Verona Invite - Varsity = 5th JV = 2nd

The September sun greeted the Madison Memorial boys cross country team on a cool Saturday morning providing for a wonderful start to the 2014 campaign. The competition was stiff in both the varsity & jv races and we learned a lot about our team at the first meet of the year. Our targets are now set on our goals for the remainder of the season and we have some work yet to do to reach our fullest potential but today was a great meet for JMM. Our depth and competitiveness will help us throughout the season and I challenge each team member to improve each day for our team. I'm excited about what this season holds.

The varsity team started the day off at the Verona Invitational with a great performance. At first glance a 5th place finish seems a bit disappointing but a closer examination shows our team performed quite well. We lost to LaFollette (5th at State last year), West (2nd at State last year), Middleton (15th at State last year), and Baraboo (lost to Middleton on the tie breaker to go to state last year). We are within striking distance of Middleton and Baraboo and will strive each week to close the gap and get in front of these teams. Our team performance was good as Rory S led the squad with a 16:58 16th place finish (the 2nd best time run by a JMM runner at Verona) and was followed closely by Luke V in 17:06 for 21st (5th best JMM time at Verona). Our gap to our #3 runner needs to shrink but we had a great pack of Joe H, Jonas B, & Casey GT all together to round out our scoring five. Normally a #1 - #5 gap of :44 seconds would be very solid but it looks like we will need closer to a :30 seconds gap to beat the likes of Middleton, Sun Prairie, & Baraboo this season. Our scoring varsity was rounded out by Ben B and Austin W. Combined the varsity average time of 17:27 was the fastest we have run on this course and our 5th man today was the fastest we have had 5 runners at the Verona meet. These are all positives that we can build on going forward this season.

In the JV race we were led by our top Frosh Joel F with a 3rd place finish in 17:38 (best frosh JMM time at Verona). He was joined in the awards ceremony with top 30 finishes by Trevor R in 12th, Ty B in 14th, Dom G in 16th, Calvin J in 21st, Calder B in 22nd, and Ben T in 25th. These guys ran great today having our JV1 all be under 18:48. We have some work ahead of us to chase down West's JV but we have done it in past seasons and can do it again this year. We'll see them again next week Thursday and can hopefully close the gap in even this short time. On the day our team set 33 new lifetime PRs which shows great progress. As we continue to progress through the season we will see even more PRs. Keep up the good work at practice, take care of business in the classroom, and keep yourself healthy at home. Believe in each other and what we are doing as a team and this will be another fun season.

VERONA RESULTS
Varsity
Junior Varsity

Photos added to Team Photo Album (click on link in right column)

UPCOMING EVENTS
Sunday - September 7th - Ironman Volunteering - Lot 60 UW 12:00pm - 4:00pm OR 4:00pm - 8:00pm
Saturday - September 13th - Team Practice - 8:00am @ Elver
Monday - September 15th - Team Pictures - 3:45pm @ JMM  (need top & bottom)

Don't forget to order your team clothing HERE (and put your name in your new clothes)

NEXT MEET
Thursday - September 11th
West Invitational @ Lake Farm Park
1:45pm Early Release (Only athletes who are competing)
2:00pm Bus
4:00pm Boys Varsity (2013 Results)
5:00pm Boys JV (2013 Results)
Awards 6:30pm (top 25 in varsity, top 20 in jv, & top 2 teams in varsity)

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