State Invitational Recap
The men's team had 3 individuals place in the top 25 and medal at the stacked State Invitational held at Mitchell Park last Thursday. Joshua led the field from the start, finishing first in a new school record time of 15:23. It was nice to let him go fast and test himself running solo like that. The race will serve him well as a jumping point into the championship season. Joseph and Brennan also ran personal bests finishing 18th and 21st respectively. All three have their best racing ahead of them. Not just the consistency, but the competitive nature to be their best over the past months and years produced the solid race results for those three. Brennan has been a great example this year of how taking risks is the only way to break through limits. About week two he put himself up there in a workout and since then has done it every day at practice, allowing him to drop a minute so far off his time this season and with bigger races ahead. We are looking to see which guys follow this example, focusing on the process and stepping up as solid scorers to round out our squad. We have a good group capable and ready to do just that! Run fearless, for the team, take risks! Cole K made some progress in his 2nd race back and we hope to see improved intensity from him at practice for a strong finish. Collin, Matthew and Carson got a good shock in a big meet and it was a nice thing to motivate them in training and intensity down the stretch. Their fitness is in a good spot and now it's about believing in themselves, removing limits, and staying focused on the process and not the outcomes. The focus is on the team and blood and guts for our guys here on out! Run fearless, for the team, take risks! The JV guys got to compete in a very competitive dual against a great squad in Brookfield East. Seven of those boys had career or season bests led by Jack Hutter in his first sub 19 performance. Now that he broke this barrier, we look for him to think less and put himself in uncomfortable spots in practices and races upcoming! Run fearless, for the team, take risks! The team then kicked off our off week in style and came back with a strong aerobic effort on the Lakefront Run Monday. Fifteen men made the run this year, ranging from 8 up to 14 miles total. Two freshmen completed the run, with Brock Ringger putting himself with the pack and having a great run! The team will workout Wednesday with sub 5k pace work then come back with a tempo run on Friday. This week will set up for a good workout next Tuesday before Varsity Conference on Saturday and then winding down a bit and prepping for sectionals and state! There will be no practice on Saturday or Sunday this weekend. Week Ahead - JV Meet at Hale 10/8 and Varsity Conference 10/10 The varsity conference meet will be Saturday, October 10th at Rotary Park. We will still host a JV meet at our campus on Thursday, October 8th. Information for both is below, JV GMC Pre Conference info Still no fans at our home meet but you can stand by sidewalk like last time. I can get some helpers out on the course as well. Team pictures for fall sports is now scheduled at 3:25 p.m. at East side of Hale. We will wear team jackets and khakis for the photo this year. This time of year we emphasize SLEEP and NUTRITION. Recovery is important now as we enter this phase of training and competition. Responsibility in VICTORS, being accountable to your teammates means getting to bed and eating the right foods. Do the right things and good things happen. Stay tuned as more updates come on conference, sectionals and state.
0 Comments
Upcoming Stars Stepping Up The Hale men came off of a good week of practices which saw us refocus our attention on our team standards and loving our teammates. When we focus on loving each day and bringing our best effort, good things happen. The men also focused on building trust in the depth of our team, with different guys looking to step up and reach beyond their perceived limits in workouts and races.
The day kicked off with the varsity men getting an opportunity to find themselves each as scorers as we only ran 6 men. With the short turn around ahead of our next race, we had planned to create this opportunity for our scorers to free themselves from thought and put themselves in a position to help the team. We are getting closer to a breakthrough with this group after having good training over the past few weeks. A big hurdle will be overcoming complacency in races and being able to push when it gets quiet. We are having very strong starts but getting a little too comfortable in the middle of the race and losing ground. With a short week and some good recovery from our hard efforts over the prior weeks, we will come in anxious and ready to fly on Thursday. Collin Raschka led the squad with his 15th place finish and was followed by Carson Shane who bounced back nicely this race. Our scorers have changed frequently over the season and we are excited for one guy to step in and take a chance having a big race and getting that whole group to come with. The freshmen race followed and we had some positive building. Tate Sormrude came in with great focus and intention, and it showed in his race as he put himself in a great position early and broke through with a nice race. We have seen him building confidence and a love for running over the past few weeks and it's fun when it starts to show in races. Him and Deven both did an extra rep on Wednesday's workout and that's a cool thing to see when freshmen understand the process is what matters. Brock Ringger started turning it up on Thursday's run and came back Friday with another good run with our front group. If he keeps producing consistently like that over the coming months and years, he will be another guy to look out for. He got out great on Saturday and we loved the aggression. We want our other guys to have that same aggression and keep pushing to be up front where they belong! Dylen Eiler came back well and finished right along Tate and Brock. Will these guys continue to build and buy in to the training required to become great? Only they can answer this question by their actions in the coming years. They will be fun to watch down the stretch as they continue to let loose and run fast. Our 4-7 frosh guys were also very close together! This group of Jose, David, Deven and Derek all had nice races and are capable of running with those other three guys! What a dangerous young group this could be, again if they choose to believe it and trust in the team and their coaches. Will continues to improve and learn as he finishes up just his 3rd week of running! These freshmen finished 2nd overall with their strong showing. The JV men also took 2nd place which is a good sign for our depth, and considering 3 of our top men didn't run and potential freshmen scorers were in a different race. Parker did great getting out in the lead again and running his career best race. He has done the little things right and is committed to being a great runner, big things ahead for him! Frank Bevsek was running great until he struggled the last mile, but he will bounce back Thursday on the short turn around. Nathan Bentti and Robert Petrovick moved up very nicely and became important scorers for us. Chase Witty rounded out the scoring and this Thursday we look for him to get out more aggressive as he has great potential to lead with this group! And much props to be give to Colin for his first 5k getting out in the lead. Many of our best runners have gotten out fast in their first race and it shows great competitiveness. Although he would have liked to finish stronger, it was a good sign to see him out competing as that shows long term potential. He's a very strong athlete that could burst onto the scene. Kyle got to get back to racing for the first time this season and we were so happy to have him competing! This Week - Needless to say, this Thursday's meet will be a ton of fun against some great competition, and Hale will be rolling in ready to rock it. The JV race will be great with Hale vs. Brookfield East going at 4:30 p.m. followed by 7 men in the varsity race at 5:30 p.m. The course will be better than last time at Mitchell Park! The meet information can be found below, Thursday 9/24 Meet information Parents/fans please stay away from the team area during the meet. Our guys need to focus on their teammates and warming up and cooling down. Be out on the course but please not by our team area especially this year with the safety protocols in place. Thank you for understanding. We will then have practice normal time Friday at 3:30 p.m., and then on Saturday morning at 9:00 a.m. this week. The Week After - The following week of October 3/4 is our off weekend of racing, but not an off week of opportunity! Monday, September 28th will be our annual Lakefront Run! This will be a select group of guys that get to run to the lake and then the coaches will drive them back in the vans. It's a very fun day and usually will be 14 athletes selected based on performance and ability to do the run. Everyone will still practice but not all will go the lake. On Thursday, October 1st, we will plan a night track event with our guys. We can set up a couple of races under the lights and have a fun and fast evening of racing. The men will then have the weekend off physically and mentally. Friday the 2nd will be a light practice and then I may assign a few guys a run on their own over the weekend but we will not practice on Saturday, October 3rd. Saturday was a strange day where the team was just not on. But we had an incredible week of training many guys, combined with the first week back to school.
Last week brought some great training among our older guys especially. Our top 3 men from this past weekend's meet were very intense from Monday through Thursday with little rest. Wednesday's workout included a 3x5 minute workout where Joshua ran a 4:49,4:42, and 4:35 mile during. Joseph was averaging around 5:15 mile pace on this workout. The rest of the group did a cutdown workout and some different guys really stepped up their game and into new territory. Carson Shane had two breakthrough workouts and Matthew Kees has continued to mix it up front. These guys are training at elite levels and are going to light it up in the coming weeks. Right from the start of the day I could tell our emotional energy was low and as a coach that is something that I have worked hard on to correct coming into this week. We will keep things fun, while returning our focus to our team standards and remembering our WHY. On Monday we will remind ourselves our purpose to build and love our teammates and make sure we are coming in each day with that attitude. Shout out to Parker in the first race getting out in first place and looking very strong before going the wrong way and having to fight back. Not to his fault as the course changed prior and was not marked well, but that is beyond control and not something you expect. Just like a fall, it's a good reminder if that happens to stay calm and patiently get back into the race. Trying in one swoop to get back to where you were can zap your energy. It takes much will power and relaxation, but a good reminder to all guys. Parker fought back nice and was definitely deserving to be leading that race. We are excited to see him light it up as a Husky. We were excited to see David Bevsek show some signs of is ability in his race and thought he made some good steps toward competing. We're looking for improved intensity during the week from our freshmen crew. The beauty of the selfless pursuit is it takes being your individual best for your teammates. It's the ability to enjoy discomfort and push for the guys around you. David's brother Frank did a nice job as our 2nd man in the first race. This week we look to build up that pack and be more aggressive like David and Parker were. This week - Tendick Park We turn our focus to Saturday's meet at Tendick Park. We will take the bus as a team this weekend. Any parents that want to drive are allowed and will need a waiver if so, but we encourage going as a team to help with the energy and love. Last week we were looking out for shelter but I think with tent and bus combination we should be good. It's a trial run for all of this year with all the changes and different meet rules. We go against some great teams here on out and we are one of those teams. But it will take a commitment to our pursuit of selflessness to bring out our best. Build and Love. The bus schedule and meet schedule will be posted by Tuesday. The meet host said the information is coming on Monday morning so we have to have that to know what is going on obviously. I will give detailed info on our information page and link to schedule page as soon as I get it! Practice will be at Greenfield Park at 3:30 p.m. and we will bring good focus to our warmups and strength work. Last week with the rain I had assigned some strength at home and hopefully athletes did it! Responsibility. With better weather we will have more time to commit to everything. We are not wasting time at practice and everything we do is important to our team's success. Announced on Monday as possibility for Tuesday see below. Will talk with guys - The one change to our practices is we would like to to meet at Minooka Park on Tuesday's practice. We have enough athlete's that can drive directly there, and the coaches could take a few. Any parents that could drop off and pick up there would be helpful as well. Meet by E. Sunset Dr. road and we will run in from there. |
Archives
November 2024
Categories |