A crew with consistent summer miles combined with a boost from the frosh helps lead the men to a solid start to the 2023 season.  Seven total medalists (imagine we crop Bronko in to photo) is a testament to the improved top end and depth of the team this year.  

Elijah Sayeg claimed his first individual title in cross country, racing smooth and confident up front from the start.   The following men also medaled,

Frosh
Joseph Ventura finished 2nd running 18:22 while Koda Bruner was 3rd running 19:17.   Those are very solid starting races and with so much to learn it will be very fun to watch them progress. Congratulations to all five of our freshmen racing their first high school 5k!  

Soph
The Pliers consistent and purposeful summer running leads to a strong season opener.  Ethan finished 2nd overall among all frosh/soph in a personal best time, while Preston had a big personal best racing to 8th overall in the race and 6th amongst sophomores.

Juniors/Seniors
John Gruichich was the second scorer finishing 10th overall and 4th among all juniors.  Eric Harvey and Nate Hutter rounded out the scoring, with Nate earning 8th overall for the juniors.  Brody Kaminski had an over two minute personal best to start the season after a strong summer of training as well.

Although the meet was 'unscored', I was able to combine results and the team finished 2nd overall.  Let's keep building and focusing on our standards and our team.  Keep improving and running for the team, that's what it is all about.  No Limits.  The coaches are fired up about this squad.

2023 Results Workbook

Week 3 - Runathon Monday, Betz Invitational Friday
This Friday at Greenfield Park, we host one of the best meets in Wisconsin.  The meet has been running for decades and has always been a favorite amongst many south east WI teams. 

We will invite some parent help with some minor things such as course help but won't interfere with anyone watching their kids compete and enjoy a great event!!

With some school functions starting up including band and freshmen orientation this week, I have proposed starting to practice at our normal 3:15 p.m. school year time a bit earlier than originally planned.  I hope this adjustment can work for everyone, and it made sense to move this time since the morning was a conflict for a majority of the team these days.

Schedule for the next week 

Monday - Runathon!  8:30 p.m. at Hale Track, will start Runathon by 8:45 p.m.  
Have fundraising sponsor money turned in by this Thursday, August 31st at practice.  For anyone who needs the form again, use this -> Runathon Form can be flat donations or donations by number of track laps completed in an hour. 

This is our practice for the day and it will be a very strong progression run aerobic effort for many so prepare well with good eating and hydrating throughout the day.

Tuesday - 3:15 p.m. Practice @ Hale - Meet in Room 108 for weekly team meeting.

Wednesday - 3:15 p.m. Practice @ Hale

Thursday - 3:15 p.m. Practice @ Hale (Have running stuff out of locker after today to use for weekend)
Pasta Party @ 5:00 at Coach's.  From W.A. Cheese Shoppe a vegetarian option will be available as well.  827 S. 97th St.

Friday - HOME MEET!  Information below.

Saturday/Sunday - no team meet up - assigned runs to some.

Monday (Labor Day) - 6:00 p.m. practice - No locker room available come to Hale dressed to run.

Tuesday - First day of school!  Meet in room 108 at 3:15 p.m. for practice.

Click below to see information on our home meet including race times,

Betz Meet Information

A reminder as we head into the school year that all practices and meets are required.  Choosing to be on the Hale XC team is a big commitment and we hold strictly to our team standards.  This is what helps make our team and the individuals on our team better.  Make it important and let's continue building a great environment. 

As the school year approaches, look to get into a good sleep routine this week!

We are hoping the new jerseys will arrive before Betz!  Fan shirts are in process and I will get those out as well when completed.

Misc. Items
We had fun doing media day for XC with Guy Holling.  He shared the photo album below and is working on editing the interviews next.

Media Day Photos 

Meet T-Shirts for Muskego - Order by September 5th online only

The men will now compete Saturday morning at Mitchell Park in Brookfield!  This is a grade level competition, where frosh/soph will race in one race and juniors and seniors in another.  A great opportunity for guys to learn to race up front and compete to win.  It will be great for our new athletes and their first 5k, and also a much better opportunity for the guys who trained well this summer and should be given opportunities to compete.

Our team information below has the lineups.  Note that we look to develop a couple of guys to be able to compete and run the whole 5k, so your son may be doing just half the race looking to run the whole half and then be pulled out of the race.  Our goal is to get them to full 5k of running as soon as possible, a lot of that will come through good practices.  

Team Information for Parents and Athletes
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Below is the meet information from the hosts. (also linked in the above letter).  Since this is the meet information from the hosts, don't worry about where it talks about registration or anything, but might be interesting to see teams etc.

Meet Information from the Hosts

Here is the new schedule for this week!  The meet and runathon get shifted back two days.

Monday - Practice 7:45 a.m. (Uniforms will be given today)
Tuesday - Practice 7:45 a.m.
Wednesday - Practice 7:45 a.m.
Thursday - Practice 7:45 a.m.
Friday - Practice 7:45 a.m.  - Pasta Party 5:30 p.m. at Plier/Hutters!!  Address: 12018 W. Ohio Ave.
Saturday - Meet @ Mitchell Park!  Be at Hale by 7:00 a.m. 
Sunday - Off day
Monday, August 28th - New date for the Runathon - be at Hale by 8:30 p.m. we will begin at 8:45 p.m.!  Goal for every athlete to raise at least $75 which covers summer CWES costs!

Family Night Results

Click here for results

Great night and nice racing/rust busters from the men.  It was a great first week of practice and we are excited to build on it.  It's the climb!

We will not waiver from these expectations so it is important to understand our program's pursuit of excellence.  We are here to win, and these are the standards that will allow us to do that.   

1. We are for the team.

How we do anything is how we do everything.

When I’m putting pressure on myself, I remember I have a team behind me.

When I’m thinking too low or too high of myself, I put my thoughts on doing my best with the situation and remembering my actions affect the entire team.

For new athletes – Use the first season to teach your mind to think of the team when things are hard and when things are great.  You have support, you are support.

2.  We love hard work.

We seek positive stress and love working hard toward our goals.

Team goals from camp are written down, will remind guys at first practice.

They are very attainable goals, but other teams have similar goals.  Our embracing of hard work and seeking to do everything at our best will give us the edge over them.

Think of those goals in difficult times, good to have those goals for many things in your life to help you stay grounded and know that things definitely won't be perfect! 

A hard day today is better than a hard day on race day.

Translates to school/any endeavor – am I willing to study for a big AP exam instead of going to a movie with friends?  One is definitely harder, but it just depends on if it is important to you or not…

3.  This is important to us. 

We choose to be on the Hale XC team which has a proud tradition. 
 
In order to build on that tradition, the men that choose to be here also choose to make this sport important.
 
We are here to win.  Winning can happen in many ways, we are going to celebrate all of our successes and each person's improvement!  This is a supportive and loving group.
 
Winning is FUN.

4.  We leave the program in a better place.

To carry on the tradition means to take the program as you enter it and make it better through your four years of competing.
 
Returning athletes – create the culture you want the first-year athletes to have during their tenure.  They will be the ones to take the program when you leave.
 
New Athletes – Be inspired by the team leaders, take initiative to lead others and steer them to saying and doing the right things.  You can do this from day 1!