Betz Recap

A big thank you to our parents, athletes and alumni Brad Glisczinski! Brad was with me from early in the morning until the meet started helping set up and prepare to put on a first class invitational.  Many parents stepped up and helped with concessions or with the race and on the course.  The athletes were accountable and showed good character, getting themselves prepared and ready to race, knowing that I was hosting an invite and coaching as well.  The guys also did a great job taking down the course and some stayed well after the meet as well to continue helping.  I can truly say, this was the best Betz Invitational I have been a part of, and it takes a monumental effort.  Preparations, from small to big things, were in process since last year, so to have it all come together with a successful meet for everyone was cool to see.

It was a very special evening.  For the first time we had a freshmen only boys race which was a huge success.  There were 90 boys in the race!  It was an exciting way to begin the meet.  We had music playing, and a ton of energy throughout the course which led to some historic performances.  And of course, this was the first meet ever run on the newly named Ron Kurtz 5k Cross Country Course.  A man that changed my life and the lives of many others over 39 years of coaching cross country at Hale.  

The Race

After a sub par first invite, our men stepped things up this past week, and with that, saw progress as a team at our home meet.  The varsity placed 6th overall, moving up 2 places from last year when we were 8th.  The JV guys took 5th overall.  Our top 24 guys (in comparison to the 24 who ran last year) were all faster than the corresponding runners from last year's Betz.  Everyone also dropped significant time from last week.  Yet, time is just one measure we use, and are biggest focus is on how we compete.  This week, we saw some much better aggressive racing early, guys giving themselves a chance to succeed.  That will continue to pay off if guys continue to crush it in practice and learn from every experience.

Cole Orlowski in his 2019 debut stepped up to be our 3rd man in a nice breakthrough of 17:44.  With a year of experience and a successful track season, we were well prepared for Cole to be a big contributor to us this fall.  He showed early that he will be a low stick for us the rest of the way!  Cole is part of a huge group of guys that are continuing to grow together and run for each other.   He will help that big group in workouts and will bring that pack further up with him as he continues to get faster.  

The JV racers really set a nice tone, with an aggressive first mile.  I believe we were in or near the lead as a team around the mile mark.  Although we finished 5th, it was still a very nice performance and showed that guys came with much better energy this week.  Our team is much deeper as well this season, which means the JV and Varsity will both compete very well.  Everyone pushes the team upward!!

For all first year guys, expect some huge improvements with it being your first season.  Simply learning to race 5k and understand that you can push harder in the middle is a slow process for many.  Keep using practices and races as opportunities to take chances and push further than you have in the past.  There are no limits.

And of course, the race up front for the varsity men was historic.  I can't recall the last time there was more than 1 guy under 16 at our invitational, and on Friday we had 3 (and a near 4th) accomplish this feat.  I had so much adrenaline from watching those guys, and they will definitely be four runners that will be competing for the top at the end of the season.  The winner was extremely humble and showed great character, coming to tell me how great our guys did.  His dad also helped our girl's coach take down flags from the course.  It's another reason to love the sport.  After guys go to battle with each other, they still show love and good character to others. 

With all of the amazing tradition of the Hale Cross Country program, it is quite the accomplishment to run faster than anyone in history.  Joshua Truchon's 15:52 performance puts him ahead of Adam Nelson as the fastest 5k in Hale Cross Country history.  The record was accomplished with a focus on the process, with consistency and purpose and a team first focus.   Congratulations Joshua!  Pretty cool to do at the home invite!  Bigger things ahead!  No Limits.

Some more shout outs to some guys that really got out this week.  Guys were racing selfless and putting themselves in discomfort for their team.  Nick Burgess was more aggressive than I have ever seen and it helped our top 5 in the JV race get out and race well.  Joey Elliott really stepped up this week scoring as our 3rd guy.  Frank got out great again, and held on a lot better than last week!  He had an epic run Wednesday after doing a hard effort on Tuesday last week.  He's amped up his training, and it's already translating to racing.  We always tell guys, you can't expect to flip the switch once a week on race day, it's how you bring it in practice that will translate to races.

The more guys continue to commit to each other, the better the team will perform.  Keep everything selfless and go into each race with character and confidence.  We aren't yet near where this team is capable of, and it's very much alright as we are sitting only on September 8th.  The guys that came and did the long run this morning are showing that we are winning each day and taking advantage of the opportunity presented to this team.  Stay fired up, this team has amazing fire power and a love to drive it.

Season Results

This Week

Week 2 of school!  Make it a great week.  We will meet in room 108 Monday and it's a pretty straightforward week!  The pasta party is at Jack Hutter's this Friday!  His address is 12137 W. Verona Ct.

I'll post workout for Tuesday soon, setting up next few weeks.

​Week 4 Workouts

Our invitational this week is at the sectional site!  It's the Rocket Invitational at Grant Park.  I will post lineups Monday night.  The bus will depart at 8:15 a.m. and info will be given out.

The hosts have asked us to bring nonperishable food items again!  Please bring morning of meet if you can help out!  They will sell meet t-shirts for 10 dollars as well for those interested.  Please read the bottom of the meet info link below for info on parking (they close off lot so may need to park on streets nearby).

Meet Info
Tentative Hale Meet Info

Our focus this week is on Love.  It drives what we do and who we are.  Love creates the selflessness and unity necessary to achieve the unimaginable.  We are the counter culture and we win with love.  Good days, harder days and everything in between, always remind yourself to love and cherish what you have.  In a world where it's easy to want what you don't have, or envy others, it's important to never take for granted the simplicity of love from family, friends, teachers, teammates and coaches.

​  Build each other with love.

Badger Invitational Recap

​The boys competed in their first meet of the season at Lake Geneva Badger.  For many, this was a nice 'rust buster' after a long cycle of training.  We looked to establish our race day routine and focus on the middle mile of this isolated course where it can get tough mentally.  As a group, we weren't necessarily satisfied with the intensity and purpose we brought to the invitational.  But following the meet the guys look to improve their intensity in both training and meets and used the first meet as a launching point for the season.   It's August after all, we are just looking to build and learn right now.   The real season starts in October, so it's about doing what's right now and being where are feet are as we look to grow as a team. 

Our runner of the meet this year will be one guy each week.  We won't have a JV and Varsity runner of the week as we feel that a runner of the week should represent an impact on all guys.  It's not necessarily the fastest race each week, but the person that brings the focus, energy and selflessness that impacts the team in a positive way.  This week, newcomer Carson Shane was our runner of the week, scoring as our 4th guy in his first ever cross country meet.  Carson brought some awesome intensity to training in week 1, and with continued racing experience, could be a huge contributor as a scorer for the team as the season enters championship season in October.

Another tradition at Hale is the Blood and Guts award.  This award has been around for many years and represents someone who overcomes and represents no limitations in racing or training.  The meet champion, Joshua Truchon, garnered the award for week 1.  His plan was to go out relaxed through 1.5 to 2 miles and then throw down the last mile.  To our surprise, he was a bit further back than we thought he would be when we saw him at the beginning of the race.  As it turns out, the back of his shoe was stepped on and he was running with the entire heel riding under his foot!  He did this for over a mile before finally deciding to stop and fix the issue.  After literally stopping for 5-10 seconds to fix the shoe, he got right back into the race, didn't panic and by the 2 mile had the lead over the field.  The 3rd mile he pulled away to win convincingly by 35 seconds over a very good runner from Janesville Craig.  

As team captain, Joshua exhibits selflessness and runs for his team.  The team is lucky to have him as a leader as he exhibits an healthy counter culture habits that contribute to performances like week 1 and the ones we will see as the season goes on.  The whole bus ride home, Joshua sat with me and we talked about other guys the entire time.  His focus was on how to make others better and continue to grow as a leader himself.  His performances and development into one of the best high school runners are not due to luck or circumstance.  It has been months and now years of purposeful and consistent training.  We have a lot of amazing runners on this year's team and after week 1 we have a renewed focus and purpose in our training.  Expect to see a lot of guys step up and take Joshua's model to heart, making themselves and the team much stronger.  It begins and builds with selflessness and making it about others!

With two possible scorers not racing, Collin Raschka also stepped in to score for the first time in his career.  Collin is really growing as a person and will continue to develop as a runner with a selfless focus.  Along with Collin, Joseph Hertel scored for the first time in his career as well.  Joseph was tired of being an average runner, and has really brought great purpose and consistency after his first cross country season last fall.  He's a guy that showed up every Sunday in the winter for sub 0 snowy long runs, while being on the swim team.  He put in consistent work this summer while also stepping up his intensity to run with the top group.  He and Collin will both look to put their fitness toward a successful season of racing while continuing to contribute as scorers for the team!

A big shout out to all the freshmen and sophomores who completed their first every 5k's or cross country races.  The first one is all about getting the experience.  It's uncharted territory at first, but after a few races in your first year, you'll really see some drastic improvements as you get more comfortable being able to push earlier and longer in each race.  See the prior paragraphs above of guys who all started in your shoes and now months later are contributing in a huge way to scoring for the team.  Ethan Tilson and Tony Rodriguez got out aggressive and put themselves in a position to compete!  We look for that with all new guys, take a risk and give yourself a chance in the race.  All of our freshmen are capable of being amazing runners.  Keep having fun with the training and living the counter culture life of doing things right and having no limits!  (And amazing people, the counter culture life applies to the classroom and elsewhere as well!!)

We had a very amazing opportunity last Wednesday as professional runner and 3x NCAA Champion Matthew Baxter spoke to our team and answered guy's questions!  He brought great lessons of being great teammates and a great perspective.  One day, many of our guys will realize how cool this actually was!!!  He tweeted out to us and we will be sending him some Hale CC gear as a thank you to him.  

​This Week

We quickly moved on from our first invite, putting together two nice runs as a team following the meet and responding to bringing more intensity and purpose to training.  Now, we prepare for the Betz Invitational this week as we continue our journey as a team.

1.  Our home meet is this week!  I will need 2-3 parents to help with concessions.  Mrs. Petrovick has already volunteered for the first shift!  Shift 1 -3:45-5:00 (Varsity runner parents), 5:00-6:00 (frosh/JV parents).  Please let me know if you can help!!

Hale Lineup and Meet info
Meet Info

*All guys are expected to stay.  I have talked with Mrs. W. for the band guys that you'll be at the meet until 7:15ish or until completion of awards/team talk/clean up.  Just head over in your Hale CC gear and have instrument ready if you can to get to game right after.  Bring a snack/food for after your race!!
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2.  Picture day is Wednesday, September 4th right after school!  Please bring uniform (Jersey and shorts) to school this day.  Order forms were handed out to guys.

3.  The pasta party will be Thursday at the West Allis Cheese and Sausage Shoppe!  Guys can head over after practice and arrive around 5:00 p.m.  We will have board games and cards and will eat at the store.  This is a free meal provided to us and we will be sure to act with class and represent Hale Cross Country well.  Guys are recommended to bring board games or activities, there will be no sitting on phones!

4.  Here's our week 3 training plan for most guys!  Tuesday workout may differ a bit and some guys will do a tempo.
Week 3 Training

Our team focus this week will be on 'Embracing Discomfort' which will go nicely with our mission of bringing better purpose to our consistency.  

Make it a great day!  #NoLimits  #Build #Love