Hale XC WEek 5

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.