West Invite - Varsity = 3rd & JV = 2nd

Summer running seemed like a distant memory Thursday night as the Madison Memorial Boys Cross Country took on the brisk cold evening greeted the team at their first race at Lake Farm Park. The boys quickly realized the flat, well groomed trails of Lake Farm could lead to fast times and many athletes took advantage of this on a great night of competition. As always it was fun to see the guys running fast times but more important is that we continue to improve as a team from our top runner to the bottom. We will continue to work hard at practice as this is the time of year that will help make our end of season a success. Everyone needs to make sure they are staying healthy, keeping up with school work, and taking care of their body in this busy part of the season.

The varsity started the meet off with a strong 3rd place performance. They were led by sophomores Luke V (12th - 16:45), Jonas B (15th - 16:51), and Casey G-T (23rd - 17:04). Joining them at the awards ceremony was freshman Joel F (25th - 17:13). Seniors Joe H (28th - 17:21) and Ben B (31st - 17:31) ran strong races and Junior Trevor R (35th - 17:45) stepped in to run a great first varsity race. Having two athletes under 17:00 was a nice step forward this week and our gap from #1 - #5 today was :36 seconds which is great. It would have been nice to beat Verona for 2nd place but we will have a chance to see them later in the year again. The Big 8 Conference might just be the toughest conference in the state this year and this will help our team bring out our best this season as we strive to improve against these teams.

In the junior varsity race we had 42 new PRs enroute to our 2nd place finish. We have a lot of work yet to do to catch West's JV. We took a step closer today but we will need to crack that top 3 runners to have a chance to win against them and put more guys up in the top 5 of the race. Our JV group had 4 runners under 18:00 and a solid group up front. When we compare our scoring 5 (:40 spread) to West's top 5 (:20 spread) it is evident that we need to continue to pack up that front group at the top. We are capable of doing this and will continue to strive for making improvements. Our top 7 all earned medals today with their top 20 finishes as Austin W (17:21), Ty B (17:31), Jack Z (17:35), Dom G (17:47), Calder B (18:01), Ben T (18:03), and Josh L (18:06). Another big milestone today was having 2 freshman Malcom B & Alex W breaking the 19 minute barrier,

MADISON WEST INVITE RESULTS
Varsity
JV

UPCOMING EVENTS
Saturday 9/13 - Team Practice @ Elver Park - 8:00am
Monday 9/15 - Team Picture @ JMM - 3:45pm (need uniform top & bottom)
Wednesday 9/24 - Light of Life Walk @ JMM - 6:00pm - 6:45pm (required for athletes)

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

NEXT MEET
Tuesday - September 16th
Big 8 Grade Level Challenge @ Lake Farm Park
1:45pm Early Release (Only athletes who are competing)
2:00pm Bus
4:00pm Boys Frosh/Soph
5:10pm Boys Junior/Senior
(*** Note slight change to the slight change from before in start times***)
Awards 7:00pm (top 5 in each grade level, 1st place team)

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