State Recap

(Sorry don't have the photo of all the guys up there, if someone has those and can send I can use for the blog/social)

It was awesome having so many Hale teammates and families up supporting our individual qualifiers this weekend!  The team took a great step qualifying two men back to state this fall, and it's a great experience for not only the men racing, but for all of those who came to watch with many looking to race on it in the coming years with the whole team.

Elijah and John debuted at the WIAA State meet this past weekend and represented Hale well in their first go at it.  Elijah finished 94th in 17:04 and John finished 106th with a 17:12.  Going in we looked at having them both place top 100 and both were right around that mark.  Congratulations to both of them of course for a strong and consistent junior season, and a great race at the Ridges!  Experience will serve them extremely well as they help lead a team at the Ridges next fall.  We had such a fun weekend with those two and Ethan who himself got more experience running on the course and being a part of the weekend. 

​Very thankful for the great weekend together!  Although, they are supposed to let the coaches beat them in putt putt golf.  :)

Tuesday Uniforms / Short Meeting
Athletes will be required to turn in clean jerseys, shorts and jackets on Tuesday after school.  We will meet in room 108 and should be done by 3:30.  Coaches will recap State, and talk about winter sport and running opportunities.  

Post Season Banquet/Uniforms
A reminder that our team banquet is this Thursday, November 2nd at 4:15 p.m.  We are hoping to once again do a potluck where families each bring an item!  Use the sign up below to sign up to bring food and/or utensils/plates/bowls.  We have 22 athletes and can assume around 2 family members per athlete.

​Banquet Sign up

2024 CWES Camp Dates
The 2024 CWES dates will be Monday, July 8 - Thursday, July 11th.  We are looking to keep it consistently this week for planning purposes.  Save the dates, hope to have everyone at camp as it sets the tone for a great season together.

Photos
I have started gathering photos from people and will work on getting them all up.  If you have photos from the year and want to send them in an album I can put them up on our site for people.  

2023 Team Photos

Hale XC Youth Summer Camp
Families with siblings or family friends with younger athletes, please share our 2024 Summer Hale XC Jr. Huskies information!  It is free and open to any kids entering 4th through 8th grade for next school year.

2024 XC Jr. Huskies Camp Info

Sectional Recap

The men finished third overall at the Muskego sectional this past Saturday.  The team took a huge step forward from last year and depended on each other to deliver their best team performance of the year!    
The Hale program will once again be represented at the state meet after a one year hiatus.  Elijah Sayeg and John Gruichich have punched their ticket to run as individuals and will race at the Ridges Course next Saturday in Wisconsin Rapids.  A year ago, John was in a boot and had his season cut short after the Betz Invitational.  It's awesome to see how far he has come since then!  Congratulations to both men, and let's go have our best race this weekend!

Oh so close to having a third qualifier, Ethan Plier finished as our third scorer as he consistently has all season long.  A heck of a sophomore campaign, earning third team all conference honors and helping lead the team to a successful season with his consistent low scoring week in and week out.  Like his teammates, Eli and John, Ethan will gain experience in championship racing and has some great individual and team opportunities ahead.  A great season for Ethan!

Scoring as our 4th man was senior Eric Harvey who did what seniors do!  In his last race as a Husky, Eric put out his best performance of his cross country career (just two seasons!) racing to a 22nd place finish and just 4 places off of our third man this week.  Eric has grown a ton and is another example of how championship racing experience helps.  He now has shown he can perform in championship racing and will look to carry that into a successful track season!  Awesome way to end the season for Eric!

Rounding out our scoring this week was a guy who the coaches have really seen take some major steps this past week.  Koda Bruner broke 18 minutes for the first time and finished 25th overall.  We could really see his intensity pick up on runs and he after a couple of months with the guys this is becoming important to him.  We look forward to what Koda and our other freshmen can do with their Hale careers!

Imperfections are a huge part of any season.  Looking to get a number of different personalities and men with different backgrounds to all gel and achieve on the same day is always a challenge that we have been fortunate to do pretty well with for years.  One of those imperfections arose during the warmup on Saturday.  A young man needed a pick up and his teammate was there for him, ready to step up and do what he could for him and the team!  Stepping in as an alternate, Kai Bruner raced fearless and even helped finish ahead of Wisconsin Lutheran's 5th man which helped our team!  Great work by Kai who continues to grow as a young man.  Joseph learned the value of team and will no doubt be a huge player for our team going forward, using this moment as an opportunity to build stronger as a person and runner.

Rounding out our top seven was Nate Hutter who has started turning it on at the right time, finishing championship season with two of his best races of the season.  He once again got strong position early, and our other men were able to go with him this week which significantly improved our team from conference where they didn't commit as early.  Finishing 30th overall and ahead of Greendale's 3rd, 4th and 5th scorers helped the team!  Nate is still early in his distance running development and with some skills to work on with the coaches, we are excited to see him continue building and being a strong leader.

The whole team is instrumental in every success and failure.  It's the efforts that matter, and when we all are giving our best efforts, the coaches are proud win or lose.  We definitely walk into state weekend with a big team win day.  There's definitely a lot to be excited and motivated about with the team and the number of men who will return next fall.  The season always goes by fast, and we are thankful for another week with two great young men.  

Awesome step forward for the program this fall.  Our overall record against teams was 89-31 this season, compared to 53-61 a year ago.  The team won the Druckery (Rocket) Invitational for the first time since the year 2000. We had three men all conference, and two state qualifiers.  Three different individuals won a race this fall.  We finished third at the sectional after finishing 11th at our sectional last year.  Of course that's not all and we look forward to sharing all of the men's team and individual successes, along with challenges along the way at the banquet in November.

Let's continue to build and love.  No Limits.
​
This week
Elijah and John will practice at Hale Monday through Thursday after school.  Any other guys on the team are more than welcome to join!  Big shout out to our women's program and Sarah Norton as well who punched her ticket with a huge effort at sectionals on Saturday!  

Heading up to state to support!
We would love to see some Hale support up at State!  See the WIAA XC page for information on tickets and race times.  The D1 men's race is at 1:10 p.m.  Tickets for fans are sold only online.

https://www.wiaawi.org/Sports/Fall/Boys-Cross-Country/Tournament​

Post Season Banquet/Uniforms
A reminder that our team banquet is Thursday, November 2nd at 4:15 p.m.  We are hoping to once again do a potluck where families each bring an item!  Use the sign up below to sign up to bring food and/or utensils/plates/bowls.  We have 22 athletes and can assume around 2 family members per athlete.

​Banquet Sign up

The Monday after state on Monday, October 30th all athletes will need to turn in all issued uniforms (Jerseys, shorts, Jackets) after school in Coach Dewitt's room.  Anything not turned in will be assessed a fee to cover the cost of the item.  I'll touch base on winter sports and running opportunities there as well with a short meeting.  Should be wrapped up by 3:30ish if we can get guys there right after school.

Some freshmen have asked, so as a heads up those not in a winter sport, we have a group of men that meet up daily in Coach Dewitt's room 108 after school dressed to run.  These end earlier than practices since they just go out for runs.  I'll give more information on it at the meeting, we usually start them after the Thanksgiving holiday and leading up to the track season.

GMC Recap

Three men took big steps in their journey by finishing as GMC all conference athletes this past weekend!  Elijah Sayeg, John Gruichich and Ethan Plier who have been training together for months were all within 10 seconds of one another, finishing 16th, 21st and 24th respectively.  As expected, the race was tight as championship racing always is!  Less than 10 seconds separated 12 spots.  The battle for individual spots will be paramount as the men head into the sectional meet this week!  These three are ready to do big things the next two weeks and continue running for a bigger purpose as they build in their journey.

Koda Bruner was our 4th man Saturday after a strong race near the front of the emerging varsity race.  We put him in the emerging varsity race to give him a chance to race up front for a win and continue to progress.  He ran a great race and competed well the last mile again to move up a couple of spots.  Joseph Ventura was our 4th scorer on varsity, getting out a bit hotter than we planned but will look to bounce back at sectionals.  The two frosh could make a big impact at sectionals next week.  Eric and Nate finished alongside Joseph as our 5 and 6 men this week, and we will look to move the 4-7 scorers up at sectionals when it matters most.

We were pumped that our emerging varsity placed 5th as well.  We had a smaller group racing this week, and in comparison to many of the other teams number wise, and losing a runner like Brody is a tough blow, but our guys stepped up with their best races of the season.  We have quality in this group!  Preston Plier is developing into a leader for our team and also more into a distance runner each week.  He finished 25th as our second scorer.  Closing the gap in scoring were Damien Sheridan (Dame Time), and Joel Galarza who ran a one minute personal best and moved up the last mile!  Iker Robles rounded out our scoring 5 and finished off a nice freshman campaign.  Deacon rolled another personal best race to end the season and will look to carry momentum into a strong junior season.

A big thanks to our seniors Will Zagzebski and Preston Vahovick who will forever be a part of the Hale program.  It is always awesome to see so many alumni showing up to our meets.  At Viking we had athletes from the 1960s and 1970s teams!!  At conference we saw many recent faces as well as some mid 2010's athletes.  Really shows the strength and meaning of being part of the sport and this program.  We are thankful every day we get to spend together as a family.  The meaning of the daily work together transcends sport and many times you don't realize it until it's over.  Cherish each day, being a part of a team is so special.

The men prepare for sectionals this week!  Conference is always a nice step and competition measure to prepare us for this meet.  Our guys have some great opportunities and we are excited to love these special moments.  Let's go love each other and be great for each other.

​2023 Results Workbook

Sectional Information

​For new families, the sectional works as follows.  Teams are allowed seven entries only to go to the line on race day, in addition some alternates that are entered and train with the team.  The top 2 placing teams at the meet will advance to the state meet the following weekend in Wisconsin Rapids.  The top 5 men not on either of those two teams will also advance as individual qualifiers.  

Sectional Team Info

Alternates listed will practice at a high level to prepare this week as there have been recent seasons an alternate has been used.  
​
Only those competing or alternates will practice this week.  We are then encouraging but not requiring any athletes not competing to join on the bus, but make it clear they are there only to support and be positive encouragement to the guys competing!  Be out on the course in tons of areas to be loud for the guys!  We want guys to come support but will hold them to a high standard, as it's different when you don't have your own race to focus on.

They are charging to park in the lot for sectionals, you can order a pass here,
Sectional Parking Pass

The Gruichich family is hosting the Friday pasta party for ALL members of the team.  We will be watching the movie Prefontaine together there.  The address is 11833 W. Lakefield Drive  

And thanks to all the families who have hosted and allowed us to carry on this great tradition for so many years now.

Post Season Banquet/Uniforms
The Banquet for the team will once again be the Thursday following the state meet.  This year it is Thursday, November 2nd at 4:15 p.m.  We are hoping to once again do a potluck where families each bring an item!  Use the sign up below to sign up to bring food and/or utensils/plates/bowls.  We have 22 athletes and can assume around 2 family members per athlete.

​Banquet Sign up

The Monday after state on Monday, October 30th all athletes will need to turn in all issued uniforms (Jerseys, shorts, Jackets) after school in Coach Dewitt's room.  Anything not turned in will be assessed a fee to cover the cost of the item.  I'll touch base on winter sports and running opportunities there as well with a short meeting.  Should be wrapped up by 3:30ish if we can get guys there right after school.

Some freshmen have asked, so as a heads up those not in a winter sport, we have a group of men that meet up daily in Coach Dewitt's room 108 after school dressed to run.  These end earlier than practices since they just go out for runs.  I'll give more information on it at the meeting, we usually start them after the Thanksgiving holiday and leading up to the track season.

Congratulations Coach Dewitt!
We are fortunate to have an amazing coach who also happens to be pretty good at running too.  He raced in New York City on Saturday morning and qualified for the Olympic marathon trials to be held in February.  This is his third Olympic trials he has qualified for!  He ran 2 hours, 17 minutes and 13 seconds which is a 5:14 per mile effort over 26.2 miles!  He will share his experience and lessons to our guys on Monday!