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
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