JV State / Sectionals 2022

The men closed out the season was some great performances this past weekend, kicking off with the Thursday meet at Grant Park.  We had ten men race with seven walking away with personal bests.  Kai Bruner highlighted the day with his first career individual win.  He stayed patient the first mile and moved into first during the second mile, never to relinquish the position on his way to victory in 17:35.   Learning to race up front is a skill that is developed and this race could be a spark that will put Kai on the local and state scene very soon. The team knows the important role Kai will play in their success for the coming track and cross country seasons.  

​Scout and Brody finished as the 2 and 3 scorers, squeaking out personal best times and capping off their first full season of competing.  From the split race squad, our freshmen crew of Mikel, Travis, Michael and Lincoln all ran their best race of the season and competed much more aggressive early in the race!  Some good racing to get excited about for track and next season.

Moving on to sectionals that Saturday, seven first time sectional runners took the line in a very competitive sectional.  Six of the top eighteen ranked teams in the state competed on the boys side.  You will hear many coaches from other teams complain about this, but we love competing against the best and will learn and prepare for whatever race we are in!  With that, we believe in our guys but also understood that qualifying as a team would be a year away and we wanted to gain experience and finish with our best races.  

Ethan stayed mentally tough after waking up feeling sick that morning.  He got himself to relax and warmup before letting adrenaline take over and carry him to his best race of the season.  How you feel before a race doesn't always correlate to how the race will end up!  He finished as our 2nd scorer and capped a very successful freshman season and is determined to build on that success with the commitment and buy in he has shown since the beginning of summer.  His battery mate Elijah also had his best race of the season.  While the time may show similar to his conference time, those times aren't always created equal even if on the same course due to changes in weather or how the race plays out.  The field proved to run about 30 seconds slower than average times through the season, so it's important to note he took 24th and beat some other great runners in the process!  He's also determined to continue developing as a leader of this young squad.

Our three through five scorers got a rare experience that many first year runners at Hale haven't and got to compete in GMC and sectionals this year.  Nate, Eric and Preston made some huge progress this season and will be super strong after completing their first full XC seasons.  Most teams have a few three or four year seniors that set the example and allow for patient development of younger athletes.  While we remained patient with the young athletes and continue to do so, they were definitely thrown into more high leverage situations that will only help them learn quicker and discover the type of runners they can become.  Wyatt got to finish his senior debut season at sectionals while Will got to visualize as well the effort of a state type meet.  

The message to the team was simple, whether we finished 5th, 11th or wherever this year, we still walk away with the same group.  Even looking at a couple other sectionals, we would have competed even this year to be at state which would have been awesome but wouldn't change the opportunities for the future.  Mukwonago won the sectional after finishing 9th place last year.  That group for sure got together and motivated each other to create something great together, and now they got to show off their hard work they did as a team.  Every successful Hale team of the past has had this same concept of guys coming together and wanting to create big goals.  The 2000 state championship team hadn't even qualified for state the year prior.  The 2018 and 2019 state teams hadn't qualified since 2012 and had an almost brand new team as well in those years.  The big question is, what do these young men want to accomplish in the coming year, and who will be the ones that live up to those goals through putting in miles together?  Everything will be up to the group. 

We do know one thing, we are extremely proud of this young team and they performed extremely well in their first/second seasons for most.  This sport is the best and we hope it is a life long pursuit of happiness and health for every guy on the team!

Last 2022 Season Events / Notes

Thank you everyone for your support and we are excited to celebrate the team on Tuesday, November 1st in the cafeteria at 5:45 p.m.  We are hoping to do a potluck if we get enough people to bring in snacks/food.  The sign up is below.

2022 Potluck Signup
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I told athletes that we saw on the weekend to bring clean uniform and jacket and lock back to Dewitt's room during this week some time.  

Go watch the state meet this weekend!

The state meet is this Saturday at Ridges Golf Course in Wisconsin Rapids.  The first race starts at noon and the information can be found on the WIAA site below.  Even though we didn't qualify anyone this year, we highly encourage guys to go up and watch it.  This is the best meet of the year and can be extremely motivating to see.  The 2017 team all went up together and then qualified for the meet in 2018.  Below are some historic links from the state meet.  State Meet Information

State Qualifying Teams and Individuals
State All Time under 18 (From List I have)

GMC Recap

Experience gained, lessons learned, and an all conference sophomore.  Experience comes from being in fast races and putting yourself up against a challenge.  This year has been a unique team that has looked upon a very young group (1 senior only and he is in his first season) to take on leadership roles and race at a high level.  With that, lessons are learned through the experience and through defeats.  More is learned through challenge than when things are going perfect.  The team will look to bounce back with a focus and growth on our For The Team standard as we look to race our best this coming weekend.  And lastly, a huge congrats to the consistency of Elijah Sayeg delivering a 2nd Team All Conference honor as a sophomore.  That's the first Hale under classmen All Conference honoree since 2018 and helps raise the standard for the young team.  Congrats to Eli!  (Eli was the 155th fastest runner at conference last year as a frosh and 16th this year, we have a couple other sophomores too we know would have seen a similar improvement as well!).

​Wyatt Nitz ran another nice race and was followed closely behind by Scout who ran a better race this week to score as 2nd man for the first time in his career.  Damien, Will and Brody rounded out the scoring.  In the varsity race, Nate Hutter ran a personal best race to finish as 3rd man for the first time and we know the other three guys will return stronger this week on the same course and run for each other.  We were the only team with 5 at the line as well as we look to build depth over the coming months as well to help improve the team.

We have a few things to work on but that is what makes the journey fun.  On Monday, we will be recapping some learning lessons and get stronger as a team.  We are excited for Grant Park this Thursday and Sectionals on Saturday!  The sectionals is a state qualifying meet where the top two teams qualify for state and the next 5 individuals not on those teams also qualify.  We traditionally are in a position to qualify and have set that standard for our team, having 27 state appearances as a team and 4 straight seasons of a team or individual.  Our strength behind that is has been the guys ability to run with love and for each other.  We want to have another week building toward that and to race our best.  Building great teams and great athletes is all about taking the next logical step, having no limits, being process focused and running for the team.

I started putting together some All Conference history from Hale.  Thanks Coach Kurtz for helping, this is a good start.  Some awesome history!

Hale All Conference History

​Meet Results

This Week

Please bring WARM CLOTHES!  It will be cold and we are requiring long sleeves for runs at least Monday and Tuesday for sure.  
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Both races will be fast and a great opportunity.  Starting Thursday at Grant Park.  All athletes will attend both races even if not racing.  We want to be out cheering for teammates and helping create an atmosphere for our best performances.  We also want to act with good character.  Be mindful of being supportive and giving racers space to prepare themselves.  Also be mindful of how we act when out on the course.  Let's full send it this week!

​Meet Info

Pasta Parties this week.  Wednesday will be for anyone competing Thursday ONLY.  Saturday can be for all of the team.  We do this traditionally to have those competing Saturday get the additional sleep and time before they race.

Wednesday hosts are the Egers and their address is 3200 S. 124th St.

FRIDAY after practice host are the Gruichich family and their address is 11833 West Lakefield Drive.

​Thank you for hosting!

Team Banquet 2022

Our annual end of season banquet will be Tuesday, November 1st in the cafeteria at 5:45 p.m.  We will once again try a potluck if we have families interested in doing so.  Here's the sign up below to add your name for an item to share.  We have 19 members on the team along with their families.

2022 Potluck Signup

Thanks to Matt for capturing some photos this season.  Below are three of the albums so far!

Photo Album 9/2 Betz
Photo Album 9/10 Grant Park
Photo Album 9/17 Muskego

Conference Week!

Viking Invite Recap

The team took some good building steps as every guy that raced ran a lifetime or season best!  

Our runner of the meet for the JV race was Travis Eger, who responded well the past week and put in solid effort to drop over a minute from his previous race.  He was close to scoring for the first time, just behind Emmanuel who scored for the second time in his career and had a big personal best finishing just behind Brody who was our 4th scorer.   Wyatt led scorers with a his first sub 20 run and Will and Damien rounded out the scoring as the 2 and 3 runners.  Lincoln, Preston Vahovick and Wyatt all earned blood and guts shirts for giving great efforts to walk away with some personal bests.  

We are excited to see at conference the pack be together the first mile and push each other to a great performance.  We believe our scoring 5 can all be further up and run better as a pack.

In the second race, Ethan and Elijah did a nice job working together and have been training well together.  They continue to take steps and are learning they belong up front in races.  Ethan finished with his first sub 18 run and currently sits 10th on our all time freshmen list.  A lot of history on that list and the fastest races coming up for him to move up further on it.  Elijah is knocking on the door of the all time sophomore list with another personal best.  Eric Harvey was the athlete of the meet in the varsity race as he continues to learn to be more aggressive early and get closer to those two.  Nate and Preston rounded out the scoring with some big personal bests as well.  Patient progress is the plan as that will lead to the biggest stories and best progression for them over their career!

The team again sent only 5 to the line and did a nice job in that race.  At the sectional meet, we are allowed 7 entries and an opportunity for guys to make that roster!  Another reason every guy matters, when athletes miss out or can't compete we look for the next man to step up.  At sectionals, the top 2 teams at sectionals and the next 5 individuals not from one of those teams will advance to the state meet the following week.  Anyone not racing sectionals will have their final meet the Thursday following conference at Grant Park.   

Meet Results

​This Week

The summer miles all lead to these amazing opportunities, starting with conference this week!  The top 24 will earn all conference and we have a few athletes looking to garner the honor.  The guys will choose what goals they have for each other and where they want to be at the end of this season and beyond.  We have been focused on no limits, and we hope athletes dream big and believe they can do anything.  Let's have an amazing week, we are ready to rock.

See the meet info below for lineups, times and also linked is info from the hosts with a course map.

GMC Conference Meet Info

Pasta Party hosted by the Vahovick's this week!  Thank you!  Address will be sent out.