The frosh/soph race started off the morning. Many teams put their top frosh/soph in this race where as Madison Memorial has always put it's top frosh/soph who are not on varsity in this race (this year we have 5 frosh/soph on varsity). We knew missing these top runners would make things more difficult but our 5 sophs Ty B, Jack Z, Dom G, Jansen H & Jarod G and 2 frosh Malcolm B & Eli T were up to the challenge. The boys got out to a great start with Jack & Ty positioning themselves in the top 10 and the rest of the group not too far behind. It quickly became clear we had a chance to win this race as we moved our pack up throughout the race and needed to hold on versus a hard charging Monroe & Madison West program. Ty B & Jack Z led the way with their 7th & 8th place finishes. Dom G passed a couple guys in the last 400 to finish in 14th and earn an individual medal for a top 20 finish. Then came Jansen & Malcolm holding on for every spot to the finish securing top 40 finishes in 33rd & 39th respectively. Jared G & Eli T rounded out this great performance. Results were not made available for this race and all we knew was it was close. When we went to the awards ceremony there was only one team left to be announced and that was the Madison Memorial boys with 101 points beating Monroe by 5 points & West by 8 points....every position really does count. This was the first time we won this race and an improvement upon our second place trophy finish from last year. We have a great tradition starting here that hopefully can be carried on by our frosh and 8th graders next season.
The varsity was our second race of the day and the heat had already settled in by race time. In this race our team committed the ultimate no no in racing in a large meet. We didn't get out hard enough and were buried in a large field of 240+ athletes. After our poor positioning early the team spent the entire race trying to pass people to get into the race (from the mile to the finish Luke V passed 57 people). We learned it takes a lot of energy to pass people and on an already hot day against really good competition we did not perform at our best. That being said the team moved through the packs together well and having a 26 second gap allowed our team to score a decent finish. Our 8th place finish was a tie for our 2nd best finish at this meet and in the process we beat state ranked teams LaCrosse Logan, Verona, & Beaver Dam. Hopefully this group will learn from this experience and make the needed corrections as we move forward. Some other highlights from this race for our varsity our #7 runner was the 2nd best #7 runner in the race and our 26 second gap from #1 - #5 was the best in the varsity race. I'm confident this group will do bigger and better things not only this season but in future seasons too.
The last race of the day was the jv team and prior to their race we discussed the different race strategies we saw in our frosh/soph race & varsity race. The jv boys listened, understood, and acted with getting out to great positions early in the race. Our team quickly placed four runners in the top ten and seized the opportunity to win this race for the first time in our team history. Trevor R led the charge leading the race for a good portion before taking 2nd place with a great performance. Josh L quickly followed in 4th, Zach H came in 6th, & Calder B in 9th for FOUR athletes with single digit cards. This is how you win a race and they were joined by Calvin J in 19th all earning medals with their top 20 finishes. Additionally, Benton DD & Ben T finished ahead of every teams #5 runners bumping up the margin of victory even more. Our previous best finish in this jv meet was a fourth place finish, today our boys handily won this race scoring 39 points outdistancing a very strong Arrowhead jv team by 24 points. This group keeps improving every week and is ready for a great finish to the end of the year. We had PRs in this race from Brian L (:27), Brian OJ (:45), Alex V (:08), Calvin J (:10), Tommy K (:48), Emery B (:10), Malcolm B (:01), Kaeden H (:25), Cayden S (:16), and Kevin Y (:51). Keep up the work at practice and we will see some more PRs in the coming weeks.
Get ahead on your homework, get to class on time & take care of attendance, stretch, ice, rest, rest rest, and take care of yourselves. We are in the final stretch of the season and it is time to reap the benefits of all our hard work make sure you are eligible and healthy to do so.
MIDWEST RESULTS
Frosh/Soph
Varsity
Junior Varsity
Middle School
UPCOMING EVENTS
Saturday Oct 11th - Team Practice - 8:00am @ JMM
Don't forget to order your team clothing HERE (and put your name in your new clothes)
NEXT MEET
Tuesday September 30th
Big Eight Split Meet @ Blackhawk GC - Janesville
Early Release - 2:15pm
BUS TIME - 2:30pm
Boys Race - 4:45pm (all boys competing will run in this race)
Girls Race - 5:30pm
WE WILL NOT STOP TO EAT!!!
*** Some of our top runners (about top 12) will travel to this meet to do a workout but will NOT compete....if your son is on our varsity or top 7 JV talk to them about whether or not they will be competing (they will find out officially, Monday at practice)***
IMPORTANT NOTE
PSAT Testing (usually Juniors) for Memorial is scheduled for Saturday Oct 18th which is the same day of our Big 8 Conference Meet
Athletes hoping to take the PSAT this year are highly encouraged to schedule a test for Wednesday Oct 15th at either LaFollette, East, or Edgewood (will require a planned absence)
Here is the contact/sign up info we have (***do this sooner rather than later!!!)
- LaFollete - call 204-3659 - sign up is first come, first served
- Edgewood - 257-1023 ext 126 - sign up for a waiting list - no seats are guaranteed
- East - Sign up at East on Oct 9th - sign up is first come, first served
Questions...Contact your JMM Counselors
