in 16:40, Jonah W improved his #1 record time from 17:07 to 16:43, 2012 was the hardest year to make varsity taking an 18:36 to be in our top 7 (previous best 18:55), we had our second best performance of a #5 runner of 18:12 (in 2009 it took a 18:08). Overall the team competed very well, we had 28 athletes who improved their time from last season on this course (some by over 2 minutes). Additionally, we had 4 athletes set lifetime bests on this very difficult course. The race of the day goes to Tyler M. who set a lifetime best by 49 seconds and looks to improve upon that right away next week.

Things we need to do as a team...STAY HEALTHY. We are in a good place to start the season and will see improvement thoughout the year if we stay healthy and continue to train hard. We need to stretch, ice, drink water, eat healthy, and sleep. To improve as a varsity, our gap of 1:29 from our #1 to #5 needs to come down to less than 1:00. We need to close the gap amongst our top 14...competition for varsity spots will allow this gap on varsity to become smaller. On our JV I think we can run as a closer group and would like to see our top 5 be seperated by less than 30 seconds. I look forward to adding some more athletes into the mix at Verona and hope that with healthy competition in meets and hard work at practices we will see improvement individually and as a team.

UPCOMING EVENTS
September 9th - Ironman Volunteering (optional)
September 10th - Fall Sports Potluck - 6:00pm (optional)
September 12th - Athletic Code Meeting - 7:00pm - ALL ATHLETES AND PARENTS

NEXT COMPETITION
Verona Invite - Saturday September 1st
@ Verona High School ($5 for parking)
NO BUS --> Arrive at 7:30am
9:00am - Boys Varsity (2011 Results)
9:40am - Girls Varsity
10:20am - Boys JV (2011 Results)
11:00am - Girls JV
11:40am - Open 5k (parents are welcome to run -- it's free)
12:30pm - Awards Ceremony (top 2 teams and top 30 athletes in Varsity and JV)

Intrasquad is Saturday

What is intrasquad?
Intrasquad is a glorified practice that is organized to expose the athletes and their families to the sport of cross country and the racing distance of 5 kilometers (3.1 miles). It is a relaxed environment for the runners to begin their season and an easy way for our program to determine our seven varsity athletes for our first invitational.

Who participates at intrasquad?
All athletes who have joined the team during the first week of practice and participated in at least six practices, deemed healthy and strong enough to complete the course, turned all paperwork into the athletic office and coach, and attends practice on Friday before the meet. Also, the meet will be open to alumni, parents, and coaches to participate.

Why are there teams for intrasquad?
There are three teams (Thundercats, The CORE, and Warhawks) for intrasquad to help create a competitive atmosphere for the event and show the athletes the importance of every runner in the scoring of a cross country meet. (Some years we only have 2 teams)

What kind of time schedule will occur for intrasquad?
6:15 am – All athletes must arrive or be dropped off at Elver shelter to warm up for race
7:15 am – Parents, family members, and friends should arrive at Elver to prepare to cheer
7:30 am – 5k race will start (Runners…run and Fans…cheer)
7:46 ~ 8:00 am – Racers will finish 5k race
8:15 am – Athletes cool down
8:30 am –  All finished

Do parents need to be there for the whole thing?
It is always nice to have support for all the young athletes and we hope everyone can make it out for the race.

What happens if there is inclement weather?
The race will occur rain or shine. If there is lightning, the race would be postponed but all athletes should show up on time to receive further instructions.

What should the athletes wear on this day?
Each athlete will need to choose their own race outfit (most likely shorts and shirt/singlet); team uniforms will not be passed out for this race. Also, the athletes may compete in “racers” but should not wear spikes. If athletes only have “trainers” they should wear these shoes to compete. As for any meet, the athletes should have “warm ups” that they can wear to warm up and cool down in before and after the race. Warm ups should consist of something long sleeve (long sleeve shirt, windbreaker, or sweatshirt) and pants (windbreaker or sweat pants).

End of Week 1 - News and Notes

Practices
Saturday 8/18 - Practice @ Hill Farms Pool - 8:00am
Run and then swim (if desired) - everything done by 9:30am (be on time...watch out for construction)

Monday 8/20 - Practice @ Pope Farms Park - 4:00pm
Run and then cookout - bring $3 and dish to pass based off last name - everything done by 7:15pm
A - J = Salads   K - R = Desserts   S - Z = Chips/Pretzels

CLOTHING ORDERS
Click Here for Form
All orders due by 8/20 Monday practice (checks to JMM)

SPARTAN CARDS
Our ONLY fundraiser this year is our annual Spartan Card fundraiser. For those of you who are unfamiliar with this, we have an expectation for each student-athlete at Memorial to sell Spartan Cards to family, friends, neighbors, and anyone else in the community interested in donating/contributing to athletics at Memorial High School.

Each student-athlete is given cards to sell. The cost per card is $20 and checks can be made to Madison Memorial HS. For $20, purchasers get discounts to area businesses. Each athletic team is given a goal...this year, Boys Cross Country is expected to sell 14 Spartan Cards per athlete. If we reach this goal as a team before Wednesday, August 22nd, we are done fundraising! IF NOT, we will go through a full team BLITZ NIGHT (AUGUST 22nd from 4:00 - 7:00 PM). THIS EVENT IS A MANDATORY EVENT FOR ALL ATHLETES!

Prizes are given to athletes who sell 22 or more cards...i-pods, laptops, televisions, and more along with cash prizes. All prizes will be given out at 7pm on Blitz night.

Coaches will collect unsold cards and money at 8:00am practice on Wednesday the 22nd (so we can see if we met our goal). If we need to BLITZ, ALL athletes should report to the Fieldhouse at 3:45pm for Blitz night...our AD will speak to all groups and then athletes will be given their cards to sell for the night and will need to provide their own transportation to sell for 3 hours. All athletes will report back to the Fieldhouse at 7pm with all money collected and unsold cards.

Paperwork
All paperwork must be turned in before 8/24 for athletes to be included on our 2012 roster. Paperwork includes: Physical/Insurance cards, Team Rules, Cautionary Statement, Concussion Forms, and Athletic Fees ($115).

Parents Meeting
Parent meeting will be held at Elver Park on 8/25 following the Intrasquad Race (Approx ~8:45am). Parents must call Coach Casey and speak with him directly if they are unable to attend the Parent Meeting. VERY IMPORTANT INFORMATION PROVIDED AT THIS MEETING.

Practice Begins August 13th

August 13th (Mon) 8:00 am – JMM 5:00pm – Elver (optional)
August 14th (Tues) 8:00 am – JMM 5:00pm – Elver (optional)
August 15th (Wed) 8:00 am – JMM 5:00pm – Elver (optional)
August 16th (Thur) 8:00 am – JMM 5:00pm – Elver (optional)
August 17th (Fri) 8:00 am – JMM 5:00pm – Elver (optional)
August 18th (Sat) 8:00 am – Hill Farms Pool - Volunteer at Madison Mini-Marathon Clean Up (optional)


August 20th (Mon) 8:00 am – JMM (optional) 4:00pm - Pope Farm Park
August 21st (Tues) 8:00 am – JMM 4:00pm – Elver (optional)
August 22nd (Wed) 8:00 am – JMM 4:00pm – BLITZ @ JMM
August 23rd (Thur) 8:00 am – JMM 4:00pm – Elver (optional)
August 24th (Fri) 8:00 am – JMM 4:00pm – Elver (optional)
August 25th (Sat) 8:00am - Intrasquad Athletes arrive at 6:45am
***Family Informational Meeting *** (immediately after race)


August 27th (Mon) 8:00 am – JMM (optional) 4:00pm - JMM
August 28th (Tues) 8:00 am – JMM (optional) 4:00pm - JMM
August 29th (Wed) 8:00 am – JMM (optional) 4:00pm - JMM
August 30th (Thurs) 8:00 am – JMM (optional) 4:00pm - JMM
August 31st (Fri) 8:00 am – JMM (optional) 4:00pm - JMM
September 1st (Sat) 9:00am – Verona Invite NO BUS – Arrive at 7:30am


September 3rd (Mon) 8:00am – UW Arboretum
September 4th (Tues) SCHOOL BEGINS - practice after school 3:45pm – 6:00

READ POST BELOW FOR
IMPORTANT ANNOUNCMENTS & PAPERWORK

Season Updates - Check back Regularly

Spartan Cards - Cards may be picked up with Coach Casey M,W,F at morning running (8:00am) or at the 1st day of practice
BLITZ NIGHT - August 22nd (Wed) - Sell as many cards prior to 8/22...cards short of our team goal will need to be sold on BLITZ NIGHT (if we meet our team goal...no need to sell on the 22nd)
Cards = $20 (checks can be made to JMM)
All proceeds benefit Madison Memorial Athletics (our only fundraiser all school year)
Athlete goal = 22 cards sold (prizes available)

Concussion Paperwork (NEW STATE LAW - MANDATORY) - must be turned in before 1st day of practice
Parent Concussion Fact Sheet
Athlete Concussion Fact Sheet
Parent & Athlete Agreement (must be filled out, signed, and returned to Coach Casey)

Captain's Potluck

Sunday August 12th 5:00 pm

Walnut Grove Park

What: Meet & Greet teammates & families

Learn about training shoe options (Fleet Feet)

Opportunity to ask questions or turn in paperwork

Who: All JMM boys cross country members and family

What to bring: Bring Your Own Beverages

Bring Your Own Plates, Cups, & Silverware

Bring an item to share for all:

      Food to bring by last name:

          A - L – Main Dish

          M - R – Salads (Fruit, Veggie, etc)

          S - Z – Desserts

Clothing Order Forms
CLICK HERE for 2012 order form
Mark sizes carefully!!!!!
ORDERS DUE BY August 20th, 2012
Make Checks Payable to JMM

2012 Season...approaching :)

JMM Cross Country Candidates,

The 2011 cross country season saw one of our very own finishing 13th at the WIAA state meet and being honored as an All-State runner. Jonah returns this year and agrees with all his teammates that were at state cheering…it would be a lot more fun if the whole team could go to state to compete in 2012. I know that we have the talent in our hallways to make the next step of competing as a team at state…will we put in the work to make it a reality? The start of summer means fall sports season is just around the corner. We hope this letter kicks off your training (or keeps it going :), as it is time to start considering your goals for the 2012 Cross Country season. The work you put in over the next two months will help build your confidence for the season and allow you to perform at your best. Getting out and running consistently now will prove important for the 2012 season. We can chase a Big Eight Championship and a return to the state meet. The only way we can make this happen, is with your participation, and dedication to the season and your teammates beginning TODAY!

Memorial Cross Country is a 9th – 12th grade program that supports all abilities of runners in Varsity, Junior Varsity, and Freshmen levels. This season, the Boys CC team is going to be coached by Casey Hopp (10th year) and Mark Eames (7th year). Senior captains Tyler Moses, Ryan Wall, and Jonah Weisse will help lead the team.

As you begin to think about the 2012 season, you should consider a personal goal you want to achieve and make a plan for achieving this goal. State meet medalist, State Qualifier, Academic All – Conference, earn a varsity letter, run JV-1, sub-20 minutes, make all-time best, finish a 5k …no matter what your goal is, the best way to prepare for the season is to be running this summer. Runs can consist of long runs, hills, hard runs and easy runs. If you want someone to workout with, there is a group of runners who meet for runs at 8:00 a.m. at Memorial HS at the fieldhouse parking lot. The more running you do now; the easier the start of the season will be for you and your body. Starting the first day of practice all runners should be prepared to run for thirty minutes continuously.

Official practice begins Monday, August 13th at 8:00 a.m. We will meet in the lower team room in the Memorial athletics area. Please make sure you have all of your paperwork taken care of BEFORE the first day of practice AND have it turned in by this meeting. Also, we will run on the first day of practice, so bring appropriate workout clothes (shirts, shorts, watch, and socks) and running shoes with you in the morning. If you do not have running shoes yet, I highly recommend Fleet Feet on Old Sauk Rd to help you get setup with your first pair of shoes.

I’m really looking forward to seeing if we can meet our potential this season. We return an individual all-state runner and seven athletes with varsity experience. The team’s success this season will be contingent upon getting contributions from every member of the team; every teammate must do their part. Other teams from around the state are training; make some time in your schedule, take a teammate with you, and get out running. We look forward to a great year of practices, meets, socials, and all the wonderful experiences of Spartan Cross Country!! YOU will determine whether this season is a good or GREAT season…hope to see you running soon!

If you did not get this letter or team paperwork...send your mailing address to:

jmmcc@rocketmail.com

Upcoming Events:
Afternoon Runs - begins July 2nd - more info at http://www.madisonmileageclub.blogspot.com/
Capitol Mile - July 22nd (see photos HERE)
Spartan Card Sales (more info to come at the end of July)
Captain's Cookout (more info to come in August)