KM Laser Relays
With a young team you can expect things not always to be linear in progression. We didn't have our best meet as a team this week, but the team has been putting in some great practices and will have the off week of racing coming up to help respond to training and be ready for some amazing performances in the championship season! The varsity race was split into two races and the weather provided an amazing morning for cross country on a fun course. Eli led the scoring squad once again with Kai finishing right behind him. Ethan is ready to be up there as well and battled with no excuses through being sick and racing for the team. Nobody wants to get sick, but it is a good experience for if a cold or sickness was to arise in a championship environment. The 2019 team had a few scorers at state that year and they all ran tough and helped the team still place high! Those three had a great workout too on Wednesday and will continue to train together and get toward the 16s and faster soon. Eric and Nate rounded out the scoring, with Nate getting out a lot better this week! On a tougher course he ran much better than the previous week and is really starting to learn XC. Preston got some more varsity experience and we know he will be ready to be there and is loving the challenge. The JV race was gigantic! It is fun to race against 100's of people and there's always people to race. The group got caught up a bit early in the race and didn't move up as much as we would have liked but it was great to see Scout run much more aggressive. Wyatt bounced back this week to be the top scorer with a familiar trio of Will, Damien and Brody as our next three. For Scout, it was his first time scoring rounding out the top 5. Athletes will have off racing and practicing this weekend. No meet ups on either day this weekend. We will have practice like normal the other days. And of course this Monday is the Lakefront Run! Lakefront Run! Monday will be our annual Lakefront Run. Practice will be at 3:00 p.m. at Hale. We will run from Hale up to Oklahoma Avenue and meet there. From there, a group of 6 will run the entire route down Oklahoma Ave. to the lake. The other 11 running will be staggered with the vans starting a bit closer to the lake and ranging from 5-8 miles. The full route is 9.5 (+1 with warmup to Oklahoma). Coaches will then drive the team back after we get to the lake, and coaches will be running or driving along the route during the run. Athletes should bring some cash to stop at Oscars for ice cream on the way back. Expect practice to be done around 6:15 p.m. Our Next Race - Viking Invitational on October 6th! Lineups and information can be found below, Viking Meet Information The information below is from the hosts. I also include it linked on our team info above. The host info includes information on awards, teams, box number, shirts and other things. Anything related to registering can be ignored as that is for coaches. Viking Meet Info from Hosts
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Muskego Invite Recap This week at practice the Tuesday team workout focused on being able to make moves during races. Our team talk for improvement this week was about fighting for spots at the finish and getting better starts in the races as well. Last week we had some close defeats to teams and had opportunity to pass guys during the race that could have flipped the scores, but the guys improved this week winning more of the tightly contested packs and helping the team finish on the better side! In the first race of the day, the team finished 5th overall. It wasn't our best team showing but we had some great moments. We loved how the top four got out in the race, establishing themselves up front. You can't afford not to do that. If you never teach yourself to run up front and push yourself, you'll never be in a position to do so. The more you challenge yourself early in races as a young runner, the more you set yourself up to break through perceived limits and find yourself and your teammates winning races and finishing high up. Consistency is one huge part of being able to hold position, but as young athletes, confidence and belief are two abilities that can be improved as well. Take chances, be fearless and be willing to be uncomfortable racing fast! Preston Plier surely got out great, putting himself in the early lead. Coming around the bend near the 1200, he let himself slip back about 15 to 20 spots early. From there he started finding a pack to roll with, but he learned for next time to maintain confidence and keep with the front group. Getting caught in a race is not a bad thing because it's the competition that challenges us to improve. He will respond earlier next time and surprise himself. He finished as our top man in the race. Will Zag is close to putting together a big race finishing as our 2nd man and will be ready to be under 20 next weekend. Damien finished as our 3rd man this weekend and continues to improve. He has found better purpose at practices and has even added some morning runs to his routine. It is cool when guys really start to love the sport and commit to being great, we could be seeing the roots of that with Damien. Our 4th man was Brody who ran to another personal best for the 4th time this year already. Rounding out our scoring was Wyatt, right behind Brody. Four more guys in the race ran personal bests. Travis has also started to take more to the sport and we saw greater focus from him this week and it showed in his race. Finding love in the sport is a huge step toward becoming great and makes it a lot more fun. Emmanuel's first race was on this course last year and he ran 36:25. This year he ran 22:24! Bigger things to come! In the second race, the team finished 3rd overall which was a solid performance for the team. Back to back weeks finishing in the top 3 is solid, and this week's performance was better. To beat some great teams, it took competing when things were quiet, and making sure to scratch for every point. Elijah continues to set a great example of what can happen when you are not only consistent for a long time, but also bring the proper intensity and level of care to be your best. He continues to break through limits and ran to a great 8th place finish in a huge personal best of 17:31. Kai has also put in a lot of miles over the year and finished in a solid 18th place in a huge personal best of 17:52. Some of you may have seen the Twitter post, but Eli improved from last year's 57th/21:21 in the JV race to 8th/17:31 in the varsity race this year. Kai improved from last year's 83rd/22:09 in the JV race to 18th/17:53 in the varsity race this year. Both are great examples of how this sport is earned and how "talent" is built by consistency and effort. It doesn't happen overnight, and it will be fun to look back on this year as they continue to improve and go for greatness. Speaking of improvement, our 3rd man at the meet, Ethan, ran to another personal best by knocking on the door of the 17's and finishing in 22nd place. Starting from summer to now him and his brother have seen awesome progress and put in great consistent training. No limits! Our 4th man today was a huge difference maker. Eric ran much more aggressive and held on to finish 41st, breaking into the 18's for the first time. This was only his 4th xc race ever so there's so much more to learn and build on, but he took the best step he could by running faster early and allowing himself the chance to race faster. Our 5th man, Nate, battled awesome the last mile to finish just behind Eric in 44th place. When you run only 5 men on varsity, they all go to the line knowing they are scoring. And when you have a younger team, guys will break through at different moments. Nate in just his 4th ever XC race as well will see the ups and downs of progress and is a guy we see finishing toward the front of races for years to come. There are some amazing opportunities and challenges upcoming. There are two regular season meets left before we get to the best part of the schedule that we have been working hard for with conference, sectional and state. Let's keep building and rolling with the ups and downs of patient progress. We have had Matt out taking photos as well I'll get the photo albums out when I have them. Meet Results This Week First off, it's Homecoming week. Of course we want everyone to enjoy themselves and get involved, but understand the difference in accountability a student athlete takes on that the regular student body doesn't. We are getting close to October racing, so last thing you want is to get sick or injured from not sleeping or having bad diet. Take care of the body and be responsible with your decisions this week. We travel to Naga-Waukee Park for the KM Laser Relays Meet. Parents, please read closely the parking information! It's a county park so you have to pay to park. We will be in Box 10. Here's the meet info, KM Laser Relays Meet Info and Lineups There's no pasta party this week due to many athletes needing to be in the parade right after practice among the other things going on. Next Monday, the 26th there is no school. We will have our annual lakefront run that day at 3:00 p.m. Information on who is participating will be announced this week. Thanks to all the fundraising from the Runathon which greatly helps the team, we were able to donate $190 of that to Children's Hospital of Wisconsin. Thank you! Druckrey Recap The men's team finished 4th by only 2 points out of 3rd in the JV race, and 3rd by only 6 points out of 2nd for the varsity race on Saturday. It was a nice improvement for the team from the previous week, and the close races brought more learning for this young squad! The first race saw Preston Plier out more aggressive than last week, with Wyatt in his second ever XC race not too far behind. Preston's goal was to race more in later in the race, and at around the 4k mark he was able to make a gear change and pass some runners ahead of him, leading him to a huge improvement over last weekend and a 14th place finish. Wyatt finished just 4 spots behind him, while Will came in 4 spots later in the scoring spots. The scoring was rounded out with a huge improvement from Damien, who dropped nearly 90 seconds off of last week to finish 33rd in scoring while Brody PR'd again to finish 39th overall. The final score saw the team just 2 points from 3rd place, but also just 3 points ahead of 5th and 7 points ahead of 6th! The team races can be very close, and every single point matters. In the second race, the team sent out just five again so everyone had a responsibility to score! Overcoming a tough week with finding out about Bronko having an injury, the team looks to turn set back into opportunity to become stronger. Bronko, too, will return stronger and continue to build others through leadership and caring. Only through obstacles can one truly grow, and every great team must face them. So who will have no limits and take chances these next few weeks? Eli and Ethan raced in the 3/4 positions for most the race, with Kai hanging around the 10th place spot most the race. The person who ultimately ended up winning was the guy we hoped to latch on to earlier in the race which is a challenge we want to take next race, but the Eli still finished a strong 3rd with Kai moving up to 9th and Ethan hanging on for 11th. All three have the ability to compete for the win in that race and gained a lot more experience! Nate and Eric rounded out the scoring, with Nate running much more aggressive this week. We only raced 5 again on varsity, but the close races showed how important it will be for every man on the roster to step up his game and push the scoring 5 faster. We will encourage taking chances with this young team and celebrate aggressive moves and racing! The entire top 5 did record their best races of the season thus far. The team focus this week will be improving on our For The Team standard and the desire to seek discomfort. That will drive the learning for racing and the ability to COMPETE against others. The power will come from the packs we form in practice, each day whether a workout or normal run - look to step up and be the person you want to be during each day. I know Coach Dewitt shared some awesome messages to the team on the bus home from the meet! Meet Results This week - Muskego Meet Another great course this week at Muskego with some good competition. We really enjoyed the meet here last year and look forward to returning. Let's make it an amazing week. Thanks for giving the athletes space to warmup this past weekend and next step athletes will look to improve on doing a proper cooldown and making sure to get out on the course and cheer on the race if they are done racing! If they still have a race coming up they can walk to spots and cheer but we don't want them running around until after. Tentative lineups and meet info below. Muskego Meet Info This weeks pasta party is hosted by the Stuller family! 12765 W. Brentwood Dr. New Berlin |
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