West Invite - Varsity = 3rd JV = 2nd

The West Invite at Lake Farm Park on Saturday was another stepping stone in the 2017 season of cross country. Madison Memorial took advantage of the beautiful weather to take a step forward on those stones. The team continues to see improvement and this comes from their positive work attitude at practice. We still have plenty of room for gains but we are definitely moving in a right direction as a team. Keep up the good work, get some sleep, and stay healthy and more big PRs will be accomplished in the coming weeks.

The varsity started off the meet with a 3rd place finish behind #1 ranked Madison West and Verona (both Big 8 foes) but 1 point ahead of Madison East (another Big 8 foe and City team). The varsity is working on their race strategy and we had 3 new faces in their first varsity races (Imaad, Peter S, and Lance). We got out a little slow in the first mile but we moved up great in the 2nd mile and many of the guys kept charging the last mile too. Elliot B (17:23) led the way with a PR and a 10th place finish. He was followed by seniors Stryder C (17:33 - 13th) and Malcolm B (17:44 - 16th) and junior Peter V (17:49 - 18th) all who set personal records. Our gap to our 5th runners was still a little bigger than we would want but the first time Varsity runners did a great job of navigating the crowds to continue to move through the field. This race experience will hopefully pay dividends for our team as we move forward. Peter S ended up our 5th runner with a PR of 18:12 in 30th place. He was followed by Imaad in 34th place with a PR of 18:22 and our varsity was rounded out by Lance D who ran 18:43 for 43rd. This group continues to improve and continues to develop. We will learn a lot about where we stand in the conference on Tuesday at the Big 8 Grade Level meet.

Our JV is not only making steps forward but more like large leaps forward. The continued improvement in this group is providing opportunities for guys to try out varsity and helps improve both our varsity and JV. Today we had two freshman help lead the charge through the race and hopefully both learned a little about themselves as racers and what they are capable of doing. We already made a big cut into West's gap ahead of us from the Verona meet and hopefully we can continue to work our group into their pack. Today we had 4 strong runners and will need more guys to step up to give us 7+ guys who can compete up front in this JV race. Freshman Dylan A led the way with his 18:03 PR for 5th place. He was joined in the top ten by junior Gavin H 6th PR 18:04, freshman Aidan P 7th PR 18:10, and junior Aidan P 8th PR18:11. This pack seperated by 8 seconds is exactly what we need...just more guys and slightly farther up into West's pack. We had a great group of guys trying to close the gap today for our 5th runner and I have know doubt they will continue to get closer each meet. Today it was freshman Sam S (19:11 PR - 23), freshman Cole W (19:13 - 24), and sophomore Brett N (19:14 PR - 26). Other PRs were run today by Ryan L, Richard T, James B, Callum F, Andrew T, Lucas V, Ryan W, Peter W, Nick B, Peter B, Joey C, Avery G, Jeffry H, Peter H, Kaine J, Jack M, Garrett M, Caleb S, Jacob T, Matthew B, Liam B, Christian J, Cam K, Charles ML, Evan TJ, and Connor W. Keep up the great work and keep improving!

Meet Results
Varsity & JV

NEXT MEET
Tuesday - September 12th
Big 8 Grade Level Challenge @ Lake Farm Park
WE HOST - Sign Up to Volunteer if you can
Early Release - 1:45pm
Bus - 2:00pm
4:00pm - First Race
4:40pm - Boys Frosh/Soph (2016 Results)
6:00pm - Boys Jr/Sr (2016 Results)
6:45pm - Awards (top team and top 5 finishers in each grade division)

UPCOMING EVENTS
Sunday 9/10 - Ironman Volunteering @ Lot 60 on UW - 12 - 4pm OR 4 - 8pm
RESCHEDULED to 9/22 (Fri) - Team Pictures @ JMM - 3:45pm (bring uniform top & bottom)
Tuesday 9/12 - WE HOST Big 8 GLC Meet @ Lake Farm Park

NEWS & NOTES 
Tuesday Reports - we will begin grade checks this week on Tuesday...athletes, remember to take them to ALL your classes on Tuesdays and get a signature (pick up from Coach Casey on Monday or athletic office)
School Attendance - take care of unexcused absences...you have 1 week to clear it up or each absence = a missed meet
With school starting it is important to have a plan to stay hydrated...get a water bottle and carry it with you throughout the day