Stoughton Invite - Varsity = 6th, JV = 4th

The first frost of the fall greeted the JMM harriers as they boarded the buses for the Stoughton Invitational. Cool temperatures gave way to hot competition as the Spartans took on state ranked teams in SPASH, Sun Prairie, Monona Grove, & LaFollette. This top competition led to some fast times and opportunities to improve as a team. Our team continues to improve and took a step in the right direction as we prepare for the championship season in the coming weeks and look to close the season strong.

The varsity started things off with a 6th place finish. Our pack was closer to the front this week and continue to move into competition with other teams packs. The group will look to be competitive with LaFollette and East again this week at the City Championships. Aidan P led our group to the finish with a season best time of 17:12 earning a medal for his 25th place finish. Imaad S followed him in six seconds later and Dylan A came across at 17:31. Aidan S finished strong in 17:42 and Peter B gave us five runners in the top 50 finishing in 17:50. Our gap of :38 is great if we can move this group forward 10 - 15 seconds we can be much more competitive. Cole W ran 18:06 and Peter S finished in 18:33. This was a good preview for our team to see what our competition will look like at Conference and Sectionals.

The JV race was also very competitive today seeing 16 runners go under 18:00 including Jacob W who finished 13th in a lifetime best of 17:55. Brett N and Casey W were close behind finishing in the top 20. Sam S and Joey C ran sub 18:30 on the day while Avery G and Nick B rounded out the scoring 7 for our JV. We have beaten Sun Prairie earlier in the year but today they got us by 10 points. In two weeks we will see them, LaFollete, East, & Middleton at the Big 8 Championships. Running lifetime bests on the day include Kaine J, Gabe M, Brett N, Sean S, Jacob T, Ethan Y, Charles ML, Alex B, Jake K, & Thomas L. We hope to see many more lifetime PRs in the coming races to close out the season. Take care of your bodies, get some good rest, and prepare to run fast!

RESULTS
Varsity & JV Results

NEXT MEET
Friday October 5th
City Championships @ West
Lake Farm County Park - Madison, WI
1:46pm - Early Release
2:00pm - Bus Departs
4:00pm - Boys Varsity (2017 Results)
5:00pm - Boys JV (2017 Results)
6:15pm - Awards - top 10 in Varsity & JV
Bus will return home after awards...about 7pm

NEWS & NOTES
- All clothing has been delivered...if you did not receive an item please let us know ASAP
- Midterm grades will be coming out soon...take care of your business in the classroom
- Thanks to everyone who participated in Light of Life Walk...Boys Cross Country raised over $350 towards cancer research...great job guys
****PARENTS - We host conference on October 13th @ Lake Farm Park...watch your e-mail for information about volunteering help....keep your schedule open, we will need help before, during, and after the meet on Saturday****
- October 15th - Last day of practice for JV runners

Midwest Invitational - Frosh/Soph = 1st, Varsity = 24th, Junior/Senior = 6th

Summer flooding led to a new course at Midwest Invite this year as team from WI, IL, IA, & TX toured a 1 mile loop 3 times. The weather was perfect for cross country and the ground stay firmed to provide for an opportunity to run fast times on the day. Many Spartans obliged providing 45 season best times (34 of them lifetime bests). As the season winds down it is time to take advantage of the weather and training to run fast. We had mixed results on the day as our Frosh/Soph brought home 1st place and the Junior/Seniors brought home 6th place as the varsity finished 24th out of 42 teams. We enter the last 1/3 of our season and every day is important. Lets finish the season strong!



The Soph/Frosh group was led by Aidan P and Dylan A who finished in the top 10 running great races at the front of the pack. This experience will hopefully pay off for them over their career. They were joined in the the top 20 earning medals by Cole W. Sam S ran super strong just missing out on the top 20 and Casey W had an amazing last lap passing many runners giving us 5 runners in the top 24. Our team score of 74 points was impressive at a big meet like this and outdistanced Big 8 foe Sun Prairie by 25 points. This group of sophomores was chased to the finish by freshman Mick S and Rees H who joined the sub 19:00 club. It was fun to see these guys compete. The hard work they have shown throughout the season and every week at practice really shined in this race. I hope they continue to strive to improve and look for big things out of this group over the next couple of years.

The varsity group made the mistake of getting out slow again and paid the price with times and finishes. We are better than what we raced today in the varsity and have 3 weeks left to prove it. This group was led today by Imaad S with his sub 17 performance. Peter S led our next group with him and Peter B being sub 18. Peter V and Brett N rounded out the scoring 5. Jacob W and Neil K got their first experience at the varsity level and will benefit from this moving forward. We learn from each experience and can use this to run well this next week at Stoughton.

The junior/senior race was very competitive as Gavin H snuck into the top 20 with his sub 18:00 performance. Joey C, Avery G, and Nick B came in under 18:30 and Karsten K rounded out the scorers as he and Nathan H went under 19:00. Many runners reached new levels breaking 20 minutes, reaching a PR, or just improving from last week. As our JV continues to improve it gives us more depth and keeps our varsity improving. We are ready to run well at the end of the season it is important we do everything in the classroom, away from practice, and health wise that allow us to perform our best during championship season.

RESULTS
Boys Frosh/Soph
Boys Varsity
Boys Jr/Sr
Boys Middle School

NEXT MEET
Saturday September 29th
Stoughton Invite @ Stoughton HS
7:00am - Bus Departs
9:30am - Boys Varsity (2017 Results)
10:30am - Boys JV (2017 Results)
12:00pm - Awards - Varsity Top 25 individuals & 2 teams, JV Top 15 individuals & 1 team
We will NOT stop to eat...plan accordingly...return around 1:00pm

UPCOMING EVENTS
Wed Sept 26th - Light of Life Walk - 6:00pm - 6:45pm
(bring $5 for registration/donation to cancer research) This is a MANDATORY team event for ATHLETES....families are welcome to join and should pay at the gate

NEWS & NOTES
- Captains 2018 Team Long Sleeve Shirts - $20 (pay to captains this week!!!)
- PSAT testing (usually juniors) will occur at Memorial on Saturday October 13th (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

- We are hopeful Kollegetown orders will be delivered this week

- JV kids...3 weeks left....take care of the little things, drink lots of fluid, eat well, & GET SLEEP

Upcoming Events

NEXT MEET
Saturday September 22nd
Midwest Invite @ Blackhawk GC - Janesville
6:45am - Bus Departs
8:15am - Community 5k
9:45am - Frosh/Soph Boys (ALL frosh/soph runners) (2017 Results)
10:55am - Varsity Boys (top 7 not frosh/soph runners) (2017 Results)
12:10pm - Junior/Senior Boys (ALL junior/senior runners who are not in varsity) (2017 race was canceled)
12:45pm - Middle School Mile (2017 race was canceled)
**PLEASE NOTE RACE DIFFERENCES THIS YEAR**
Awards - presented after each race - Varsity - top 30 individuals & 3 teams, Frosh/Soph - top 20 individuals & 2 teams, Jr/Sr - top 20 individuals & 2 teams
$$ BRING MONEY - We will stop to eat at Culver's on the way home
Approximate return time is 3 - 3:30pm

UPCOMING EVENTS
Wed - Sept 26th - Light of Life Walk 6:00pm - 6:45pm (bring $5 for registration/donation to cancer research) This is a MANDATORY team event for ATHLETES....families are welcome to join and should pay at the gate

NEWS & NOTES

- PSAT testing (usually juniors) will occur at Memorial on Saturday October 13th (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

- Still waiting on clothing order #2....we are not happy either :(

- Lots of sick kids lately....wash your hands, drink lots of fluid, eat well, & GET SLEEP

Grade Level Challenge - CANCELED DUE TO WEATHER

Tonight's Big 8 Grade Level Challenge has been CANCELED

We will have practice as normal tonight

To be determined if the meet will be rescheduled

Smiley Invite - Varsity = 4th, JV = 2nd

It wouldn't be a cross country season without fun bus stories and sometimes those stories include the bus not being there. Luckily, we got everyone to Wausau for the meet where we were greeted with summer like conditions. The D1 boys were the last two races of the day, during the hottest part of the day, and times were effected by the heat. The JMM boys did their best to battle the heat and the difficult competition, and turned in a nice performance at the 62nd Annual Smiley Invitational. The varsity took on state ranked SPASH (#2), Sun Prairie (#14) and Eau Claire Memorial (#18). While the JV once again battled the strong SPASH team (in the 9 years we have run this meet...either JMM (twice) or SPASH has won the JV race). Overall it was another great day of cross country in the state of Wisconsin.

The varsity started off the meet with a strong 4th place overall (3rd in large schools) performance finishing behind SPASH and Sun Prairie. This is the 2nd time we have seen Sun Prairie this season and we are closing the gap nicely on this team. Early in the year they put 4 runners in front of our #1 runner while today our #1 was only 9 seconds behind their #2 and ahead of their 3rd runner. Imaad S once again led our pack finishing 18th overall with a time of 17:20. Aidan P (22 - 17:25) and Aidan S (25 - 17:30) came in during the next 10 seconds and earned top 20 large school finishers giving us 3 medalists on the day. Dylan A hung on tough for a 37 place finish in 17:49. Our gap of 1:01 back to our number 5 is too large and with improvement back to our pack we had at Menomonee Falls we would have beat Marshfield and would have been closer to Sun Prairie. Peter V and Peter B battled the heat to finish 56th & 57th in 18:21 & 18:22 respectively. Sophomores Cole W (18:36 - 69) and Sam S (18:52 - 80) continue to gather valuable varsity race experience. As a team each race better prepares us for the championship season and teaches us how to race against tough competition. This group continues to improve and compete. Staying healthy and consistent over the last month of the season will give us an opportunity to reach our team goals.

In the JV race it was evident that SPASH has a strong deep program. I was excited to see our guys willing to compete with these runners. In some cases this led to fast times and other quality learning experiences. This group needs to remember to stay focused on their training & pace and keep that competitive attitude to keep improving. We see this group again in 2 weeks and we'll see which group has improved more. Our JV was led today by senior Neil K who ran a lifetime PR of 18:36 to earn 10th place right in front of junior Brett N who ran 18:37 for 11th. Joining them in the top 20 were Jacob W (18:51 - 16th), Peter S (18:53 - 17th), and Avery G (18:58 - 20th). Our scoring group had a spread of 22 seconds and will just need to nudge this group forward to keep pace with the top JV teams in the state. Gavin H and Nick B rounded out the top 7 giving us our 5th best group of JV runners on this course having them all under 19:05. Some other notable performances go to the runners who had lifetime PRs on the course today including Liam J (22:38),  Jackson P (23:55), and Felipe R (21:48). Keep up the great work! The JV runners are getting through their toughest part of training all season. Staying consistent during the coming days will be accomplished by stretching, icing, sleeping, and doing strength exercises. Less than 4 weeks remain...things are getting real now!

RESULTS
Overall D1 Varsity Results
Large School D1 Varsity Results
Overall D1 JV Results

NEXT MEET
Tuesday September 18th
Big 8 Grade Level Challenge @ Verona HS
1:45pm - Early Release (only competing athletes)
2:00pm - Bus
4:00pm - Boys Frosh/Soph (2017 Results)
5:20pm - Boys Jr/Sr (2017 Results)
6:40pm - Awards (top 5 in each grade level)

NEWS & NOTES
Monday Sept 17th - TEAM PICTURES - 3:45pm - bring your uniform TOP & BOTTOM
Saturday Sept 22nd - Midwest Invite @ Janesville
***Families who have 4th - 8th grade siblings who are interested in running the middle school mile at Midwest Invite should e-mail Casey ASAP with name, gender, grade (crhopp@hotmail.com)
Still NO word on clothing order #2
Captain's shirts information will come home this week
Wednesday Sept 26th - Light of Life Walk 6:00pm - 6:45pm (team event...apart of homecoming week)

Hadler Invite - Varsity 4th, JV 1st

Saturday was a day of many firsts as we attended the Matt Hadler Invitational in Menomonee Falls for the first time in school history. After a wrong turn, a U turn, and even a Y turn on a dead end road we finally arrived at a rain soaked Rotary Park. This was nothing new to our team as it was not nearly as wet or muddy as what we had experienced at Verona and we didn't know that the course was changed because we had never experienced the original course. Our team got focused and was prepared to show what they were made of against some of the teams from the southeast of Wisconsin. Our team showed our depth and capability this weekend as we got out at good paces for the first mile and then raced tough for the remainder of the races. If we continue to use this race strategy we will have many more successful meets this season. Our JV runners led the way placing 7 in the top 10 and scoring 24 points for the win. The Varsity capped it off with an impressive 4th place finish putting our top 5 runners within 21 seconds of each other and having the best #5 runner on the day. We get back to work this week in the classroom and at practice as we prepare to head north to see some good competition at the Smiley Invite.

The Hadler Invite was our first JV victory of 2018 and something we can hopefully repeat again this season. There was a lot of JMM green that got to the front of the race and competed for the individual victory. We were led to the finish by Sophomores Cole W (2nd - 17:43) and Sam S (4th - 17:47). Senior Peter S (5th - 17:59) broke 18:00 for the first time giving us 9 athletes on the day to accomplish this feat. Less than 30 seconds after our number 1 runner we had all 5 scorers across the line as Gavin H (6th - 18:11) and Jacob W (7th - 18:12) finished out our scoring 5 giving our team an impressive score of 24 points (had all the other teams been one team...they would have scored 35 points). Avery G (9th - 18:25) and Casey W (10th - 18:26) gave JMM 7 runners in the top 10. Our JV set the tone for the whole day as they were willing to get out at a good pace and competed really hard for each spot all the way to the finish. This not only led to a great performance with our top 7 but throughout all 48 who competed as we saw 35 new lifetime PRs. We also saw 5 freshman (Mick - 19:05, Reese - 19:09, Caleb - 19:27, Jake Z - 19:45, & Jakob M - 19:48) break the 20 minute barrier and now set their sights on going sub 19. Our hard work in practice is starting to show in meets and we can continue to see big time drops the second half of the season.

In the varsity race we got to see some good teams from the southeast as Hamilton is ranked #7 in the state of Wisconsin. Our group got out much better this week and were able to compete as a pack throughout the race. Our top 5 were separated by only 21 seconds (last week it was 51 seconds) and this tight pack gives us a chance against teams who might have better #1 runners. We put our #5 ahead of every teams #5 today but starting at 15th with our #1 put us at too large of a deficit to do any better than 4th place as a team. We have been training hard the finish of that race will come together as we get closer to the end of the season. Had we moved our whole pack just 5 - 10 seconds faster it would had saved us about 40 points...earning second. Imaad S led the team going sub 17 for the first time and having a great kick to earn a medal with his 15th place finish. Our next pack came in within 7 seconds of each other including Aidan P (27th - 17:12), Peter V (28th - 17:12), Aidan S (29th - 17:14), and Dylan A 31st - 17:20). Peter B (40th - 17:35) and Brett N (51st - 18:11) had great races beating 11 of the 15 teams # 5 runners (and many other top teams runners). This depth is important for our team as even Joey C our number 8 runner today would have been on 6 teams scoring 5. Today was a big step forward for our varsity as we get more experience for all of these runners and we learn to race after getting out hard and in good position. Next week we will see three ranked teams and hopefully we can show that we can compete with this level of competition.

As we start to reach the middle of the season it is very important that the athletes are doing everything they can to stay healthy. Being back at school introduces more germs, stress, and chance for illness. The grind of the season continues to introduce risk for injuries, soreness, and fatigue. Help each other out reminding each other to SLEEP, wash your hands, hydrate the entire day, stretch, take advantage of the ice bath, roll out your muscles, eat well and often, and SLEEP. The next two weeks are very important for how the end of our season will turn out. It will take a strong consistent effort over this time to guarantee continued fast time and PRs during championship season.



EVERY RUNNER - EVERY RUN - EVERY DAY

RESULTS
JV Boys - Individual - Team
Varsity Boys - Individual - Team

NEXT MEET
9/15 Saturday - Smile Invite
@ American Legion GC - Wausua, WI
Bus Departs - 5:30am (Arrive at 5:15am - Set TWO Alarms!)
8:30am - First Race
11:10am - D1 Varsity Boys (2017 Results)
11:35am - D1 JV Boys (2017 Results)
12:00pm - Awards (Varsity - top 2 teams & 20 individuals, JV top 1 team & 20 individuals)
*** Bring $...we will stop to eat***
We hope to return about 4:30pm

NEWS & NOTES
Clothing Order #1 is here....put your name in your items...(no word on order #2 yet)
$25 for JMM bucket hats...talk to Coach Casey
Tuesday Reports & Attendance checks start this week...get to class & get ahead on your work
SLEEP, HYDRATE, STRETCH, & EAT WELL....take care of your bodies!

UPCOMING EVENTS
Sept 9th - Ironman Volunteering (Optional) 12 - 4pm or 4 - 8 pm - Lot 60 UW Campus
Sept 17th - Team Pictures - 3:45pm

Verona Invite - Varsity = 14th, JV = 2nd

When I awoke Saturday morning to thunder and lightning I was not sure if we would get our first meet of the season completed or not. The lightning passed but the rain persisted leaving a soft, wet, and muddy course to be traversed at Verona HS. Our inexperience in the varsity race showed as our team got out too slow for the first mile and struggled to pass people on the difficult course conditions. Our JV runners learned from this and did a much better job of positioning themselves in the field to place well. On the day, times were not super fast but cross country is not always about running super fast times. Saturday was hopefully a learning experience to be prepared for all weather conditions, to compete regardless what the course throws at you, and to realize we are better than what we performed on Saturday. We got our first look at many of our conference and sectionals foes at the Verona Invite... now it is time to set our sights on improving so we can compete with these teams in six weeks. The work we are putting in at practice will get us to our team goals. We need to carry that confidence from practice into our next meet and keep improving each day. As a whole, week 3 was a successful week and our 14th place finish does not represent what JMM Boys CC can do this season. I hope each member of our team comes out next week to really compete and show the progress our team is making.

The varsity race was a first for Peter B, Joey C, Brett N, and Sam S and combined Imaad S, Peter V, and Peter S have only run in 10 varsity races. Racing against this competition is different and difficult. Our group got out too slow in the first mile, spending too much time and energy on the second loop trying to pass people on the hills and mud. We needed to be out about 20 seconds faster the first mile which could have led to 40+ seconds improvement over the 5k. Imaad led the charge in the second half of the race finishing strong for 48th in 18:14. The 30 second gap we had between 1 - 2 will be helped next week with some new faces but today Peter B did a great job of leading our 2 - 5 runners to the finish. Peter ran a personal best 18:44 and in the next twenty seconds we saw Peter V (18:54), Brett N (19:02), and Joey C (19:05) cross the line. This group can work together in the coming weeks to really improve and make our team more competitive. Sam S (19:22) learned a lot as a sophomore in his first varsity race and Peter S (19:38) rounded out or top seven. Finishing 14th in a meet of 23 teams is tough but I know we can do better as the season moves on...so we get back to work and look forward to the next race.

Our JV team finished a very solid 2nd place as a few runners looked to earn a varsity spot. We have our work cut out to chase down Madison West but now we know how much improvement we need to make. JV was led by Sophomores Aidan P in 3rd - 18:20 and Dylan A in 5th 18:32. Aidan S was 11th in 18:43 and will join these guys in trying to help out our varsity next week. Another sophomore Cole W earned a medal with his 18th place 19:07 and junior Nick B set another PR rounding out our top 5 running 19:35 for 32nd. We'll need to tighten up our front group to have a chance to compete with some of the top JV teams in the state but these guys have been working hard and I know they will be able to continue to improve. The hard work is starting to show as even on a muddy and difficult course we saw 15 lifetime PRs set...these guys didn't care what the weather was like, they were going to compete and that led to fast times. Lifetime bests were set by Tim Z, Matthew B, Micah S, Liam J, Santi R, Sean S, Ethan Y, Alex B, Rees H, Jake K, Jakob M, Felipe R, Mick S, and Alex T. Keep up the good work!

School starts this week...start your year off right. Be on time to class, participate, ask questions, get help if need, turn in your homework, and make good decisions. Take care of business in the classroom so we have no distractions from taking care of business on the cross country course.

RESULTS
Boys Varsity
Boys JV

NEXT MEET
Saturday September 8th
Hadler Invite (Menomonee Falls) @ Rotary Park
Bus Departure - 6:45am (arrive early...bus will NOT wait)
9:45am - First Race
PLEASE NOTE TIME CHANGES (different then parent handbook)
9:45am - JV Boys (2017 Results)
11:00am - Varsity Boys (2017 Results)
12:15pm - Awards (Varsity - top 15 individuals & top team, JV - top 5 individuals)
**** Bring $ to eat...we will stop to eat on the way home****
(This is our first year going to this meet... my guess for return time is 3pm)

UPCOMING EVENTS
9/3 (Monday) - Captain's Practice @ UW Arboretum (meet at visitors center) - 8:00am - 9:30am
9/4 (Tuesday) - School Starts - Practice starts at 3:45pm...change in locker room & meet by "shed"
9/9 (Sunday) - Ironman Volunteering @ Lot 60 on UW (optional) 12pm - 4pm OR 4pm - 8pm

NEWS & NOTES
- Clothing order...we are still waiting for Order #1 from July...we are hopeful it will be delivered this week and we will get it home to families right away (Order #2 from August is supposed to be delivered September 14th BUT #1 is over 2 weeks delayed.....so??)
- Get some SLEEP...school starts this week, get in a good routine
- Eat, hydrate, stretch, & ice to take care of your body
- To help with the recovery process - bring a water bottle to hydrate right after runs...you can even bring a snack to start to replace those calories
- JMM CC Bucket Hat - Available at practice from Coach Casey for $25