Warhawks Win - 62 JMM Boys Start Season Off Right

It has been a couple years since the course at Elver has been dry but for the 11th year in a row the Spartans toed the line at Elver Park for our annual Intrasquad competition. It is our first glimpse at what the team will look like for the season and for many runners it is their first ever 5k race. This race is just a stepping stone to our season and it will be important for every runner to strive to get faster and stronger throughout the year. We look forward to the improvement many runners will make simply from this first competition to Verona, as they compete against other teams and have more runners to chase towards fast times. It will be important we continue to work hard at practice AND take care of our bodies away from practice. Get in a good sleep routine (8-9 hours of sleep) now before school starts and make sure to re-hydrate and eat healthy daily. I think our team can reach big things this season but it will take individual efforts from every runner to reach these goals.

The Intrasquad race helps us determine our varsity for the Verona Invitational. The race for our top 7 was tight and hotly contested and hopefully this healthy competition will create some faster times for our varsity and jv athletes. Joel F returns this season with state meet experience and led the way on Saturday with his 17:23 performance. In the next 32 seconds we saw seniors Elliot B, Stryder C, and Malcolm B cross the line. We will need to add a fifth to this group b/c our gap of 1:01 between our 1 - 5 will costs us valuable points at large invites. Today our 5th was senior Will S but I see many prospects, who if willing to put in the work, can help bring this varsity group closer together. The battle for 6th & 7th place probably cost us some overall time in the race. This group needs to get faster (which I know they can) to be competitive at our big varsity meets. Today junior Peter V and freshman Aidan P earned varsity spots but I think we will see multiple athletes take a turn at varsity this year and that competition will make us better as a team.

The JV showed great depth and strength today. Our ability to work together in both practice and meets will lead to success in the JV group. 36 seconds separated our top 7 jv runners which is great. If this group can continue to work together to get faster and challenge for varsity spots our JV should be in contention to win a lot of meets this season. There is a nice mix of new faces, veteran runners, and freshman that can help each other learn and get faster at each and every meet.

The team competition today went to the Warhawks (540) and captain Malcolm B. His team outdistanced the Thundercats (652) captained by Elliot B & Stryder C and The CORE (753) captained by Joel F. This race showed the importance of depth on your team as in the 5 person team scoring the Thundercats (30) would have beat the Warhawks (38) in a close battle. I think this meet was a successful start to the season. We look forward to adding some more pieces to the puzzle as we head into the Verona Invitational and see where we stand against some of our competition from our Conference and Sectional. The hard work we put in now will determine how successful our championship meets will be at the end of October.

RESULTS
2017 Intrasquad Results & Intrasquad Statistics (click on the tabs)

UPCOMING EVENTS
Sunday 8/27 - Spartan Card Blitz @ Olson Elementary 1:00pm - 3:00pm
Wednesday 8/30 - Mini-Golf Outing @ Vitense 7:00pm (optional) (moved due to Thurs night fball game)
Monday 9/4 - Captains Practice @ UW Arboretum - more info to come

NEWS & NOTES
Clothing Order - turn in to Casey by 3:00pm Sunday (I'll be at Olson from 1 - 3 on Sunday)
Spartan Card Awards - If you sold 15+ cards...attend awards ceremony Monday 8/28 @ 7pm in Cafeteria
Lost & Found - I already have accumulated a bunch of items, please check for your stuff at practice (and then also remember to gather items after practices better :)

WEEK 3 PRACTICE SCHEDULE
Note switch to afternoon for mandatory practices!
**Meet behind fieldhouse still...use phy ed lockerroom

August 28th (Mon)                8:00 am – JMM (optional)         4:00pm – 6:15pm JMM

August 29th (Tues)               8:00 am – JMM (optional)          4:00pm – 6:15pm JMM

August 30th (Wed)                8:00 am – JMM (optional)         4:00pm – 6:15pm JMM

August 31st (Thurs)              8:00 am – JMM (optional)         4:00pm – 6:15pm JMM
September 1st (Fri)               8:00 am – JMM (optional)         4:00pm – 6:15pm JMM

NEXT MEET

Saturday September 2nd

Verona Invitational - Verona HS

NO BUS - Arrive at 8:30am

Please Note Times are Different than Parent Handbook
9:30am - First Race

10:30am - Boys Varsity (2016 Results)

11:40am - Boys JV (2016 Results)

12:20pm - Open Race (parents & siblings can run for fun)

1:00pm - Awards Ceremony - Varsity = top 2 teams & 40 individuals, JV = top 30 individuals