Big 8 Grade Level Challenge - 4th Place

Great weather, great course, great competition....equals great times. It was fun to see our team be competitive with some of the best athletes in the state and show that we are a team that will need to be reckoned with at the end of the season. We have a lot of season left to continue to improve and we are already in a great place. If we stay healthy, take care of business away from the course, and keep up the great work we are looking for a great finish to our 2011 season.

The meet started with a great performance in the Frosh/Soph race. Sam B. went to the lead and work hard from the front. Bryce and Brad took the first mile relaxed and charged towards Sam. All three joined forces in the last mile and it was fun to see the three JMM jerseys charging hard towards the end of the race. These guys led our group to some great PRs in the race and it will be fun to see what this group can continue to do in the future (and hopefully we return a few of our injured frosh/soph kids). Additionally, all three will be a part of our varsity at the Smiley Invite this weekend. Mason and Connor G-T worked together through much of the race and Mason finished well to be the 14th Soph and score in our team points. Our freshman group continues to improve at every meet and I hope this trend continues. Today Liam broke the 20:00 barrier and Ben B. and Calder broke 21:00. Sam K had almost a 2 minute PR and also almost broke 21:00. I would like to see if we can get some frosh under 19:00 this year and quite a few more guys under the 20:00 barrier.

The Junior/Senior race was a nice preview of what our conference race will look like. First off, it is going to be fast and second off we are going to be part of a competitive race. Craig, LaFollette, and West are all currently ranked in the state and they have shown why they are ranked. We are closing the gap and need to continue to do this in the coming month. Jonah had a great race and a nice PR and finished 7th overall (4th for Juniors) against some amazing competition. Jordan B. has closed our gap between 1-2 to less than 30 seconds. Now it is time for our 3 -5 runners to be within 30 seconds of Jordan (again we need a 1-5 of less than 60 seconds). Hunter and Ben A. had great races and made our 1-4 gap at 60 seconds and we'll see if we can keep that and one of the Sophomores into the mix to keep improving. Andy R, Joey D. and Ryan W. joined the sub 18:00 group. Andy will run varsity again this weekend at Smiley and Joey and Ryan will lead the charge in JV to take on SPASH JV this weekend. Nick H. put out a great effort to try to break 18:00 and just miss but will have more chances yet this year.

Tonight was a good night. We put 26 athletes under 20 minutes, 10 athletes under 18 minutes, and 2 athletes under 17 minutes...I hope we continue to improve these numbers in the coming week. We got another great look at the conference schools and we will dissect how we compare in a standard scored varsity and junior varsity race.

BIG EIGHT GRADE LEVEL RESULTS
Frosh Race
Soph Race
Junior Race
Senior Race
All Results
Team Results

NEXT COMPETITION - September 17th (Saturday)
Smiley Invite - Wausau, WI
BUS TIME - arrive 5:30am depart 5:45am (Boys and Girls will be leaving at the same time so we need to leave a little earlier)
Meet Starts - 8:30 am
Girls JV - 9:55
Girls D1 Varsity - 10:25
Boys D1 Varsity - 10:55 (2010 Results)
Boys D1 JV - 11:20 (2010 Results)
Awards - 11:45 (team trophy for top 2 teams varsity and top team in junior varsity, individual medals top 20 varsity and junior varsity)

Buses will stop for lunch at Culvers/DQ/Wendys...so bring money!!!

PSAT Same Day As Conference

Attention Junior Parents (and others hoping to take the PSAT @ Memorial)

Again this year the Memorial PSAT testing day lands on October 15th...the same day as our cross country conference meet. There are options though, as most other Madison schools will be providing the PSAT on Wednesday October 12th...you must sign up in advance.

I will post information about it when I get it...you can also contact your guidance counselor for more help in this process.

Edgewood High School
They have room for 9 more students from other schools, and you would need to send your student's name, the Memorial HS Code 501-157, and a check for $25. Send to Jordan Ross - Student Services, Edgewood HS, 2219 Monroe St, Madison, 53711. Students should go to the Krantz Center Gymnasium which is behind the Commons at 7:30am on Oct 12.

Hope to have more info soon

Madison West Invite - Varsity = 2nd and JV = 2nd

Beautiful cross country weather!!! Our team continued to compete and finally got the weather and a course to cooperate for some improved times. It was great to see our times start to move towards the potential we have shown in practices. There is plenty of season left and I hope to see our PRs continue to drop. This is the time of year where it is important for EVERYBODY to take care of their grades, be in class, take care of their body, get some sleep, and ensure we continue to stay eligible and healthy to keep improving. Don't forget your goals and what we are working for this season.

Our varsity team battled well today with West, as we continue to close the gap between our two teams. Jonah lead our team with a great race and a runner-up finish. Jonah continues to get comfortable running with the lead pack and we look forward to more top finishes this season. He was joined at this meet by Jordan B. pulling a single digit in 8th place. It was nice seeing two JMM jerseys in the top 10. Sam and Hunter were solid 3/4 runners, both were up front early and will add that last mile to their race to close that gap to Jordan. It was fun seeing Bryce, Ben, and Ryan work together to improve our number 5 spot. We took about 10 seconds off our 1-5 gap as we continue to try and work that gap down to 1 minute. Last year at this meet our number 5 runner was 18:15 (17:40 by end of the season) and this year we had 8 runners at 18:18 (hoping for 17:30 or under by end of the season).

Our JV team was locked in another battle with West and today did not end in our favor. Had the race stopped at 4,000 we would have won but we need to put a stronger finish on our race to compete with West (we will see them plenty this season). Last season we had NO runners in the top ten and only one in the top 20 JV. This year we had Brad, Nick, and Andy in the top ten and Tyler, Joey, and Connor G-T finishing in the top 20. Our JV2 kids are continuing to close the gap on our top kids and this will be important to do both at meets and at practice. This will help everybody improve their PRs and make our team more competitive towards the front. Our freshman are starting to learn what this whole cross country thing is about and are getting used to racing 5,000 meters. The freshman were lead by Liam, Ben B. and Calder who all broke 21:00 today and are now setting their sights for breaking 20:00 and better.

WEST INVITE RESULTS
Varsity & Junior Varsity

Madison.com Coverage
Pictures added to Picasa Photo Album

UPCOMING EVENTS
September 10th (Saturday) - Team Practice @ Elver - 8am
September 11th (Sunday) - Ironman Volunteering - UW Lot 60
September 12th (Monday) - TEAM PICTURES (must have uniform top and bottom)

NEXT COMPETITION - September 13th (Tuesday)
Grade Level Challenge @ Warner Park
4:30 - Meet Begins
5:10 - Boys Frosh/Soph (2010 Results) (Wrong time in parent handbook...5:10 is correct)
6:30 - Boys Junior/Senior (2010 Results)
***Note - they will run ahead of schedule...if they can (so Boys Jr/Sr may be earlier than 6:30)
7:15 - Awards - Top 5 at each grade level

Verona Invite -- Varsity = 4th and Junior Varsity = 1st

A wet and muddy start to the 2011 season saw many positive results (although the times may not have cooperated). A big THANK YOU to coaches Mark, Paul, and Suzanne filling in for me as I spent time with my family mourning the loss of my Grandfather. I was so proud of the team to step up and compete with all the challenges going into this first race of the season and making lemonade out of lemons. As we spoke about earlier in the season, the weather will not always cooperate but we must be ready to run and compete...it looks like it is a good thing we ran our mile repeats through the inclement weather and now it has paid off. The Verona Invite is always a great measuring stick for our team and where we can go this season. After a tough week of practice, starting school, battling all that Wisconsin weather could throw at us, and much more I am glad to say we passed our first test. We have work to do to meet many of our individual and team goals but today's competition put us in a great place to accomplish our seasons goals. Keep working hard and good things will continue to happen this season.

The varsity team finished a great 4th place at a difficult invitational. We saw what lies ahead of us in the conference (Craig, LaFollette, and West) and will now work to close the gap on the competition. Jonah led the team with a single digit finish (8th) and a strong 17:00 time for the conditions. Jordan B. and Hunter H. ran well as our 2nd/3rd runners these seniors will help close the gap on our team towards Jonah. Our gap of 1:36 between 1 - 5 is something we will work on closing all season long...we need to get that less than 1:00. Our sophomores Sam and Bryce finished close together and continue to build their varsity experience. Andy and Tyler had nice races after a tough week of practice (both rolled ankles this week) and will be back next week Thursday to keep our varsity competition alive and pushing towards that sub 18:00 mark. This group will need to continue to improve to compete in our conference and create some breathing room on teams from our sectional.

JUNIOR VARSITY CHAMPIONS!!!! So awesome, we had a talk with this group of boys on Monday about the possibility of winning at Verona and they competed to make it happen. We have had some injuries on our team and will need to continue to work hard to get people healthy but todays performance proves that the sky is the limit for our JV team this season. Ben A. led the charge with a 3rd place finish and will get his first chance to run varsity next week for the team. Ben was joined by Ryan W, Joey, and Brad in top 10 finishes...having 4 guys pulling single digit cards in this difficult meet (last season our JV took 8th here and went on to miss 2nd at conference by one point). This year our JV team should be competing for a team title at every meet we go to and will get some challenges from programs like Arrowhead, Neenah, SPASH, and Madison West. These guys work ethic will help keep our Varsity guys working hard to improve and keep our whole team competing well. I was excited to see some PR's today on a tough muddy course. Lets hope for better weather next week and more PR's for everyone.

Verona Results
Varsity
Junior Varsity

Next Competition
West Invite - September 8th (Thurs)
@ Yahara Cross Country Course (the Dump)
4:00 Girls JV
4:30 Boys JV
5:00 Girls Varsity
5:30 Boys Varsity
6:00 Awards (top 2 varsity teams, top 20 varsity individuals, top 20 jv individuals)
(2010 West Invite Results)

Events This Week
September 5th - Arboretum Practice (Directions)
September 7th - Fall Sports Banquet (Pancheros for $5...all money collected benefits athletics)
September 11th - Ironman Volunteering
September 12th - Team Pictures