Stoughton Invite - Varsity = 7th, JV = 3rd

On a warm late summer/early fall morning our JMM Spartans went out and raced against some of the states top competition. We saw an epic battle between SPASH (state #1) and Madison LaFollette (state #2) and saw how the depth of their teams carried into the JV race. Our team is very capable of matching the depth of these programs. The next step for our squad is taking on the intense physical and mental committment to have runners who can consistently be under 17:00 for 5k. It is not an overnight task or something that "just happens" the boys at SPASH and LaFollette have put in many miles and hours of work to get their varsity programs at this level. As we bring our 2012 campaign to a close I look forward to seeing our teams compete at their bests at Conference (Sat 10/13) and/or Sectionals (Sat 10/20). I hope our Seniors are able to finish their cross country careers with races they are proud of and leave our underclassmen with many memories. I hope our underclassmen can set themselves up to take this team forward.

The JV team started off the meet on Saturday with an impressive 3rd place finish. We have our work cut out for us to compete with LaFollette the next two weeks but I think we can get the better of them yet this year. Hans H and Jacob R led our team with their 10th and 11th place finishes. Ben B and John H moved through the crowd well finishing in the top 20 team scorers. Benton DD stepped up today as our #5 runner on JV and helped solidify our 3rd place team finish. The warm weather made it a little difficult to PR today but we still had 6 PRs from Caleb H, Nathan L, Alex VB, Zach H, Jack K, and Connor S. I continue to be impressed by our freshman group of athletes. I really like how hard this group works at practice and how they compete in meets. This is not something we can take for granted and I know if we stick with this competitive attitude this group will see big things in the coming three years at Memorial. Our depth in JV is very solid and the next step for these kids is taking it to the next level in training and focus to be the next JMM varsity athletes.

Our varsity squad ran today again with out Jonah and needless to say we miss having him in the race. As a team we must move forward and hope that we put ourselves in the right place so when he comes back the pieces all just fall into place. Today we had a nice group working together and the desire is to move this group about 15 - 20 seconds forward to meet our end of the season hopes (again 15 seconds over a 5k race is just 5 seconds faster per mile). We will see Middleton and Verona in two weeks and our top guys were less than 10 seconds away from their competitors they need to beat. Our goals are still within sight for this group as we move into the closing weeks. Bryce H and Tyler M again led this group at the end today both achieving top 30 finishes. James A and Connor GT finished together in 44th and 45th and Nick H rounded out our scoring five with his 52 place finish. Mason R gained some more valuable experience in varsity competition and Ryan W filled out our varsity squad nicely. This group will see marked improvements in the coming weeks as we prepare for our championship series run. Additionally, today we beat conference foes Madison East and Janesville Parker. Even as we work out the kinks we are beating many schools varsity squads and competing with some of our toughest conference and sectional foes.

STOUGHTON RESULTS
JV
Varsity

UPCOMING EVENTS
September 30th (Sunday) - Haunted Hustle Packet Stuffing (We still could use about 5 more volunteers)
2:00pm - 3:15pm in Greenway Station (empty store next to Justice Girls Clothing)
NEXT COMPETITION
City Championships - Friday October 5th
Yahara Cross Country Course (the Dump) - Madison, WI
Boys JV - 4:00pm
Boys Varsity - 5:00pm (2011 results)
ALL - CITY BANQUET @ Pizza Oven on Monona Dr (immediately following meet)
$6/per person (payable at restaurant) for all you can eat/drink pizza, bread sticks, and drinks
Due to All - City Banquet THERE IS NO RETURN BUS FROM CITY CHAMPIONSHIPS
Athletes must stay until after the varsity race and team cool down before departing (no exceptions)

Big 8 Split Meet - Varsity = 3rd JV = 1st

The Big 8 Split Meet lands at a challenging time of the year. We use this meet as a workout and a stepping stone for our end of the season meets. I was very happy with how our team competed today. We have a few athletes who are nursing injuries and we need to take care of this as we move forward. Otherwise today was a very successful meet. We knew times would not be as fast as at Midwest (for a number of reasons...less competition, afternoon meet, it was a lot warmer, we just ran really fast on Saturday, etc..) but many of us ran our second fastest times of the season. We have set ourselves up for having a great race at Stoughton for more PRs. Today we finished in third place to Janesville Craig 25 points and Madison East 54 points. We had a nice pack that ran together and used the meet as a workout finishing with 60 points, outdistancing Sun Prairie and Beloit. We are waiting on complete results yet from the meet but by the naked eye our JV did a very nice job today representing our depth. The results are in...JV missed by one point (again) for that illusive perfect score (1st - 5th places). Our JV scored 16 points outdistancing Craig in second who had 67 points. This group continues to work hard and impress. We look for big things out of these guys come city and conference (and for the underclassmen...in the coming years). Lets take care of business this week so we are ready to compete at Stoughton on Saturday.

SPLIT MEET RESULTS
JMM Times and Varsity Results
Complete results will be posted in team room

UPCOMING EVENTS
September 30th (Sunday) - Haunted Hustle Packet Stuffing (VOLUNTEERS NEEDED)
2:00pm - 3:15pm in Greenway Station (empty store next to Justice Girls Clothing) -- free food and drink provided

THANKS to EVERYONE for Light of Life Walk Donations...the Boys Cross Country team donated $430 towards cancer research!!!

NEXT COMPETITION
Stoughton Invite - September 29th (Saturday)
Stoughton High School - Stoughton, WI
9:30am - Boys JV
10:40am - Boys Varsity
11:45am - Open Race (parents and families members can participate - FREE)
12:15pm - Awards - top 25 varsity and 2 teams, top 15 jv and 1 team
2011 Varsity and JV results
--We will not stop to eat...bring $ money for concessions, snacks, or eat when we get back

Midwest Invite-Varsity=18th, JV=5th, Frosh/Soph=12th, Middle School=11th

Today we saw the potential for our team. Many young athletes stepped up their game running great times. Many veterans helped pick up their teammates late in the race and got them through to strong finishes. Today's meet is by far the most competitive meet we compete at all season long and many of us came ready to show their best against the top teams from the state (and even Iowa, Illinois, and Texas). We had 51 PRs today as we sharpen our race tactics over the final weeks of the season. I encourage every JMM boy to dedicate themselves 110% towards cross country over the next 3 - 5 weeks to continue this momentum into our championship races. We still have room for some small improvements and can end this season on a high note meeting many of our team and individual goals.

Our frosh/soph team started the day off on a positive note with each athlete performing at the top of their game today. Ben B worked really hard to get a top 20 finish, just missing out with a 24th place performance. His focus and effort on competing in the race led him to a 48 second PR and a time of 17:52. Calder B and Benton DD worked great together throughout the race trading duties passing the competition and leading each other to PRs (Calder - :42 and Benton - 1:31). Sam K (:54) led the next group through the crowd and Liam M (:21) finished strong to finish 4th/5th on our team right ahead of Trevor R (1:09) and Geordi HH (:51). I look forward to seeing the improvements these guys will make in the coming weeks, months, and years. If this group can work hard in the off season and put in the miles at practice they can lead this team to big things in the near future.

41 teams toed the line for the varsity race on Saturday and we were better than 23 of those teams. We were not at our best but we still finished in the top 20 with a strong 18th place. To be competitive at a meet of this style we need to have more of our runners in sub 17:00 shape. That did not happen this year but can in the future with improvement. Our varsity today was led by Tyler M, Bryce H, and James A. Bryce got out great today and Tyler and James closed strong. They showed that there is multiple ways to have a good race. Seniors Nick H and Ryan W held strong the last mile to fill out our top 5 today. Sam B and Connor GT competed hard today for our varsity. We have some work to do to catch some teams from our Conference and Sectional but we know we can perform better than we did today. We move forward with a new race on Tuesday.

Our JV team took the most hits today with athletes being moved up to varsity and moved over to the frosh/soph race. Instead of complaining this group stepped up and filled in the voids to finish a very respectable 5th place against some of the top JV teams we see all season. Our group was led by the top five finish of Hans H with a nice 30 second PR. Mason R and Jacob R joined him in the sub 18:00 group for the season finishing 16th and 22nd. John H continued to step it up with a 36 second improvement and Branavan Y had a 1:04 improvement to round out our scoring 5. Big PRs were abound by our JV group and hope we keep this fire lit as we go into next week. Some other large PRs by KeYaunne B (:59), Pablo A (2:35), Sam S (1:04), Isaac T (1:31), Michael G (:52), Jake H (1:09), Justin H (4:09), Brian L (1:36), Tom N (1:13), Leon P (2:59), Alex V (1:32), Ale C (1:25), Grant D (:48), Matt J (1:27), Jack K (1:39), Elliot P (1:35), Noah S (2:35), Braxton S (2:50), Phil S (4:26), Cullen S (:50), Ben T (1:17), Trevor W (1:14), Michael Y (3:43), and Sam Z (:53). A great day for us in Janeville and set ourselves up to meet some of our time goals and all-time list accomplishments going into the final weeks.

Today was a 1st!!! We had a middle school team (comprised of Memorial brothers and sisters). It was fun to see these young athletes (4th - 8th graders) have a chance to compete today. I hope many of them caught the running bug and will join us in the future at JMM.

Busy week ahead! Get some SLEEP. Take care of your body!
   
MIDWEST INVITE RESULTS
Frosh/Soph
Varsity
JV
Middle School

UPCOMING EVENTS
September 26th (Wednesday) - Light of Life Walk -
6:00pm ~ 6:30pm - $5 donation to cancer research (REQUIRED)
September 30th (Sunday) - Haunted Hustle Packet Stuffing -
TBA - Greenway Station (volunteer opportunity)

NEXT COMPETITIONS
Big 8 Split Meet - September 25th (Tuesday)
Sheehan Park - Sun Prairie, WI
4:45pm - Boys Race (all together in one race -- Varsity & JV)
5:30pm - Girls Race

Stoughton Invite - September 29th (Saturday)
Stoughton High School - Stoughton, WI
9:30am - Boys JV
10:40am - Boys Varsity
11:45am - Open Race
12:15pm - Awards Ceremony - top 25 varisty and two teams, to 15 jv and one team
*** Please note race times...different then parent handbook information

Smiley Invitational - Varsity = 7th JV = 2nd

Up before the sun, countless hours on a bus, push your body to its limits before lunch time, enjoy the afternoon....it is great to be a cross country runner. This meet is one of my favorite meets every year because it allows our team some great bonding time and an opportunity to really be cross country runners. We endured the three hour bus trip to Wausau (for some it was easier than others...leather seats, really?) and emergency bus stops on the way home (what happens when the bus driver needs to go to the bathroom?). From it we have many stories to tell and some are better than others. Some day we will learn that WE NEED TO GET OUT on this course and it will make it easier for all of our team but all things considered today was a good day to be a JMM CC runner.

The boys races were the last two of the day and the varsity led things off. Bryce did a nice job of putting himself in a good position early in the race and reaped the benefits of this strategy with a medal and an 18th overall place. His teammates sat back in the pack and used a lot of energy to pass the runners who were slower than them. We worked our way through the pack with Tyler M and Nick H having a nice last mile to help the group move up a couple places and ended up being our 2nd and 3rd runners. Nick H and Mason R took advantage of their first varsity races of the season to have season bests and we look for them to continue to build on this experience. Sam B and Connor G-T were our 4th and 5th runners today and gained some beneficial learning experiences from being in this competitive field. Ryan W had a nice race today keeping our pack close together. Our pack today was between 17:55 and 18:24 which is a great group, we would like to see this group about 20 - 25 seconds faster (or 6-8 seconds per mile). We had hoped to place a little higher as a team today but considering we finished without a few of our key pieces we will take away the positives and build for Midwest Invite (another big meet...where we need to get out well)

In the JV race James A and Hans H did a great job of getting out well and reaped the benfits of being in the race right away and getting to make a great move heading into the last mile. James used the move to propel himself into first place and we look forward to having him back on varsity next week. Hans hung on tough for a hard fought 5th place as he continues to build his racing experience. The rest of our team did not get out so well and had to hear me yell a lot "We need to move up!!!" There is a chance that Jacob R, Ben B, and John H passed well over 100 runners to finally get to where we finished but we did finish really well as a team the last mile and these guys led the charge. Jacob finished 9th, Ben 16th, and John 22nd to round out the top five for our JV. We had hoped to push SPASH today in the JV race but left ourselves too much work to do in the second half of the race. We finished in 2nd place 16 points back and had a great last mile to out distance Eau Claire Memorial by 16 points ourselves. We will have a rematch with SPASH at the Stoughton Invite and will have to see what we can do in two weeks. Our JV kids had 21 PRs today on a difficult course and we look forwarded to seeing what everyone can do next week on the Midwest course. Some big PRs go to Sam S (:48), Tom N (1:25), Brendon P (:49), Colin P (1:27), Ale C (:31), Grant D (:34), Zach H (1:36), Jack K (1:17), Elliot P (1:06), Connor S (:39), Cullen S (:38), and Trevor W (1:10). Great Job guys...keep up the good work and aggressive racing. Benton DD was our first (of hopefully many) freshman to break 20 minutes and he is hoping that Trevor R, Cullen S, Zach H, and Matt J are some of many who accomplish that yet this year. Ben B and Calder B were our top sophomores and will lead our Frosh/Soph team into battle next week at the Midwest Invite. The JV group is really rounding into shape and encourage this group to take advantage of the coming days to workout and race at their highest level. Everybody can help make this team better. Lets stay eligible, stay healthy, and get some rest as we have some fast and fun courses/competition coming up in the next two weeks.

SMILEY RESULTS
Varsity Overall
Varsity Large Schools
JV Overall

Pictures added to Picasa Album

UPCOMING EVENTS
September 17th (Monday) - TEAM PICTURES -
3:45pm - Need uniform top and bottom
September 26th (Wednesday) - Light of Life Walk - 6:00pm ($5 donation and walk - REQUIRED)

NEXT COMPETITION
Midwest Invitational - Saturday September 22nd
@ Blackhawk Golf Course - Janesville, WI
9:15am - First Race
9:50am - Frosh/Soph Boys (2011 Results)
11:00am - Varsity Boys (2011 Results)
12:10pm - JV Boys (2011 Results)
12:40pm - Middle School Mile (***4th - 8th graders -- parents with brothers/sisters interested in participating need to e-mail coach at jmmcc@rocketmail.com before Wed Sept 19th)
1:00pm - Awards - Frosh/Soph and JV 1st - 20th, Varsity 1st - 30th
Bring money...we will stop to eat on the way home