2021 Season Recap

2021 Season Highlights
Hadler Invite - Varsity AND JV Team Champions
Grade Level Challenge - Team Runner ups
City Championships - Team Runner ups
All City - 1st Team = Jake Z & Mick S
City JV Individual Champion = Jakob M
All Conference - 2nd Team = Mick S
State Qualifier - Jake Z

2021 Season Results
Division 1 State Meet
DeForest Sectional 
Big 8 Conference Meet -
Madison City Championships - 

Team GPA - 3.698

For the twelfth season in a row our team has exceeded our team goal for GPA (3.4 or higher). This was our BEST EVER performance in the last fifteen years. KEEP WORKING HARD IN THE CLASSROOM!!! Our team has TWELVE student athletes with a perfect 4.0 GPA, who were joined by eleven other teammates for a perfect 4.0 GPA during the 1st semester! 95% of our athletes met our individual goal of exceeding 3.0 for their cumulative GPA. Those athletes needing help in the classroom should ask a teammate, talk to their teachers, and get a tutor. There are many options available at Memorial if you take advantage of them. Keep up the great tradition of Memorial Distance Runners in the classroom.

State - Jake Z = 44th best D1 Runner!

Great racing by Jake at the 2021 State Meet. We set a game plan...and somehow, we even executed the game plan :) This led to a great race for Jake and a fine finish to our 2021 season. The D1 WIAA state meet brings together 190 of the best runners from around the state. 140 which qualify with their teams and 50 individuals like Jake who run independently. Our plan for Jake was to get to the front of the "bubble" which places him behind the leaders and chase group but the front of the peloton "bubble" group. We asked for a 5:10 mile to accomplish that and Jake went through in 5:10.7 in 47th place setting him up for a great race. With familiar faces around him he worked hard to pass people...which at the state meet means you are holding your spot. Jake's second mile put him into 43rd place and set for a top 50 finish. He battled the hills and stayed focus bringing home a 44th place finish in 16:57. 44th out of 190 runners is great! He was the 19th best individual qualifier (3rd best from our sectional...our sectional had the 5 best individual finishers). Running at the Ridges GC in Wisconsin Rapids is a special experience. It was great to see so many athletes & fans at the meet cheering on Jake! Many guys even tried to keep up with Coach Casey for cheering...now they understand :0

2021 had many up & down experiences it was fun to finish our season at the State Meet. It is always more fun to have a team competing but getting Jake to the meet was still special. We graduate multiple seniors...including Jake but we have a lot of young athletes coming back too. I hope that 2022 can bring a return to the state meet and maybe next it will be more than one individual. The off-season awaits and track season this spring. Keep running...enjoy the process and enjoy the journey.

44th - 16:57 - Jake Zarov

RESULTS

Live Results (can see splits/places at each mile)
D1 Boys Results

NEXT EVENT
November 9th (Tues) - 6:30pm (less than an hour)
Team Awards Ceremony @ JMM in the Auditorium
Attendees should park in the Jefferson parking lot & enter near the Field House....all attendees must wear a mask while in the building. We ask athletes sit in the "athlete" section and families sit in socially distance groups in the auditorium. This will be a chance to recap the season, give athletes their participation/varsity awards, recognize team award winners, and celebrate the 2021 season. Additionally, some "old" JMM CC and Madison Mileage Club clothing items will be for sale ranging in price from $10 - $20.

UPCOMING RACES
Nov 14th - Madison Marathon - 5k/10/13.1 miles - Training plan
Nov 25th - Berbee Derby - 5k/10k - Training plan

NEWS & NOTES
- If you can't attend the Awards Ceremony contact Coach Casey to receive awards & season recap
- Speed & Strength meets Tues, Wed, Thurs in the Lower Weight Room @ 3:45pm (done around 5pm)
- Make a plan for winter training & include others in your plan...TOGETHER we get better

Sectionals - Team = 5th, Jake Z Earns Trip to State

Annika C & Jake Z Qualify for State

The WIAA creates ten Division 1 sectionals based off of geography each year to qualify two teams and five individuals for the WIAA State meet. Our geography has always landed us in a difficult sectional...this is both bad & good. It is bad because it is hard to get out of our sectional to state but it is good because if we make it to state we know we will be one of the top teams/individuals at the state meet. This season Middleton, Madison West, DeForest, Verona, & Madison Memorial have all been ranked by the WCCCA coaches association. All these teams are teams that are capable of competing at the state meet but only 2 qualify out of this sectional. Our sectional is one of (if not the most) most competitive sectionals in the state. How do you get out of this sectional? Make sure your team is at a level to finish in the top 10 in the state or even be ready to compete for a trophy at the state meet. This year, we were not at that level but we hoped to get some individuals through to the state meet. 

The boys race was competitive from the gun as some individuals who were looking to qualify individually and hoping to pull a low number for there team took out the pace hard & fast. Our team settled into the next group of runners & were right in the mix with the top 5 teams in the race. Jake Z moved towards the front of the race finishing 7th overall and since no #2 runners were ahead of him we knew that 2 of these guys would qualify with a team and leave Jake as a top 5 individual qualifier. Jake ran 16:54 to earn his first trip to the state meet in Rapids. AJ came in 7 seconds later just missing out on being an individual qualifier (he was the 4th best #2 runner in the race). Mick was our #3 runner in 17:20 (4th best #3 runner in the race). Jakob M and Henry B finished together as our #4 & 5 runners in 17:56 (both as the 5th best runners for their # in the race). Nick Z ran 18:01 in his first of hopefully many Sectional races and Jonathan finished his first varsity season with an 18:14 as a sophomore. Our #6 runner was the 3rd best runner in the race and our #7 was the 2nd best seventh runner in the race...our depth was strong. Overall, we need to shift up our front of the race to put more guys running in the top 10 and with the leaders from the start. Our depth and our strength will follow to keep up with a tight pack. Who will step up and make that happen for us?? That is why we run the races and that is what off-seasons are all about.

This race was a very solid race for our team. We had higher hopes at the start of the season but where our team was at the end of the season kind of matches where we are at. This season we beat multiple teams who made it to state and only loss to teams that made it to state (except LaFollette who took 3rd at their sectional). We are one of the top 25 teams in the state...the next step, be one of the top 2 teams in our sectional and show that we are a top 10 (or better) team in the state. Jake will represent us well at the state meet and all team members should help celebrate and cheer on this effort. 

RESULTS
DeForest Sectional
All Sectionals

NEXT COMPETITION
Saturday October 30th
WIAA State Championships @ Ridges Golf Course - Wisconsin Rapids, WI
Van - 8:00am
12:00pm - First Race - Boys D2
12:35pm - Boys D1 Race (2019 Results) (Jake is in Lane 3)
2:25pm - Girls D1 Race (Annika is in Lane 3)
3:40pm - Awards - top 2 teams and 10 individuals

SPECTATOR INFORMATION
Come cheer on Jake & Annika AND see some amazing Cross Country running!
Tickets = $9 --> Must be purchased in advanced through a mobile device
Parking & Shuttles = $5 per vehicle --> Arrive early to park & ride shuttle to the course
Course Map - HERE
Live Results - Link should be located HERE on race day

Big 8 Conference Championships - Varsity = 6th, JV1 = 3rd, JV2 = 3rd

The Big 8 Conference is one of (if not the) best boys conferences in the state of Wisconsin. Year in and year out it produces 4 - 6 top 20 ranked teams and sends 3 - 4 teams to the state meet each year. To be competitive in this meet you have to have a good team and be on the day of the meet. This year we had a good team but Saturday was not our "on day" and that happens in cross country. At many meets that means you slip 1 or 2 spots...this year, it probably cost us more. Such is life in athletics and we learn from it and move forward. We celebrate the wins we did have, we learn from the struggles of the day, and we head back out into the world as better people because we showed up and competed. I'm proud of the Spartan CC boys for what they have endured during this 2021 season and our efforts we put forth at the Big 8 meet on Saturday in Sheehan park. Our varsity finished 6th place, our JV1 was 3rd, an our JV2 was 3rd. We stamped our finish on the season for the JV runners and prepare our varsity for one more go round at DeForest for Sectionals. Many athletes have begun looking at the off-season or talking about next year...but first take a moment to enjoy this season. The many triumphs, struggles, and funny stories along the way. Congrats JMM CC 2021!

The varsity race was led by Senior Mick S who earned All-Conference honors with his 17:25 and 13th place finish. He was followed by AJ who placed 17th in 17:31 just missing out on All-Conference. Henry B had a great race finishing in 17:49. Jakob M continues to run well finishing in the top 30 with his time of 18:01 in 29th. Nick Z ran to a 34th place finish in his first of hopefully many Big 8 races (but hopefully future races he runs with both shoes on the whole way). Jonathan B was close behind in 18:20. This varsity group has worked hard all year long and depending on the week we have beaten some great teams but have also shown we have some vulnerabilities. We will look to put together a great race for all 7 runners next week at Sectionals.

The JV1 ran a competitive race and weren't quite enough for West and LaFollette had a freshman have a great day which helped them sneak ahead of us for 2nd. Our 3rd place finish was a strong finish as we took down some great Big 8 teams in the process. Freshman Finn (8th) and Soph Tommy S (9th) led the team to the finish with top 10 places in 18:25 & 18:26 respectively. Rees, Charlie, Alvaro all finished within 7 seconds of each other to take 19th, 20th, & 22nd. Our scorers were within 30 seconds of each other which was great to see today. I look forward to some of the underclassmen helping us winning some JV races next year or maybe even helping us out in Varsity. Felipe (19:09) ran a great last race in his senior finale. Jack G was our final JV1 finisher on the day for our team that took 3rd.

Our JV2 depth took a hit over the last 2 years as our numbers have dipped some but this group is also the group that made the most improvements this season. I was very pleased with how well this group worked in practice and competed on race day...big things are on the horizon. For 2021 we weren't quite deep enough to take down West or Middleton but again finished solidly in 3rd out of 10 teams. Diego had a great race earning top 10 with his 19:04 for 7th place. Alex Br was next in 19:18 for 12th. As Alex T and Alex Ba helped complete the Alex, Alex, Alex finish by coming in 19:34 and 19:41. Logan gave us 5 scores under 20:00 and rounded out scoring 5. Derek R and Max L ran season bests on today's difficult course. While Will T, Fred S, MacCoy L, Jack C, Sai, and Tommy H all ended the season with lifetime PRs. Many great performances were had today and I hope they lead to big goals for the off-season and even faster times in the future. The next All-Conference runner may just be from this group of runners (Mick S placed 18th in JV 2 just a few short seasons ago) dream big and train harder. 

Alex V won our annual Rock Paper Scissors Championships in dominating fashion that hasn't been seen in decades only losing one match on the day. He took out Senior Elliot I in the finals 3 - 0 stories of this day will be told for years to come...congrats Alex.

RESULTS
All Races (click on links for your race...you can see mile/2mile splits)
Varsity Team Scores
JV1 Team Scores
JV 2 Team Scores

NEXT COMPETITION (Varsity Only)
Saturday October 23rd
WIAA Sectional @ DeForest - Linde Soccer Complex - DeForest, WI 
Bus - 8:30am
10:30am - Boys Race (2019 Results)
11:15am - Girls Race
12:00pm - Awards - top 2 teams and 5 individuals not on those teams
** We will not stop to eat...arrive back at Memorial around 1:00pm

No pets at the meet! - Thanks

NEWS & NOTES
Captains are collecting money - $30 for 2021 Long Sleeve shirt & coaches gifts OR $10 for coaches gifts
October 18th - EVERYONE meets at 2:45pm (JV runners turn in uniforms & short meeting...Varsity runners will practice like normal)
End of Year Awards Ceremony - TBD (more info to be emailed to families)
Clothing Orders - Sweatshirts were canceled (another 2 - 4 weeks wait) you should be getting a refund on your credit card. Shorts are hopefully delivered on Monday.
Sectionals - Everyone should try to come out to DeForest to cheer on the varsity for a chance to race at State
Last chance Mile for JV runners...4:15pm Tuesday Oct 19th (meet at the track ready to race)

City Championships - Varsity = 2nd & JV = 2nd

 On a warm Friday evening the best runners from the Madison area converged on Lake Farm County Park for the annual running of the Madison City Championships. The cloud cover arrived just as races were beginning and their may have been a sprinkle in the air but it was a warm October afternoon. Memorial took on West, LaFollette, East, & Edgewood for 2021 bragging rights and the start to our championship season. Our runners were ready to go and ran great on the day as we saw 15 runners race to season or lifetime PRs. The varsity race saw us take down LaFollette (who had beaten us at Stoughton & Midwest) and put Jake Z and Mick S on the 1st team All-City Team. Our JV had the City Champion in Jakob M and the City Runner Up in Rees H and just missed pulling off the victory by 2 points but made great strides on a team that had beat us pretty handily earlier in the year...we get one more shot at them in the Big 8 race. Overall it was a good day for the Spartans and a nice start to the weekends Homecoming events.

The varsity race saw a patient first mile and everyone was represented early in the race. As things stretched out Jake Z and Mick S represented JMM in the lead group. Jake Z had a great finish securing City Runner Up honors while Mick's kick got him all the way back into the top 5 and earning All-City 1st team honors. AJ ran tough today just missing out on All-City finishing in 11th. Henry ran a PR of 17:25 to earn a top 15 finish. He was followed by soph Jonathan B in a PR of 17:42 and freshman Nick Z also in a lifetime best of 17:43. Freshman Finn rounded out our top 7 on the day with his finish in 23rd. It is important to win individual battles in a small race like today's City meet. We accomplished that with LaFollette but couldn't quite match the depth of West. We have some stiff competition again next week at the Big 8 Championships but how our team performed today shows that we are ready to run fast and compete for every spot down the stretch. Looking forward to the last couple weeks of the season.

The JV race was a two team competition as we tried to match the depth of West. When we raced against them at Midwest they placed 4 runners before our #1 and beat us by over 70 points. Today we were ready to race up front better and seniors Jakob M & Rees H led the charge. Jakob pulled away midrace to win the JV City Championship in 17:54 giving JMM back to back JV City Champs. Rees finished with a great kick to earn his Runner Up finish in sub 18 as well, crossing the line in 17:58. Then the battle began as West's pack was right on Rees's tail. Tommy S had a great race running a lifetime PR of 18:12 finishing 8th and Alvaro battled for every spot along the way giving us 4 finishers in the top 10. Charlie M charged hard in the end crossing the line in 15th. In the end only 2 points separated first and second place but West earned the victory today. I was excited to see our improvement as a team since Midwest and glad we get one more shot at the Big 8 meet. Felipe R and Jack G will join these top 5 to compete in the JV1 race at next week's Big 8 championship. Our JV kids had lots of good races as many came close to or beat their season PRs including: Derek R (20:31), Daleep S (26:15), Peter S (19:56), Logan S (19:27), Fred S (21:38), Alex V (22:32), Sai A (23:55), David B (21:52), Liam B (22:47), Jack C (23:56), and PJ M (21:01). These guys are running fast at the right time of the season and we hope to get everyone one more fast race at Sheehan Park next week at Conference. Make sure to get some good sleep this week, take care of your body, and eat/hydrate well so we can put one more good effort out there with our JV runners. JMM CC Every Runner, Every Run, Every Day!

RESULTS
Varsity - Overall - Team

JV - Overall - Team

NEXT COMPETITION
Saturday October 16th 

Big 8 Conference Championships @ Sun Prairie - Sheehan Park - Sun Prairie, WI

Bus - 7:30am

9:30am - First Race

10:05am - Boys Varsity (2019 Results)

11:10am - Boys JV1 (2019 Results)

12:20pm - Boys JV 2 (2019 Results)

1:00pm - Awards - top 15 individuals

**We will NOT stop to eat...plan accordingly. We should return to JMM around 2:00pm

WIAA Regulations state NO DOGS at events...please help out with this by leaving your pets at home.

NEWS & NOTES

--> Captains will be collecting money this week for coaches gifts & team shirts...more info to be posted

--> Monday practice - right after school = finished by 5:15pm (practices this week will be a little shorter for JV runners...use this extra time to get caught up on school work and get extra rest)

--> JV Runners will have a required practice on Monday Oct 18th @ 2:45pm...uniforms & other checked out items must be returned at this time. Only varsity runners preparing for Sectionals will have required practice the rest of the week of Oct 18th

Stoughton Invite - Varsity = 5th, JV = 2nd

 Another fall Saturday with another great opportunity to compete over the 5k distance. The competition was stiff at the Stoughton Invitational but our boys were up to the challenge. We weaved through the course as quickly as we could and saw some great performances. The course setup may have not allowed for many PRs but in head to head competitions our athletes improved from the last time we had seen some of these teams and that is all we can ask for from the runners. This was a good final tuneup for our championship series run that begins next week with the City Championships. Time to put in that little bit of extra focus to getting good sleep, eating well, and being ready for race days. Big things to come for everyone over the last couple weeks of the season. Every runner, every run, every day - JMM CC

The varsity race had a loaded field including SPASH (ranked #3), Middleton (#9), Madison LaFollette (#12), Oconomowoc (#16), and our own Madison Memorial (#19). Our guys competed great as Jake Z led the way with his 7th place finish and AJ was the 2nd best #2 runner on the day shortly behind in 9th. It was great to see two JMM jerseys at the front of the race. Mick was right with conference foes Middleton & LaFollettes pack earning a medal in 20th place. Henry & Jonathan closed out our scorers finishing 41th & 42nd and they were quickly followed by Finn & Rees who finished together in 46 & 48th. Stevens Point is the only team that had 7 runners faster than us today and that showed through in the JV race too. This group now prepares to compete against LaFollette & West in a much smaller race at the City championships where individual races for positions will be very important. Today was a good step forward for this group and an improvement over the last couple weeks.

The JV race was taken over up front by SPASH but our team made a nice presence in the top 10 at Nick Z (7th) and Jakob M (9th) led the way. Alvaro held on for a medal in 14th as Tommy S just missed out on one in 16th. Felipe held on strong as our scoring 5th to secure the 2nd place team finish over Big 8 foes Middleton & LaFollette. We will need to see if we can step up our game next week to take on West at City and beat LaFollette again and then we see West & Middleton with a Big 8 Conference title on the line in two weeks. Derek R, Daleep, and Tommy H all contributed season best performances on the day and lots of guys beat some of their competitors who got the better of them last week at Midwest. I look forward to the City race where it will be important to continue to run hard with our teammates and then we will finish the season in Sun Prairie at the Big 8 meet. Exciting & fast times ahead...keep up the good work.

RESULTS
Complete Results (scroll to see your race)

NEXT COMPETITION
Friday October 8th 
City Championships @ Madison West - Lake Farm County Park - Madison, WI
Early Release - 1:15pm
NO BUS --> Carpool from JMM to Lake Farm County Park
2:00pm - Arrive at Lake Farm
3:30pm - Boys Varsity (2019 Results)
4:30pm - Boys JV (2019 Results)
5:45pm - Awards - Varsity - top 10 individuals & 1 team, JV - top 10 individuals
* Athletes should plan to be at the meet through the team cool down which will conclude around 5:45pm

** WIAA Regulations state NO DOGS at events...please help out with this by leaving your pets at home.

NEWS & NOTES
Monday practice -> right after school...finished up by 5:15pm
Clothing order...we are still waiting on a couple items (jackets, sweatshirts, shorts...I think)
JV athletes will have practice through/including Monday Oct 18th
Championship season...JV = City & Conference, Varsity = City, Conference, Sectional, & State

Midwest Invite - Varsity = 15th, JV Blue = 4th, & JV White = 8th

Schools from around the state and even IL & TX gathered on a beautiful fall morning at Blackhawk Golf Course in Janesville, WI for the 83rd Annual Midwest Invitational. The course was in great condition, the competition was out of this world, and the weather definitely cooperated. Many JMM Spartan runners took advantage of this opportunity to run personal lifetime and season records! I hope we can learn from this meet and bring this intensity to the final 3 weeks of the season as we try to chip away even a little more from these fast times and finish the season strong.

The JV Blue race was competitive from the get go and it was great to see Rees & Alvaro lead our group into the top 10 early in the race. To win a race like this you need 2 things: Single digit finishes (top 10) AND a less than 30 second gap between 1 - 5. We nailed 1 of these 2 which is what led to our strong 4th place finish. Although we didn't have anyone hold on to the top 10 our gap between our 1 - 5 was less than 20 seconds (we actually had 7 runners within 30 seconds of our #1). This group continues to improve and I look forward to us becoming more comfortable running at the front of these races and scoring those low cards. Rees dipped under 18:00 today for 17th place finish in 17:54. Freshman Finn (18:01) and Nick Z (18:07) were close behind to be our #2 & 3 runners. Charlie M finished strong in a PR of 18:11 and Alvaro hung in there for the team with gutsy finish of 18:13. The wave of green didn't stop there as Felipe (18:15) and Alex Br (18:17) ran great PRs to earn top 50 finishes. Tommy S broke 18:30 for the first time in 18:27 and Alex Ba crushed the 19:00 mark running 18:41. Diego and Alex T broke 19:00 as freshman Hunter ran a great PR just missing in 19:05. Gio B and Owen R rounded out the great racing in the Blue JV race with this season best times on the course. I look forward to this group replicating this performance at Stoughton as we will try to compete with SPASH & Middleton in the JV races for some more competitive times.

The Varsity race was out fast and only got faster. As a team we always talk about finding your teammates to run with and in a huge field like this it is even more important. Today we didn't do that and our gaps got large (between our #1 - 2 = 35 secs, between 3 - 4 = 40 secs, our 1 -5 gap was a 1:35). In the pack at a meet like this 10 seconds can be 20 points. Today was another learning experience for our group and we can grow and become better from this experience. Jake Z had a great PR in 16:12 earning a 25th place finish. AJ & Mick were 50th & 51st respectively with their sub 17:00 minute performances. Henry was our 4th runner in 17:29 and Jonathan finished in 17:47. Jakob M and Jack G rounded out our seven runners in varsity. We let some teams slip by us in this race that we can beat and now we need to get healthy, learn from this experience, and come back out next week ready to compete.

The JV White race finished up the day for our high school runners as we saw Logan & Aatman chase that elusive top 10 finish. Aatman ran a great PR of 19:29 to grab 10th as Logan held on for 16th in 19:41 in his own PR. Peter S ran great in 20:04 and Elliot I hit 21:00 right on the mark. Owen B stepped up to be our 5th today running 21:03 and freshman teammate PJ was close behind in 21:15. Will T & Max L continue to improve & run well and newcomer Fred took nice chunk of time of his best performance of the season. Elijah finished strong again passing multiple guys at the end. Alex V and David B both went sub 23:00 as Maccoy & Liam B joined the sub 24 club. Jack & Sai continue to improve their PR times and Tommy and Daleep finished strong with season best too. It was a bit warmer for this race but the guys still came ready to compete and through some very tough racing found those fast times too. Some guys have to rewrite their goals for the last weeks of the season while others are going to continue that grind towards those elusive times.

MEET RESULTS
Blue Race
Varsity
White Race

NEXT COMPETITION
Saturday October 2nd
Stoughton Invite @ Stoughton HS
Bus - 7:00am
9:30 am - Boys Varsity (2019 Results)
10:30 am - Boys JV (2019 Results)
12:00 pm - Awards - Varsity 1 team & 25 individuals, JV 1 team & 15 individuals
** We will NOT stop to eat on the way home...approximate return to JMM is 1:00pm

NEWS & NOTES
Monday practice...right after school --> done around 5:15pm, please plan accordingly
Progress report grades coming out...make sure you have all your work turned in & be prepared for quizzes/tests
Take care of your body & mind...stay healthy = get some sleep
Clothing order...we got some items on Friday but many items were on backorder

Smiley Invite - Varsity = 3rd Overall (2nd in D1 Large School), JV = 2nd Overall

 Full write up will be posted here

RESULTS
Boys D1 Overall Results
Boys D1 Large School Results
Boys D1 JV Results

NEXT COMPETITION
Saturday September 25th
Midwest Invite @ Blackhawk GC - Janesville, WI
Bus - 6:45am
9:00am - First Race
9:35am - Boys Blue JV Race (approx 20:30 cutoff) (2019 Results)
10:45am - Boys Varsity Race (2019 Results)
12:00pm - Boys White JV Race (2019 Results)
12:40pm - Middle School 1 mile Race (2019 Results)
Awards - Varsity = top 40 individuals & 3 teams, JV (both Blue & White) - top 30 individuals
** We will stop for food on the way home...bring $ or pack a lunch!
Approximate return to JMM is 3:00pm

** 4th-8th graders who are siblings/friends of Memorial Athletes or attend Memorial feeder schools can compete in the 1 mile cross country race at 12:40pm representing JMM...to be entered in the race, parents/coaches must contact Coach Casey (crhopp@hotmail.com) by Wed 9/22 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 bibs will need to be picked up the day of the race by 12:25pm in our team camp area

NEWS & NOTES
Clothing Order #2 has yet to be delivered...we are hopeful but are not holding our breath that it will be delivered this week
As we head into the final month of the season it is important we are doing everything possible to stay healthy, eligible, and ready to race at our best

Big 8 Grade Level Challenge = 2nd Place

The boys ran to a solid 2nd place finish at Tuesday night's Big 8 Grade Level Challenge. Not all teams treat this meet the same but we bring everyone who is healthy to compete to this meet and came within 2 points of winning this season. Having strong competitors across each grade is the name of the game for this race and our team represented that well this year. We had Mick & Henry who medaled in the senior race, AJ & Jack going 1, 2 in the junior race, Jonathan earning a medal in the sophomore race and Finn doing the same in the freshman race. It was great to see so many JMM green jerseys running well and I look forward to seeing even more of them at the front of races the remainder of this season and moving into the future. Our team is super competitive this season and I enjoy seeing us learn how to be front of the pack runners. We were back on the Verona course for the second time in less than 10 days and many guys showed they learned from their experiences. We had lifetime PRs from Fred, Alex V, Sai, David B, Jack C, Maccoy, and PJ. I hope the underclassmen have learned a lot about this course because I think we will see a lot of races on this course in the future and some that will carry great end of the season expectations. Tuesday's meet was just a stepping stone towards our end of the season goals. We will get back at it in practice and on Saturday as we prepare for a trip north to attend one of the most storied invites in the state...the Smiley Invite (new location this year). Keep up the good work at practice & in the classroom. Every runner, every run, every day.

RESULTS
Team Scores
Boys Frosh/Soph Results
Boys Jr/Sr Results

NEXT COMPETITION
Saturday September 18th
Smiley Invite @ Wausau East HS
**Please note location change & bus time change**
Bus - 6:30am
8:30am - 1st Race
10:00am - D1 Races begin (Girls)
11:10am - D1 Boys Varsity (2019 Results)
11:35am - D1 Boys JV (2019 Results)
12:00pm - Awards - Varsity = 2 teams & 20 individuals, JV = 1 team & 20 individuals
** We will stop & eat on the way home...bring $ or a sack lunch to eat**
Approximate return to JMM is 4:00pm

NEWS & NOTES
Take care of your body...get more sleep, eat healthy all day long, hydrate, stretch, ice, SLEEP
Take care of business in the classroom --> If you need help in a class, let us know & we can connect you with some resources/teammates to help with your class
Order #2 Clothing Order has been delayed in printing...we are hoping to have them soon

Hadler Invite - JV = Champions & Moe Wins Race, Varsity = Champions

We headed to the Hadler Invite on Saturday in Menomonee Falls to see some competition from the SE part of Wisconsin. There are some good teams at this meet including Shorewood (ranked #2 in D2), Hartford (#15 in D1), and Waukesha West (#19). The Madison Memorial boys were up for the challenge as 29 athletes ran lifetime PRs and the team won the Varsity AND the JV competition. This is the first time since I've been coaching that we have won both Varsity & JV on the same day (it is fun). Our JV won the Hadler Invite for the third time while this was the first of hopefully many times for the Varsity team. Our squad has been working really hard in practice and it was nice to have the results and the places back up this hard work. We know we have more work to do to reach our season goals but it was nice to see many smiling faces at the awards ceremony on Saturday. Let's make sure to take care of our bodies, take care of business in the classroom, and get ready to go out and perform at more invites this season.

The JV boys ran a great race to set the stage for the day. Senior Jakob M took the lead midway through the race and never looked back as he won the race in a lifetime PR of 17:48. Rees ran a smart race and finished strong taking 2nd behind his teammate. I'd like to see our gap between our #2 & 3 be smaller but when our 3rd came it was with a wall of green JMM jerseys in support as we put our next 6 runners all between 7th and 13th. Charlie M (18:42) and Nick Z (18:46) earned top ten finishes. While Alex T (18:57), Felipe (18:57), and Diego (18:57) all broke 19:00 minutes and Tommy S closed out our top 8 finishers closely behind in 19:01. We scored 28 points to convincingly win over Hamilton who had 54 points. Other lifetime PRs include Alex Br (19:20), Owen R (20:11), Peter S (21:39), Ben A (20:53), Alex Ba (19:29), Aatman (20:51), Fred (24:39), Sai (26:34), David B (24:47), Owen B (22:30), Tommy H (26:35), Maccoy (25:37), PJ (23:43), Hunter (20:24), and Ian (19:45). This group continues to improve and I look forward to see big time drops and improved places as we continue on through the season. They continue to learn from their experiences, help each other out, and push each other to be better. Keep up the good work!

Varsity had a tough battle throughout the race but hung on to win the meet by 2 points. Every point counts in every race and today we were on the correct side of a close race. Jake Z ran a great PR taking 4th in the time of 16:37. Mick earned a top 10 finish with his PR of 17:00 while AJ was close behind in 11th in 17:03. Our gap between our #3 and #4 runners was too big and needs to close for us to meet our season goals but today we barely snuck it out. Henry B was our 4th in 17:40 with Jack G right behind him in 17:48. Jonathan B ran a lifetime PR of 17:58 with only 1 shoe on for most of the race...not bad. Alvaro (18:09) and Finn (18:18) got valuable experience in their first varsity races. They were the best #7 & #8 runners on the day and would have been scorers for all but the top 6 teams. This group has come a long way already in just one week and I look forward to what we can do later in the season. Keep competing and keep improving

RESULTS
Live Results (click on individual races)

NEXT COMPETITION
Tuesday September 14th
Big 8 Grade Level Challenge @ Verona HS (Stewart Woods)
** Please note...bus & time changes! **
Early Release - 1:30pm
NO BUS -> Carpool from JMM to Verona HS
2:15pm - Arrive @ Verona (map)
3:30pm - Frosh/Soph Boys (2019 Results)
4:50pm - Jr/Sr Boys (2019 Results)
6:15pm - Awards - top 5 individuals in each grade level - team = lowest score of 7 runners
*Athletes should plan to be at the meet through the team cool down which will be completed around 5:45pm

NEWS & NOTES
Team Pictures - Mon 9/14 @ 3:45pm - bring uniform top & bottom for pictures
Grade checks begin this week...make sure you have your work turned in & keep up with assignments
Attendance - unexcused absences = sit a meet...get to class & keep those attendance sheets looking clean
Running Hats - $20 - only a few left...get one while they last

LOOKING AHEAD
Smiley Invite has changed locations - It will be hosted at Wausau East HS
Bus time for the meet will be changing too (later...able to sleep in a little more) I'll post here when it is confirmed.
Race times will be the same & return home will be the same

Verona Invitational - Varsity = 4th & JV = 2nd

It had been awhile since the Madison Memorial boys cross country team had attended an invitational and what a great way to get back into the action. The boys competed in the Verona Invitational at the new Stewart Woods School Forest in Verona breaking in the new (very legit) cross country course with 24 schools from Wisconsin & Illinois. The field included 6 ranked teams from the state, many of our top competition from the Big 8 Conference, and our very own JMM runners. The course is a fun & challenging course for runners & spectators alike and our boys took on the challenge valiantly. The boys varsity started off the day being competitive the entire way and finishing 4th out of 24 teams. Now we set our eyes on taking down Middleton (#9 in state rankings), Verona (#8), and Madison West (#15)...all teams that are in our range of competition. The JV group had an impressive day taking 2nd in the large field of 389 runners only losing to cross town competition Madison West. We will return to this course for the Grade Level Challenge in just over a week and we can use what we learned today to help us run even faster on this course. This meet was a great way to start our competitive portion of our schedule and I look forward to bigger and better things in the weeks to come...including some 1st place team finishes!

Our varsity was led today by Jake Z who ran a PR, broke 17 minutes and earned a top 10 finish to lead our team. We look forward to having more join him in the sub 17 club and set our sights now to 16:30 & faster. Not far behind was Mick in 17:12 (PR) finishing 15th the 2nd best #2 runner on the day. AJ was our #3 runner earning a medal with his top 30 finish. Henry finished at 18:00 as our fourth runner and Jack G was 18:08 giving us 5 runners in the top 50. Our gap of #1 - 5 was 1:10 and we need to close this down under 1:00 again and closer to :45 if possible. If we had been there today...it would have been a team victory and we know we can do this. It is important in large field like this to work with your teammates and keep an eye on them during the race to keep our group closer together. Jonathan B in his first varsity race was our #6 runner and the best #6 runner in the field showing our depth and that he is ready to help push our scorers. Jakob M also in his first varsity race rounded out our top 7 by being the 6th best #7 runner in a 24 team field. This group has room for improvement and great things ahead as a team this fall. The competition for spots on varsity will only make us a better team and this group's ability to work well together in practice will help everyone reach faster times.

The JV ran well together today as we got a tough challenge from Madison West, now it is time to go to work and make improvements. Alvaro led the group to the finish with his 6th place finish in 18:36. The remainder of our pack closed in 11th, 12th, & 13th as freshman Finn G, freshman Nick Z, and senior Rees H all finished under 19:00. Charlie M ran a lifetime PR of 19:07 to round out the scorers in 17th place. The :30 gap between 1 - 5 is exactly what we are looking for in our JV race...now we just need to move this group forward 15 - 30 seconds and this will come with experience and the desire to race with the front runners. We had a group of runners join the sub 20 club and now set their eyes on joining their teammates chasing sub 19. Today Felipe, Tommy S, Diego, Jake K and Alex B all ran season or lifetime PRs and are seeing the successes of their hard work at practice paying off in meets. Other lifetime PRs today came from Aatman, Alex V, Sai, David B, Owen B, Liam B, Jack C, Tommy H, and Maccoy. The way our JV has been working hard all season long we have lots more PRs on the horizon. We just need to make sure we are taking care of business at school to stay eligible. Along with getting rest and taking care of our bodies to ensure we stay healthy. The next couple weeks of practice will be super important to how our season finishes in 6 weeks...keep up the good work and fast times will follow.

RESULTS
Boys Varsity
Boys JV

NEXT COMPETITION
Saturday September 11th
Hadler Invite @ Rotary Park in Menomonee Falls
** NOTE CHANGE IN TIMES **
Bus - 7:00am
9:45am - First Race
10:20am - Boys JV (2019 Results)
11:30am - Boys Varsity (2019 Results)
12:00pm - Awards - Varsity = 1 team & 15 individuals - JV = 5 individuals
**We will stop to eat on the way home...bring $ or a sack lunch to eat**
Approximate return to JMM is 3:30pm

NEWS & NOTES
JMM CC Running Hats for sale - $20 (bring cash) at practice starting 9/7 until they are all sold
Stay on top of your school work...don't let grades or attendance become an issue
Take care of your bodies...SLEEP, eat healthy, hydrate, stretch, ice, sleep

UPCOMING EVENTS
Sept 6th (Mon) - Captain's Practice @ UW Arboretum Visitors Center 9:00am
Sept 12th (Sun) - Ironman Volunteering (Optional) - Lot 60 on UW Campus - 12-4pm OR 4-8pm
Sept 13th (Mon) - Team Pictures - 3:45pm @ JMM

Intrasquad - Thundercats Win!

 It was great to be back to racing and I hope we can continue our mitigation strategies to get more meets and a complete season. Things seemed a little closer to normal at Intrasquad...we had threats of thunderstorms (which luckily we avoided this year), someone got lost on the course (a tradition like no other), boys figured out that summer running really does work (lots of lifetime PRs on a tough course), and smiles came back to the new guys faces as they "finally" saw the crowd ready to cheer them into the finish line. Today was our first 5k of the season and should be a learning meet and a stepping stone to faster times down the road. Lots of good things happened today but we can continue to get better. Taking care of our bodies (especially as we prepare for the start of the school year) while continuing to work hard at practice is going to lead to late season success. Whether you were happy with your race, are yearning for the chance to start at Verona, or are not sure exactly what happened today...know that your teammates and coaches will be there to go through the next steps with you and keep striving towards lofty goals.

The team battle today was tight between the Thundercats captained by Mick S and the Warhawks captained by Jake Z. The Thundercats had the edge up front scoring just the top 5 outdistancing the Warhawks 22 to 37. Although the Warhawks made a valiant effort later in the race the Thundercats prevailed in the overall team standings scoring 232 points to Warhawks 255. Everybody should be proud of their efforts on each team. This was back to back wins for the Thundercats and the 5th win in Intrasquad history. The Warhawks still lead the overall battle with 7 titles and the CORE has 3 titles to their name. The field was our smallest field for a fall intrasquad with 32 high schoolers and 1 family member filling out the 33 person field but it was a competitive race throughout. Next step...Verona Invite and 20 ish teams...whole different race but also a whole lot of fun.

A big part of Intrasquad is determining our varsity runners for the Verona Invitational. AJ earned a spot on the varsity with his big finish and overall victory in 17:39. Right behind him was Mick finishing in 17:40. Jack G joined them under 18:00 with a time of 17:58. Our scoring five was rounded out with Jonathan and Henry finishing in 18:14 & 18:15 respectively. This group of runners ran really well today and had a #1 - 5 gap of :36 seconds which is right on course with what we hope to do at the varsity level. Next week we will ask them to run a little faster and see if we can keep that gap small as more individuals from other schools will be in the race. Jakob M earned a spot in the varsity race for Verona next week too. Jonathan and Jack G ran lifetime PRs in this group and many of the others were very close...not bad for a tough course with a "big hill."

Our depth continues to improve and will be fun to watch as the season progresses. Great cross country teams have great JV teams that push and support the varsity. Alvaro and Finn will lead these guys into battle next week as Alvaro ran a lifetime PR and Finn was our fastest freshman on the day. Finn's time was also the 4th fastest time on the Intrasquad course (which we have been running since 2007). Reese just missed his lifetime PR but is ready to take it down soon and then came another freshman in Nick Z who ended up being the 6th fastest freshman on the course since 2007. We will need to have some teammates close up the gap to run with these guys as in JV we want our #1 - 5 gap to be less than :30 but we have lots of potential of guys who can pull it off. Today alone we saw lifetime PRs from Charlie M, Alex B, Tommy S, Jake K, and Diego. Also we had great first time races (and lifetime PRs) from Ian, Hunter, PJ, Alex V, Sai, Maccoy, and David B. We head back to practice on Monday to make more improvements, start to set some season goals, and set out to do the work to become better runners. Keep up the great work. Every Runner. Every Run. Every Day.

RESULTS
2021 Intrasquad & Historical Stats

NEXT COMPETITION
Saturday September 4th
Verona Invitational @ Verona HS (Stewart Woods School Forest)
NO BUS - Arrive at 7:30am
8:30am - First Race
9:00am - Boys Varsity (2019 results - old course)
10:20am - Boys JV (2019 results - old course)
11:40am - Open Race ($5 & must sign waiver at the meet)
12:40pm - Awards Ceremony - Varsity = 2 teams & 40 individuals, JV = 20 individuals
** Reminder - NO BUS but ALL athletes should arrive at 7:30am AND stay until after the final boys race & team cool down are completed before they may leave (around 11:20am)**

Drop off can occur near the course but parking must take place by the high school (see map)
Give yourself time to walk from the parking lots to the course

NEWS & NOTES
Athletic Fees ($115 or waiver) - must be paid through Infinite Campus before athletes get assigned team uniforms
Uniform Handout (athlete will be assigned top ($35) & bottom ($35) for the duration of the season and must return assigned items at the completion of the season). Uniforms should be worn only at meets and washed in between uses.
Wed - Varsity (jacket ($75) handout too)
Thurs - Sr & Jr competing at Verona
Fri - So & Fr competing at Verona
Week 3 practices --> 4:00pm - 6:15pm (note: school starts Sept 2/3...we will start right after school)
Labor Day (Sept 6th) Practice --> Captain's practice...more info to be shared at practice

Week 1...in the books

We had a great first week of Boys Cross Country at Madison Memorial. We have 47 guys out this season and they are working hard. I'm excited for this season and hope we continue the progress that we have already seen during week 1. Guys have been putting in lots of miles, started stretching & strength routines, and even had our first workouts of the season. We have lots of work to accomplish to reach our goals but we are started in the right direction.

Remember to continue to bring a filled water bottle and mask to practice daily. Additionally, continue to be vigilant at practice and at home to use good Covid mitigation strategies...masking, social distancing, sanitizing, etc. If you have symptoms or are not feeling good...stay home and follow the MMSD protocol for return to practice. 

Each day and each week is a stepping stone for our athletes to improve upon their fitness and we hope to continually make progress over the remaining 8 - 10 weeks of the season. Take care of your bodies by stretching, eating well, hydrating, and getting good SLEEP. This week we will run our first full 5k at Intrasquad on Saturday (8/29)...excited to see where our hard work lands us this early in the season.

WEEK 2 Practice Schedule

Monday - 4:00pm - 6:15pm @ JMM

Tuesday - 4:00pm - 6:15pm @ JMM

Wednesday - 4:00pm - 6:15pm @ JMM

Thursday - 4:00pm - 6:15pm @ JMM

Friday - 4:00pm - 6:15pm @ JMM

Saturday - INTRASQUAD - 6:15 - 8:30am @ Elver

** Some upper classmen & varsity contender athletes will meet for optional morning runs...more information shared at practice

-- Planning ahead...week 3 practices will be 4 - 6:15pm with a meet on Sat (9/4) at Verona HS

Athletic Fees

The athletic fee for MMSD is $115 and can be paid starting Monday through Infinite Campus (waiver forms are also available through IC for families that qualify). Please take care of this ASAP so we are ready to compete at our meets.

Start of 2021 Season Quickly Approaches

CLOTHING ORDER 

Order Closes on Sunday Aug 22nd 

UPCOMING EVENTS & WEEK 1 PRACTICE

Sunday August 15th - 5:00pm - Team Meet & Greet @ Walnut Grove Park (Optional)
Monday August 16th - 8:00am - 10:30am - Practice @ JMM + Family/Athlete Meeting via Zoom @ 6:00pm
Tuesday August 17th - 8:00am - 10:30am - Practice @ JMM
Wednesday August 18th - 8:00am - 10:15am - Practice @ JMM + 4:00pm - 5:15pm Practice @ JMM (Strength)
Thursday August 19th - 8:00am - 10:15am - Practice @ JMM
Friday August 20th - 8:00am - 10:00am - Practice @ JMM
Saturday August 21st - 8:00am - 10:00am - Practice @ Elver (meet near Splash Pad)
** Optional afternoon runs for upperclassmen & varsity contenders...more info shared at practice

-- Planning ahead...week 2 Practices will be 4:00pm - 6:15pm Mon - Fri (Sat = Intrasquad)

PAPERWORK NEEDED

1) Athlete Questionnaire - HERE (Fill out form with contact info for coaches)
2) Online Athletic Forms - HERE
(Parents AND Athletes BOTH must complete - use Infinite Campus log-ins)
3) Physical Cards (Green or Yellow Cards)
- Green Card = physical from a doctor after April 1st 2021
- Yellow Card = Alternate year card...If you turned in a physical to JMM in 20/21 school year
- Questions...e-mail our athletics secretary Cara Hanson - cmhanson@madison.k12.wi.us
4) Watch Spartan Sports Kickoff -  (Virtual)
You can watch the recording through the MMSD Youtube page

MONDAY AUGUST 16TH @ 8:00AM - 10:30AM
1st Day of Practice - JMM Athletic Fields

Must have all your paperwork completed and turned in to participate
We will run for 30+ minutes on 1st day of practice...have your running shoes and watch
REMINDER - Everyone will need a watch this season!!!! Any watch will do coach's recommendation - Timex Ironman or Garmin 35
Bring a mask (needed for inside use)! Bring a water bottle! Bring a lock if you want to claim a locker.

** We will practice everyday regardless of the weather...plan accordingly

2021 Fall Cross Country Season

Are you interested in joining the Boys Cross Country team at Madison Memorial in the Fall of 2021?

Here are your next steps to be ready for the season start on August 16th, 2021

PAPERWORK 

1) Athlete Questionnaire - HERE (Fill out form with contact info) 

2) Online Athletic Forms - HERE
(Parents AND Athletes BOTH must complete - use Infinite Campus log-ins) 

3) Physical Cards (Green or Yellow Cards)
- Green Card = physical from a doctor after April 1st 2021
- Yellow Card = Alternate year card...If you turned in a physical to JMM in 20/21 school year

- Questions...e-mail our athletics secretary Cara Hanson - cmhanson@madison.k12.wi.us

4) Attend Spartan Sports Kickoff - July 29th (Virtual)
You can watch the recording through the MMSD Youtube page

SUMMER TRAINING  

1) Get out and RUN (training ideas HERE)  Start easy and build...consistency and confidence is the summer goal

Summer Running Group will meet at 8:00am near Memorial tennis courts Mon, Tues, Wed, Thurs, & Fri (park by the track/stadium)

2) JMM Speed & Strength Options - SIGN UP HERE

Speed & Strength (M/T/R/F @ 12:30pm - 2:00pm)

Yoga (W-8am)

Seek out opportunities to improve as an athlete and a runner this summer! The work you do during June, July, August will determine how well you race in October.

Last Hurrah - Memorial Tops the Field

The "Last Hurrah" was for athletes looking to get in one last cross country meet of the Alternative Fall Season. Some athletes had already transitioned to their Spring sports. Each athlete & team made decisions about what was best for them in regards to this meet. Madison Memorial brought 13 athletes to compete against Madison East & Madison West one more time at Lake Farm Park. The meet got delayed from Monday to Wednesday due to inclement weather and race day greeted us with nice Spring temperatures for one last 5k of the season. 

Our JMM guys ran aggressive today which led to some "rah's" and some "hu's" in our attempt for a hurrah...it had been a week and half since we raced and some of us were ready after the long lay off and others maybe just missed the mark. It was great to see the JMM green be aggressive and hopefully we learned from the experience if today wasn't our day. Freshman Jonathan B led our group up front and battled for the race lead settling for 2nd place with a lifetime PR and sub 19 performance of 18:57. Soph Alvaro was 3rd in 19:28. First year CC runner Charlie M (6 - 19:48) and veteran Felipe R (9 - 20:46) both scored top ten finishes with their performances on the day. Alex T (13 -21:14) rounded out our scoring 5 giving us a team total of 33 points. This was enough to out distance West (38) and East (56). It was nice to gain a team victory on the day and really took a group effort. If they had scored a JV race today (runners 8 - 14) our team would have won that race too with a score of 27 points. It was nice to see our depth come through today at this meet. Alec H, Elijah E, and Will T all ran season best times in today's race. This group worked hard all season long and were rewarded with one more beautiful day for racing cross country.

Seniors will head on to their next journey and I hope that running remains a part of their daily routine. Underclassmen will have a quick Spring season before we are right back to Summer Running and preparing for Fall CC. Our 2020(1) season was a journey of delays, virtual practices, masking, social distancing, and new routines. I don't know what the future will hold but I do know that running continues to be an opportunity and the more you run the better you become at running. I hope we can keep the momentum going with our underclassmen, add in some new teammates, and find the commitment & consistency to make our Fall 2021 CC a huge success. See you on the roads running. Every runner, every run, every day.

RESULTS
Madison City Last Hurrah Meet - HERE

**Turn in uniforms & team equipment to Coach Casey ASAP

NEWS & NOTES
- Keep an eye on your email for end of season information & summer running
- Look for opportunities to improve as an athlete and a runner
- Finish the school year strong in the classroom

Sectionals - 2nd in Race #2 (6th Overall)

I always assumed, the more I coached...the less new things I would see. That was not the case this year and definitely not the case for our Alternative Spring Sectional Meet. Sectionals were created earlier this Spring but a host for the meet was not found until about 10 days prior. We found out Middleton would be hosting on there new course in Cross Plains and that the WIAA was splitting the 15 teams into 2 different races. The week of the meet, we found out Seneca was not bringing a team to Sectionals which made the races "uneven" and somehow Madison Memorial was the team shifted over to Race #2 from Race #1. Just like everything else this season we tried to take this transition in stride. Race #1 was going to be packed where as Race #2 would be a little more spread out...we felt like Middleton had a chance to qualify out of Race #2 but Race #1 had Sun Prairie, Verona, East, LaFollette, West, & Monona Grove. We knew what we had in front of us and we took our 7 weeks of training out to the battle field. 

The wind & the sun greeted all the teams at the Sectional and provided just as much of a challenge as the teams in the race. Race #1 was fast & competitive with Sun Prairie looking great and individuals running fast. We knew we had our work cutout for us in Race #2. The guys attacked early and really put their best effort forth. Jake Z led the way chasing down the front end of the chase pack. The junior led us with a season best 17:18. He was closely followed by seniors Dylan A (17:26) and Aidan P (17:33). Junior Mick S was our 4th runner crossing in 17:51 and senior Bobby R gave us five runners across the line at 18:01. Our 1 - 5 gap was under 45 seconds but our group was just a little too far back when times were combined to give us the team finish we were hoping for today. We knew Middleton had won Race #2 and we were confident that we were second in Race #2. The wind was tough during our race and hurt our overall times as we combined with Race #1...if we could have been 15 - 30 seconds faster across the board it might have been a different story. That being said, we had the 3rd best #5 runner on the day (only Sun Prairie & Middleton had 5 finishers faster). Similar to the week prior, we gave up to much at the #1 position (our first runner was at 17th...so we gave up a lot of points to other teams that was hard to make up). A positive is we bring back Jake & Mick and also our #6 (Henry B) and #7 (Jack G) runners next year with a plethora of talent to support them. Can we make the next step in our training and our racing to compete with the top 10 runners in the race? Can we start with our #1 runner around 16:45 (or faster) and still put 5 runners within 45 seconds? Sun Prairie put 2 runners under 17:00 minutes and 6 runners under 17:30...that is the type of team effort it will take...CAN WE DO IT?

RESULTS
Middleton Sectional - HERE

MMSD City XC Meet

 Our 2nd race of the season took place at Lake Farm County Park vs Madison East & Madison West. The sun was out, we made it into the 50's, and there was a light breeze. Spectators were permitted and we had multiple teams at the starting line for two races. The first race had the "varsity" competitors and the second race was the "jv" race. Athletes still competed in masks but things looked more like a cross country meet this week. Lake Farm's course continued to be in great shape as we competed in the afternoon for this second race. JMM runners had 25 season best performances on Friday (11 of which were lifetime PRs). It is great to continue to see progress and we hope this continues for all the runners through the spring and carries into their summer running. 

In the "varsity" race we were in a competitive tight battle again this time we came out on the wrong end. Today's meet shows the importance of Every Runner, Every Run, Every Day. We were not at our best today and that allow Madison West (41) and Madison East (43) to get the better of us today with their top 7 as we scored 48. Jake Z ran a lifetime PR as he and Dylan A both ran 17:18 to lead our team. Mick followed closely behind in a lifetime PR of 17:34. We got beat by two teams today in two different ways. West beat us because our gap between #3 & 4 was too large and they put 6 runners between this gap...having 7 runners in before we had 4 runners. On the other hand, East ran really great up front having the first 3 finishers...so even though we put 7 runners before their 4th runner their low scores up front were enough to hold us off in the team race. We are looking to continue to hunt for those low scorers and a tight pack of our 5 scorers. Today Jack G was our 4th in 18:15 improving his lifetime PR from last week and Bobby R was our 5th in 18:17. Our 1 - 5 gap was right at a minute but we were to deep into the pack today for this to be effective. Henry B and Charles ML rounded out our scoring varsity in today's race. A state qualifying team is a team that can have 5 runners under 17:30 and 1 - 2 runners under 17:00. I think this is still within reach and will require us to have Every Runner doing all the little things right...a hard task but an achievable task. 

If we scored are next 5 in the race like a JV1 we saw Memorial (25) win this race over West (30). It was great to see these guys really compete hard. Eddie C led this group and he was followed by Jonathan B who ran a lifetime PR of 19:00. Alvaro, Sam S, and Cole W rounded out the scores all finishing under 19:35. Today's gap stretched out to 52 seconds which was still good enough to win todays race but we would like to see this group closer together (less than 30 seconds) to really be at our best. It is sometimes a little more difficult to "run your race" when you are in a faster race but this is good practice to "run your race" It was a good learning experience for all these runners.

The second race of the day showcased the depth of both West and Memorial. Today West had more fire power up front leading them to 18 vs 37 point victory. This group was led by Owen B (19:41), Micah S (19:46), Charlie M (20:09), and Alex B (20:10) all who ran lifetime PRs on the course today. Felipe R (20:13) ran over a minute season PR to round out the scorers. Other lifetime PRs in this race came from Tommy S (20:17), Owen R (20:58), and Ben A (21:24). These runners worked really hard to be at their best today and we saw many season bests in this race. Each runner should look at their race strategy/plan to see where they can continue to improve. A six week season is a short cross country season but we have shown great growth. I hope runners can carry this through the spring and into the summer and many of them come back next fall to set even more lifetime PRs.

The next couple weeks are going to be weird as some athletes will transition to Spring sports, others will prepare for Sectionals (varsity top "7" only), and some athletes will practice one more week for a race on May 3rd. Which ever choice you make, I hope that running has become an important part of your day again and is something you can continue in your life over the coming days, weeks, months & even years. Consistency and willing to work hard have led to many improvements for runners and you too can be the next lifetime PR, scoring runner, or varsity leader. 

RESULTS
Madison City Meet #1 - HERE

NEXT MEET (Varsity) - WIAA Sectional
Saturday May 1st @ Glacier Creek Middle School - Cross Plains
** NO Bus - Families should plan transportation for their athletes
TIME CHANGES...this is the latest as of 4/29

10:00am - Arrive
10:00am - First Race (Girls)
11:00am - Boys Race #1
11:30am - Boys Race #2 (includes Memorial)
12:00pm - Depart

** Spectators who are masked & following social distancing guidelines are permitted (Spectators are NOT permitted in the Start/Finish areas or team camps)

-->Top 2 teams and5 individuals not on those teams will qualify for State Culminating Event on May 8th

NEXT MEET (JV) - 
Monday May 3rd @ Lake Farm County Park
** NO Bus - Families should plan transportation for their athletes
3:30pm - Arrive
4:45pm - Race
5:15pm - Depart
** Spectators from an athletes family/household are permitted if they are masked & following social distancing guidelines (Spectators are NOT permitted in the athletes Start/Finish areas or Team Camps)

MMSD City Duals - Great Day for Running

 It looked different then normal but the weather felt almost fall like and Madison Memorial Cross Country officially returned to racing. Races had less then 50 runners, bird watchers were our only spectators, the prairie grasses have yet to grow in, and runners raced in masks. That being said... they counted down from ten, fired the gun, and runners sprinted from the start to the first yellow flag.... 5k later they returned to cross a finish mat and receive a time for their efforts. It was nice to be wearing the JMM uniforms again and have another team on the course with us to compete. Our guys took another step towards their goals for this season. We saw great improvement from Intrasquad to today and continue down a positive path.

Race #1 saw 13 of our guys take on the entire East team. This group benefited the most from having some other competitors around to help with pacing and providing someone to chase or run away from. We saw improvements of 45 seconds to 4 minutes from runners in this race. They were led by Micah S up front who spent a good portion of the race battling with East's backend Varsity runners. Charlie M ran a lifetime PR and now sets his eyes on being a sub 20:00 runner. Tommy S was our top freshman in this race and continues to make improvement each week. Alex B also ran a lifetime PR as our 4th finisher. Felipe ran his first race of the season on a short week of training rounding out our top 5. These runners have been working hard at practice and today they got to enjoy season bests. Keep up the good work & keep improving!

Race #2 saw 14 of our runners take on the entire West team. This race was more like a dual meet as we had our varsity against their varsity. In a head to head competition we beat West in varsity 25 to 30 and also in JV 17 to 44. Dylan A led us by winning the race in 17:15. Our gap between Dylan and our next runner was too large today but I know these guys can close that gap. Aidan P was sub 18:00 to finish 3rd and Mick S came in 5th finishing in 18:03. Jack G had a nice race just missing his lifetime PR and Henry B finished with a strong kick to be our 5th runner and outkick some West runners for important team points. We would like to see our gap between our #1 - 5 runners be less than 1:00 and closer to :45 seconds...today it was at 1:05. We also are aiming to get 5 runners under 17:30 and all our varsity runners under 18:00. Eddie C ran a nice lifetime PR and Bobby ran 18:33 to round out our varsity today. Our JV group was separated by :33 seconds which is perfect, we aim for :30 spread...now we need to move this group around 18:30 and under. Jonathan B was our fast freshman on the day and had a lifetime PR as did Owen B. Alex B ran sub 20:00 in his first official race for JMM and has his eyes set on faster times. We ran really well to beat a good West team today in both varsity and JV and now we set our eyes on bigger goals. 

If the both races were scored together it would have looked like this:

RESULTS

https://my.raceresult.com/168587/

PHOTOS

Photo album HERE

NEXT MEET

Friday April 23rd @ Lake Farm Park

MMSD City Teams - "Varsity" & JV race

** No Bus...families should plan for their own transportation to & from meet

Race 1 * Drop Off/Arrive - 3:15pm

Race 1 Race - 4:30pm

Race 1 Pick up/Depart - 5:00pm

Spectators - TBA

Race 2 * Drop Off/Arrive - 4:15pm

Race 2 Race - 5:30pm

Race 2 Pick up/Depart - 6:00pm

Spectators - TBA

* Racers will know by Wed 4/21 which race they are officially in (Race 1 will be top 14 "varsity" runners)

NOTES

"Tuesday Grade Reports" are beginning...turn in your work and get those grades where they belong

In - Person classes starting up...get in a good routine, keep following our mitigation practices

4/24 & 4/25 (weekend) - no team practices...athletes will run on their own