Boys Varsity - 2nd Place Overall
The Madison Memorial Spartans made the short trip to Verona Area High School Saturday morning to compete in the 39th annual Verona Invitational. In the team's first action against competition from outside their own squad the boys competed against some of the best competition in our city, conference, sectional, & state. We learn a lot about our team right away and then hope we can improve from this starting point. Today our varsity had their best finish at the Verona Invitational by scoring 90 points to finish in 2nd place behind Madison LaFollette, narrowly beating both Madison West & Middleton. Our JV was missing some key components and finished in 3rd place behind Madison West & Middleton. Hopefully all the athletes can take something away from their performance this weekend and prepare for the their next race this coming Thursday.
The varsity squad started off the hot & humid morning for the Spartans in the 25 team competition. The group got out well on the first loop and fought hard on the second loop. At the finish they were led by Rory S who finished in 12th place in 17:02. He was closely followed by Luke V in 16th (17:13), Casey GT in 19th (17:16), Jonas B in 21st (17:19), and Trevor R in 22nd (17:20). The top seven were rounded out by Zach H (17:56) and Austin W (18:22). The :18 second gap between our #1 - #5 runners and the 17:14 average time for our varsity were both the best we have seen on this course and the reason leading to our best finish in meet history. We hope to continue to move this varsity group forward while maintaining the small gap for continued success.
Our JV group ran during the hottest part of the day and provided our team with a new challenge to handle this week. After now competing on a flooded course and running through the muggy heat our junior varsity runners are ready for the ever elusive perfect cross country running day. While personal records were still hard to come by at the Verona Invitational we still had many great performances on the day to lead our team to their 3rd place finish. The JV squad was led by Dom G who had a great finish narrowly winning the race placing 2nd in 18:00. He was closely followed by Jack Z in 4th (18:10). Ty B finished in 18th (18:44), Jared G placed 22nd (18:52), and Sam Z rounded out the scoring squad by placing 34th (19:12). The JV1 team was rounded out by Ben T (19:15) and Calvin J (19:17). Our JV gap of 1:12 between our #1 - #5 runners is too large and we need to close together this group (less than :30 gap) to have the success we hope for this season. This will happen by working closer together on workout and mileage days and carrying that over to race days. Some notable races from the day include Peter V who was our top frosh in 19:24, Malcolm B who was our top soph in 19:31, Davis B (19:44) and Chris X (20:54) who set lifetime PRs on this difficult course in difficult conditions because of their hard work over the last year, and for our freshman class who continues to improve each week and have a bright future still ahead of them.
To continue to improve and have success we need to make sure we are staying healthy and taking care of our body. It is important we are at practice daily and communicating with the coaches to insure we are getting the most out of every day. As classes begin we need to make sure we are in class daily, positively participating in the classroom, and turning in our homework regularly. REMINDER TO ALL...TUESDAY REPORTS START THIS WEEK (No Tues Report = No Competition). Keep up the good work at practice and continue to encourage your teammates.
VERONA RESULTS
Varsity Team
Varsity Individual
JV Team
JV Individual
UPCOMING EVENTS
Mon Sept 7th - Captain's Practice (UW-Arboretum) - 8:00 - 9:30am
Sat Sept 12th - Team Practice (Elver Park) - 8:00 - 10:00am
Sun Sept 13th - Ironman Volunteering (Optional) = 12-4pm OR 4-8pm @ UW Lot 60
Mon Sept 14th - Team Pictures - 3:45pm (need uniform top & bottom)
NEXT COMPETITION
Thursday Sept 10th
West Invitational @ Lake Farm Park
Early Release - 1:45pm
Bus - 2:00pm
4:00pm - First Race
4:30pm - Boys Varsity (2014 Results)
5:45pm - Boys JV (2014 Results)
6:45pm - Awards (Var - 2 teams & 25 individuals, JV - 20 individuals)
NEWS & NOTES
Carpooling - Families interested in participating in a cross country carpool for practice &/or meets should contact Sherri Swartz (sherrribeth@gmail.com) - whether you are willing to drive or just looking for help with rides (note the corrected e-mail address 9/6 2:30pm)
Order JMM Cross Country Clothing
