Smiley Invite - Varsity = 10th, JV = 1st

The Smiley Invite is one of my favorite days of the cross country season. I don't know exactly what it is...maybe it is seeing the sunrise, or driving into the fall colors, or competing on a course I competed on in high school, or seeing my brother's team and alma mater. Whatever it is, I always think the twelve hours of cross country is well worth it by the end of the day. We get to see some new competition and work on our race strategies. Today, our varsity struggled with its race strategy not getting out fast enough and even though we moved well in the last part of the race it was simply too little too late. Our JV today had a great race strategy and although it looked like things might slip away in the last 1/2 mile we got tough, competed, and sprinted to a 1 point victory in the JV race. Our varsity is not quite where we need it to be for JMM standards but the hard work ethic our team has this year is trending our varsity in the right direction and leading to a great JV squad. The next step is to take that leap of faith in the varsity race for some of our new varsity runners to replicate what they do daily in practice. I know we can be better than we were today and still end our season reaching our team goals.

The varsity race was a tough race for us today. When your #1 runner comes in 30th place at an invite and you still have a 1:18 gap it is going to lead to a lower team place than we are accustom to at JMM. We finished 10th today but I think we were much better than this and we hope to make some corrections moving forward so that our team can be more competitive against some of our Big 8 and sectional competition. We lost today to Big 8 foe Sun Prairie but we were able to beat sectional competition of DeForest, Waunakee, and Oregon. Today we were led by seniors Joel F and Elliot B. Next came seniors Stryder C and Malcolm B. We will need someone to step up to run with these guys as our 5th because our gap of 30 seconds in this part of the race (the big pack) will hurt us each time. Our 5th today was 1st time varsity racer junior Aidan S and he was followed by senior Mahad O who was also in his 1st varsity race. Senior Will S and junior Peter S rounded out our top 8 today. It is good to know even when we don't run our best we can beat thirteen teams but I know we can race better than this yet this season and look forward to those performances.

The JV race at Smiley has become something of a dual meet between SPASH and JMM over the last couple years. Many times coming down to a handful of points either way. This year was no different and the race didn't disappoint in drama and intrigue. Our team established themselves early in the race and showed they were ready to compete. SPASH had an individual who took control of the race but our guys responded. At the half way point it looked like we had the race sealed up but the SPASH kids made a strong push the last half mile. On the final corner as I cheered on our top 5 I told them it was going to be decided by 1 point and that they would need to help us out. Each and everyone of these guys put in a full effort the last straightaway with Lance and Gavin helping our cause the most. The final score...JMM - 38 and SPASH - 39...1 point it was and before the last turn we were not winning but at the finish line we squeaked it out for the victory. Freshman Dylan A ran a valiant racing trying to chase down the individual victory. He was unable to hold on but he led his teammates towards the front and juniors Peter V and Imaad S joined him at the finish for a 3, 4, 5 finish. Our 1 - 5 was :35 seconds but it was still good enough to get the W today. Senior Lance D kicked home for a 12th place finish and junior Gavin H passed at least 2 runners in the finishing stretch (including 1 SPASH runner) to give us 5 runners in the top 16. I was encouraged by our next pack too which continues to close the gap and will give us a very strong JV2 come the conference meet mid-October. Today that group was freshman Cole W, senior Shaurya K, and freshman Sam S. Our guys ran great today leading to many season and personal bests. We took advantage of the nice weather, great competition, and favorable course conditions...that is all you can ask for in cross country.

RESULTS
Boys D1 Varsity Combined
Boys D1 Varsity Large
Boys D1 JV Overall

NEXT MEET
Saturday September 23rd
Midwest Invite @ Blackhawk GC - Janesville
Bus - 6:45am
8:15am - Community 5k - must register HERE
9:05am - 1st HS Race
9:45am - Boys Frosh/Soph Race (top 7 frosh/soph) (2016 Results)
10:55am - Boys Varsity Race (top 7 runners) (2016 Results)
12:10pm - Boys JV Race (all other eligible runners) (2016 Results)
12:45pm - 4th - 8th Grade Mile (see info below) (2016 Results)
Awards - Frosh/Soph - 2 teams 20 individuals, Varsity - 3 teams 30 individuals, JV - 20 individuals, Middle School - 5 individuals

** 4th-8th graders who are siblings/friends of Memorial Athletes or attend Memorial feeder schools can compete in the 1mile cross country race at 12:45pm representing JMM...to be entered in the race, parents/coaches must contact Coach Casey (crhopp@hotmail.com) by Wed 9/20 before 6:00pm with athletes Name, Gender, Grade in school...(NO cost)...it is the responsibility of each family to provide transportation for their Middle School athlete(s) to and from the meet and provide their own race day attire...timing chips will need to be picked up the day of the race by 12:30pm

UPCOMING EVENT
Sept 22nd (Friday) - Team Pictures @ 3:45pm - bring uniform top & bottom

NEWS & NOTES
Clothing was delivered on Friday...if you didn't pick it up yet, get it Monday - PUT YOUR NAME IN YOUR CLOTHES
PSAT Testing - Memorial has scheduled their PSAT testing for October 14th...athletes wishing to take the PSAT should contact their counselor ASAP to sign up for an alternate location so as not to meet the Conference meet
Still have some Gatorade & snacks still available for $1 after practices