Saturday morning the JMM Spartans headed out to Lake Farm Park to compete in the Madison West Invitational. As the bus left the parking lot a steady drizzle turned to a light rain and the we all new that we would be running on a slick wet course. The team was prepared and although there weren't many large puddles there was plenty of mud and tough turns. Some guys slipped, others fell, and a few even got stung by wasps but overall our guys went out & competed and took a huge step forward from our Verona meet. The team is still not where we want to be as a team but we are continuing to improve and have another month to reach our season goals. The next month will be very important in how our season finishes. It will be important that we support each other, take good care of our bodies, go to class and do well in the classroom. This West Invite was a step in the right direction for our team and hopefully we learned from the experiences to come back here Tuesday night and keep improving.
The varsity race saw competition between state ranked Madison West & Monona Grove and our very own Spartans. Jonas and Luke did a great job of positioning themselves in the top group and competing very well on a slick course. Both guys were able to pull single digit cards for our team which will be a huge advantage for us moving into bigger meets later in the season. Our gap of 40 seconds between our #2 and #3 runners was too large and is where we lost to West and MG (by only 1 point). Our team will continue to improve as this group moves closer to the front. Today they were led by Casey GT who was followed closely by Jack Z and Joel F. The top 5 runners earned top 25 finishes on the day earning individual medals. Our gap of 1:03 from #1 to #5 is not bad but will need to improve to beat the likes of Madison West (who beat us by 23 points). The varsity was rounded out today by Elliot B and Ty B. I look forward to this group continuing to improve throughout the season.
The JV race ran after the rain got heavier and the course had already seen two other races. The boys handled the conditions well but according to the race director...the whole field took a wrong turn on the course causing the runners to run about 70 meters short of 5000 meters. Luckily we will be back here on Tuesday and guys who set PRs on Saturday can go out and set even better times on Tuesday. We got an up close look at what a really strong JV looks like on Saturday as West took the top 5 spots in the race to score a perfect 15 points. Our guys put in a great effort to break this group up but it wasn't meant to be this day. Our team finished a very strong 2nd today and hopefully we now have the motivation to go out and close the gap on West. We have been in this situation before and know what it will take to catch them by the end of the season. Our JV was led by Jared G and Stryder C who earned top 10 finishes. They were joined at the awards ceremony by Gavin H, Peter V, Chris X, and Davis B who also earned top 20 finishes. Our gap of :32 seconds from 1 - 5 is nice but we need to be able to move this whole group forward. This can happen over the next couple weeks and I look forward to see which of these athletes will also compete to make our varsity better. Some great improvement was seen in the JV group from Verona to this meet (although they weren't official PRs) and it is clear that the hard work is already starting to payoff. It will be important to keep up this hard week in the middle part of our season and KEEP OURSELVES HEALTHY.
WEST RESULTS
Varsity & JV
NEXT COMPETITION
Tuesday September 13th @ Lake Farm Park
Big 8 Grade Level Challenge (hosted by LaFollette)
Early Release - 1:45pm
Bus - 2:00pm
4:00pm - Boys Frosh/Soph race
5:20pm - Boys Junior/Senior race
7:00pm - Awards (top 5 individuals in each race and top 1 team)
2015 Results
***Bugs were bad on Saturday...maybe bring bug spray***
**Athletes can only leave with their parents...after all boys races are completed and team cool down is finished...thank you for helping us be a full supportive team**
UPCOMING EVENTS
Sept 11th (Sun) - Ironman Volunteering @ UW Lot 60 - 12pm - 4pm OR 4pm - 8pm
Sept 12th (Mon) - Team Pictures @ JMM - 3:45pm ***need uniform top AND bottom***
NEWS & NOTES
- Limited number of bucket hats remaining...$25 to Coach Casey until they are gone
- No update on team long sleeve warm ups yet...as soon as we get them, we will get them out to the kids
- Tuesday reports begin this week...kids will need to complete them to be eligible to race every week
- Attendance....check IC regularly to make sure you don't have any unexcused class
- We just learned this week that Madison East will be hosting the Big 8 Conference Meet on October 15th at Badger Prairie Park in Verona (instead of Lake Farm Park)...as we get more information we will make it available to families
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