​It was a fun week, and it was great to watch the kids compete for the first time this season.  Here was our first result:

Palmyra Eagle Invite
Varsity- 1st out of 10 teams
Our boys did their best Micah Parsons impression, looking strong in their first performance of the year.
Medalists included…
Individual Champion: Ethan Plier
2nd place: Joseph Ventura
3rd place: Koda Bruner
5th place: Caleb Jensen
10th place- Preston Plier
15th place- Henry Roemer
 
On the varsity side, all six of our medalists had quality performances!  Talking it through as a coaching staff, all six had legitimate arguments for Athlete of the Meet.  However, we decided to go with our fifth and final scorer.  At this meet, Preston strongly surged forward in the second half of the race, showing off his summer of miles, and put the capper on our scoring squad for this week.  Congratulations to Preston Plier for being listed as Athlete of the Meet and all of our guys on a quality start to the season!
 
JV also took 1st place at the meet and had the meet champion.  Here were our scorers (top 5 score in cross country)
Individual Champion: Ethan Muelrath
2nd- Evan May
3rd- Dylan Ostrowski-Neathery
4th- Landen Remer
9th- Weston Luckett
We thought this was a nice baseline for this young group, but know there’s a ton of room for growth! 
As for our JV Athlete of the Meet, we went with a guy who’s been consistent over the first two weeks of practice and has taken nice steps forward since the start of the season.  He looked strong in this race and we’re excited to see where he builds from here.  Congratulations to Esdra Garcia Aguilera on winning Athlete of the Meet for our JV squad!
 
 
Build and Love.  Two things that really help make Hale Cross Country special. 
 
Our veterans are modeling this super well and I’m excited as young guys continue to pick up on what it takes to make the magic of Hale XC happen.
 
 
This upcoming week:
Monday- 6pm practice
Tuesday through Thursday- 3:15pm practice after school
Thursday- Pasta Dinner, hosted by the Mays! 
Address:  2375 S Green Links Drive, West Allis, WI
Friday- Home Betz Meet at Greenfield Park

3:50 Freshmen Boys (<35 minutes time limit for entered athletes)
4:25 JV Girls (<40 minutes time limit for entered athletes)
5:05 JV Boys  (<35 minutes time limit for entered athletes)
5:40 Varsity Girls 
6:10 Varsity Boys

Saturday- 8:30am practice at Hale
 
Other notes:
Runathon- We will get mileage totals for guys early in the week, so guys should collect money and try to have the money to me by next Monday (the 8th).


Looking forward to another great week!

-Coach Dewitt

It was a very fun week one, featuring the first full week of mileage + workouts, Minooka Park Day on Friday (skits are always a fun time), and Family Night on Saturday evening, getting our first taste of racing for the 2025 season.  Shout out to the families on Family Night for besting the athletes in dodgeball in a 5 game series, 3-2!  

It's fun to watch the boys coming together and I'm excited for our first week of official competition this week.

Notes for this upcoming week
General weekly schedule:
Monday- 7:45am practice by weight room 
Tuesday- 7:45am practice by weight room 
Wednesday- 7:45am practice by weight room- We will get uniforms on Wednesday at the start of practice and there is a pasta dinner at 5:30pm at Muelrath's place- see info below
Thursday: Our first meet! Palmyra Eagle Invite- be at school at 1:45pm, bus leaves at 2:00pm- info below
Friday- Practice at 7:45am by weight room
*if people are leaving town Thursday evening, just let us know and make sure the athlete gets a run in on their own.  
Saturday- athletes will be expected to get a run in on their own, but we will not host a required practice.  Some guys who are in town may meet up, but not a required meet-up.  
Sunday- off
Monday (Labor Day-9/1)- Practice at 6:00pm- meet down by the weight room.
-We want you as families to get out and do whatever family stuff you need to over Labor Day weekend!  We simply ask to be back in town by 6:00pm on Monday.  This practice will be fairly short (done by 7:30pm), but we ask that you plan your weekend to get back in time for this practice.  



Important notes
Run-a-thon: First off, this week is our run-a-thon, where we will be tracking our boys mileage for the week (different from last year's one night event).  Boy's should collect the money for the run-a-thon sometime next week (after we tally up their miles) and will turn that in on either Thursday September 4th or Friday September 5th.  

Info can be found here: https://docs.google.com/document/d/1NgPHc1bOCGCsPCovUYhUOYJ6cDwwZwmCic1wlK5D9n0/edit?tab=t.0



Wednesday is our first pasta dinner! 5:30pm at the Muelrath's
Address: ask Ethan or see parent email
The day before competitions, the athletes meet at a family's house and enjoy a pasta dinner together. Parents often sign up to host; we already have 6 of the 8 dates covered!  Thanks for the Muelrath's for hosting the first one here!

Not every guy attends, but guys mostly do.  It's a great opportunity to bond together as a team and make sure we get some quality nutrition the night before the meet.  We have 18 guys on the team, so you can see on the bottom of the sign-up form about how much food is needed.

Sign-up form can be found here:
https://docs.google.com/spreadsheets/d/1DD6TNn78pd0-ntRL8LK8eh8PblTEAo-byIn6HOW9ZL0/edit?gid=667697982#gid=667697982



Thursday: Our first meet! Palmyra Eagle Invite- be at school at 1:45pm, bus leaves at 2:00pm
Location: Palmyra-Eagle Middle School/High School 123 Burr Oak St.
Palmyra, WI 53156-
 The course will begin behind the school on the lower practice field.  

It's a smaller meet so the varsity and jv runners will all run together.  5k, which is 3.125 miles.  

-Medals will be given to the top 25 runners and plaques for the top 2 teams in each of the Varsity races.   ALL AWARDS will be delivered to the coaches or mailed out following the conclusion of the meet. 
-Results will be posted online at www.tracksidetiming.com, following completion of the meet



Let me know if you have any questions/concerns.  Looking forward to a great week!

Coach Dewitt here, Head Boy's Cross Country Coach at Nathan Hale High School.  Excited for a fun season, where kids will grow together and create wonderful memories this season!
 

First and foremost, it's worth noting that our team values are "VICTORS", which are the values we expect them to show throughout the season.
Valor (the courage to do the right thing)
Intensity
Consistency
Trust
Overcome
Responsibility
Selflessness

To be a part of the team, athletes will be expected to showcase these values.  When we do, really cool things will happen.  

Of course, if you've been a part of the program, you know that "Build", "Love" and "No Limits" will still be a big part of what we do.  We will continue to use these words as well to direct kids to do what is right and help them to grow as teammates and people.  

Coach Machmueller (my good friend and previous head coach) will still be around, just in a more limited capacity.  We will also have Coach Rob Hutter and Coach Joe Zack back again, which is excellent!  Each of these three individuals are extremely knowledgeable, care about your kids a lot, and are a huge part of what helps make our program such a positive experience.  

With that said, here's the rundown for this week:
Monday- Practice at 7:45am at the Hale commons- athletes will receive a lock and locker to use for the season.  
*Athletes will also receive a fan shirt order form, if the family/friends wants to order any fan shirts for the season.  This is a small fundraiser for us as well. Fan shirt orders are due this Friday (August 22nd).  

Tuesday- Practice at 7:45am at the Hale commons- I am aware the Mentors may have a conflict here.  We will work with those student athletes to make sure they get their run in and get to their mentoring training!

Wednesday- Practice at 7:45am at the Hale commons
*Students will receive their run-a-thon fundraiser form.  This is by far our largest fundraiser, where students are asked to ask family, friends, and even local businesses to donate money, based on how many miles they run the week of August 25th. 
More info here:
https://docs.google.com/document/d/1NgPHc1bOCGCsPCovUYhUOYJ6cDwwZwmCic1wlK5D9n0/edit?tab=t.0

Thursday- Practice at 7:45am at the Hale commons

Friday- Meet at Hale at 8:45am at the Hale Commons, we will be taking vans to Minooka Park for an off-site run and team hangout.  We will return back to Hale at 1:30pm. 

Saturday- Family Night Race/Hangout at Hale- arrive by 5:30pm to warm up
6:00 p.m. is when the 3k race starts. All families are encouraged to come race with the athletes, play dodgeball and be a part of the evening!


It's going to be a great first week!  Let me know if you have questions or concerns!