They say if you coach long enough, you will see it all. Well, add another story to my 15 year collection of coaching stories. The JV boys and middle school races were cancelled due to 95+ degree heat on Saturday....September 23rd! The extreme heat not only cancelled the last two races of the meet but also made conditions difficult to run fast throughout the days other races. We prepared the best we could throughout the week. The guys were ready to go and we talked about places and competing more than worrying about times. Our frosh/soph ran really tough in the first boys race of the day. We don't run our varsity kids in this race unlike some other programs and I thought our guys placed a very respectable 10th place in this event. Our varsity returned to action in a deep field looking to improve upon our last outing. I thought they raced great, getting in good position and holding on strong in the blistering heat. We thought a good outing would be between 15th - 20th...instead we came away with a 13th place finish. Our JV was excited to go out and see if we could another meet victory this year but the weather is going to make us have to wait another week. I think my favorite moment from the meet was looking over at the start line when they announced the race was cancelled and seeing the range of emotions on our athletes faces. I'll admit when first hearing the announcement I didn't know how to react but in the long run, I think meet management made the right decision. It is unfortunate to lose a race opportunity but we will just take that saved energy and put it towards our Stoughton meet.
Joey C and Cole W led our group through most of the race but it was Sam S who was feeling good the last mile finishing strong. Sam (38th) and Joey (48th) had solid finishes in the top 50 and they were closely followed by Cole W (56th) and Peter B (57th). Peter H (74th) was not too far back giving our frosh/soph group a spread of :45 seconds. If these young runners can continue to run together and improve over the coming years this will be a fun group to continue to watch as they were just ahead of Brett N (80th) and Cam K (84th). Our depth at this age group can serve us well in the future.
In the varsity race we were much improved over our start at the Smiley meet. In a meet with 41 teams competing it is easy to lose track of your strategy on a hot day but our guys were focused and prepared today. Joel F led the way with a 38th place finish as he starts to round back into form. He spent much of the run in the top 30 and looks to continue this strong performance in some upcoming smaller races. Elliot B ran really strong finishing just 5 seconds back from Joel in 42nd this will be a nice 1-2 punch down the stretch run. We will need to close our gap between our 2 - 3 runners but today was a tough day for that. Stryder C held on strong as our 3rd run in 86th place while Dylan A and Malcolm B rounded out our scoring 5 finishing in 107th and 113th. Our gap of 1:13 between our 1st and 5th is larger than we like and if we can get this back under 1:00 we'll see the success we are hoping for in the stretch run. Big 8 opponents LaFollette and Sun Prairie showed today that they will be formidable but I think we can close the gap to Janesville Craig in the coming weeks and we were able to beat Beloit and Janesville Parker. We also beat our Sectional opponents of Waunakee, DeForest, Stoughton, and Oregon. Our season goals are still in reach as we approach the last month of the season.
Make sure to take care of your bodies both physically and mentally as this is a tiring time of the season. Check your shoes and see if maybe you need a new pair to get you through the end of the season. Take time to stretch and ice daily and GET MORE SLEEP. Continue hydrate this week and eat some healthy calories. Also, take care of business in the classroom so that you remain eligible for running but also so you can get good grades moving forward for the remainder of the school year. It has been a fun year so far with many ups and downs but I'm excited for a great finish to this season.
RESULTS
Frosh/Soph Boys
Varsity Boys
JV Boys - Canceled due to heat
Middle School - Canceled due to heat
NEXT COMPETITION
Saturday September 30th
Stoughton Invitational @ Stoughton HS
Bus - 7:00am
9:00am - 1st Race
9:35am - Boys Varsity (2016 Results)
10:45am - Boys JV (2016 Results)
11:30am - Awards (Varsity - top 2 teams and 25 individuals, JV - top 1 team and 15 individuals)
NEWS & NOTES
- PSAT testing (usually juniors) will occur at Memorial on Saturday October 14th (same day as Conference)....you can take the test at an alternate date & location but you must contact your JMM Counselor ASAP to sign up
- All City Pizza Party - October 6th @ TBA... for all you can eat pizza and all can drink drinks - All-City & City Spirit Awards will be presented here....EVERYONE is encouraged to attend and you must provide your own transportation (we have NO return bus from City so that you can attend this event with your family)
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