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)
