Post STate 2018

As the 2018 season comes to a close, it is time to reflect and celebrate all of our accomplishments as well as look forward to how we can grow off a successful finish.  Our team banquet will be this Tuesday, October 30th in the cafeteria!  Thanks to everyone who has signed up to bring food/drinks!!  
Potluck Signup

State Meet Recap
It is always an honor to qualify for the state meet and finish the season at the Ridges Course!  For the seven boys that toed the line Saturday, they truly earned their trip by putting in the months of running necessary to compete at the highest level.  It started with a post track meeting at Coach Mach's house, where one of our goals was to get the team back to state and work on progressing the program back to the top over the next few years.  The boys didn't focus their goal on the outcome, but rather focused on the journey and daily commitment they would need to have as a group in order to achieve the goals they set out for.  This season was proof of what a committed and positive team can accomplish.  This team has put Hale Cross Country back in a position to compete over the coming years at the state level and beyond.  The expectations have changed, and there are no limits to what we can achieve!

Our goal coming into the state meet was to compete and run our race.  Experience is big at the state meet, and having 8 first time athletes we knew no matter what the outcome we would walk away better from the experience.  The realistic goal was to run our race and beat a few teams this season.  The boys ended up 19th overall in the state of Wisconsin this year which can't be taken for granted!  They have come so far in just one season, and as many know, we return 26 boys and add some new freshmen faces next season in hopes of building off this meet.  The experience of the 6 boys who return next year and raced at state this year will be extremely valuable next season and beyond.  

Our lone senior Brad Glisczinski did a heck of a job leading this young crew.  As I have mentioned, he has grown as a person and continues to develop his leadership and team building skills.  He is going to be greatly missed next fall, but knows he has this winter and spring to continue building himself and the boys around him into leaders.  He will continue to lead and pass his experiences onto the younger guys who will be becoming leaders themselves.  Brad was our 3rd runner at the state meet, and has consistently held that position for us all season.  His best races came at the end of the season, finishing 26th at conference, 14th at sectionals, and having an awesome first ever race at the state meet.  Awesome senior fall for Brad, and no better way to cap a cross country career than crossing the finish line at the state meet!

Sophomore Joshua Truchon capped an extremely consistent and progressing season with a 21st place finish in his state meet debut (16:11)!  He moved up from 46th place at the mile to finish 21st overall by the end of the race.  His debut performance sets him up the next two years to set sights on some very cool opportunities!  He's going to just keep enjoying each day, put in off season work and have fun with the sport.  His other highlights include being 1st team all conference, winning two invitationals, finishing 2nd at the sectional and he was 8th overall among non seniors at the state meet.  We are excited to continue watching him progress!

Junior Liam Kelley was geared up...a little too geared up!  He got out very aggressively in the lead through the first half mile which definitely made the rest of his race more challenging.  He still finished with a respectable placing as our 2nd guy, but will definitely learn from his first state experience!  We are looking for continued improvement and growth from Liam and do believe he belongs as one of the top runners in the state as he continues to improve.  He had a very nice junior season, finishing as our 2nd runner in every meet, earning 2nd team all conference and finishing 6th overall at the sectional.  Let's have a great winter and spring!

Sophomore Matthew Kees came on at the right time!  His progression from the first meet to sectionals was incredible, and was due to his summer work!  He has built a lot of strength and has now experienced the state meet.  We hope this helps motivate him to take his running even further and be a consistent low stick for us the entire season next fall.  Matthew came up huge for us when it mattered, and will continue to improve by putting in the proper work.  Great Season Matthew.

Freshman Cole Konczal rounded out our scoring.  He got the very rare opportunity to run in the state meet as a freshman!  Cole stepped up huge for us at conference and sectionals when a couple other guys had off races.  He scored as our 5th guy and was a big part of why we were competing at the state meet!  Being a varsity runner as a freshman and helping a team make state, we hope Cole takes this sport seriously and is committed to off season training and doing track in the spring!  He has unlimited potential and is just a great guy to have around the team.  Great first season Cole!

Junior Ethan Fisher was our 6th guy and had a better performance than sectionals.  He broke 18 for the first time this season and was as high as our 4th guy on the team for much of the season.  He didn't quite have the finish we expected, but gained some awesome experience that can help him break through this spring now.  Ethan is a great runner and guy to have on the team, and we hope he can build confidence in some consistent cold winter training to get himself to the next level.  Ethan wants to continue to develop as a leader for our team, and we look forward to watching him learn and grow.  A great season for Ethan being able to finish at the state meet!

Sophomore Brennan Kompas put in some awesome work this summer and put together a nice 2018 season.  He improved a minute this season with a personal best of 18:44.  He will be the first to tell you he expected more, but with running, progressions of individuals happen at different times!  Some guys progress very quickly, while others take longer.  I know with his work ethic and some new ideas for training going forward that Brennan will continue to be a very important member of our team's success!  He has gained valuable experience, and was a varsity runner on the 19th place team in Wisconsin.  I know he wants to achieve a lot and with continued enjoyment and daily focus he will continue to progress!  Great job Brennan!

Freshman Collin Raschka also got to make the trip as our alternate and is a guy we see who could be scoring for us on varsity next fall!  It was great to see so many others come up to watch and support and take in the experience.  Now's the time to get a mental break for a couple weeks, but start considering what you boys want to achieve.  We made an awesome step this season getting back to winning ways and now we know we can achieve at the highest level.  Motivate each other and make the decision of where you want to be these coming years.  I am extremely proud of the season all of the boys had, and can't wait to see how we continue to progress starting this spring in track!!

This week:
Monday - Uniforms and lock turn in.  Quick recap of season and information for awards and winter meeting.
Tuesday - AWARDS BANQUET 6:00 p.m. in cafeteria!!!!  Dress nice.

Next Week:
Thursday, November 8th - Meet in Dewitt's room after school to talk about winter training.  Even if you are doing another sport, it will important to be here we will discuss some other information for going forward as a team.