Week 10 (Sectionals)

The Hale Varsity had a fine week at the Greater Metro Conference Meet!  We had 4 of our 5 scorers run all time bests, and we are excited to make a statement this weekend at the sectional meet at Mitchell Park!  The JV boys look to finish their seasons strong Thursday at Grant Park, with the boys racing at 3:00 and 3:30 p.m.  Details can be found below for both our races this week and a list of events that boys should be at through the remainder of the season. 

Looks like a gorgeous fall week, and we are excited to embrace each day and put in some positive work!  A full recap of the conference meet can be found below!  #ForTheTeam #FullSends

GMC Recap
The varsity boys took 6th place in an awesome field of teams/runners this past weekend!  As an example, 5th place Brookfield East was right ahead of us and they were ranked 11th in the state coming into conference!  We had two boys, and nearly a third, earn all conference honors! 

Joshua Truchon continued his great season with a 4th place finish in a personal best 16:00!  He ran with a chase pack of two other great runners, pushing the pace on them throughout and finishing within seconds of both of them!  His consistent and positive work has brought him the ability to gain a lot on these guys over the year.  He will get another chance at beating the three guys that were ahead of him when we race them again in two weeks at the Ridges!

Liam Kelley finished 16th overall in a gutsy race.  He was in the top 5 through the half mile, and fell back from the group a bit, but battled to finish as a 2nd team honoree!  Liam has beaten the 8th place finisher from conference this year, and is having a great season for us!  We are excited for him to continue his great race execution and help to be a low scorer for the team these next two weeks.

Brad Glisczinski ran his fastest 5k of his life this weekend, and will do it again the next two weeks!  His time of 17:14 put him just outside of all conference honors, with his 26th place finish.  Bradley is really coming around nicely at the right time, and has been a great senior leader for us this season!  We are lucky to have him lead us into the next two weeks!

Matthew Kees also ran his personal best, with a nice breakthrough time of 17:38.  We have seen the hard work he has put in as well, and it is cool to see him step out of his comfort zone this week and step up 'for the team'!  We are excited to watch him drop even further and continue to compete up front for us!

Cole Konczal rounded out our varsity scoring, running another personal best of 18:05.  We loved seeing Cole get out after it with Matthew, and helping close the gap between or 3-5 runners!  Cole will keep bringing it, and never putting limits on what he can do these next two weeks and over the coming years.  Keep it up!

Ethan Fisher and Brennan Kompas didn't have the ideal performance they were looking for this weekend, but we have no worries in these boys!  The coaches know the fitness they are in and have the confidence in seeing the breakthroughs similar to the one Matthew had this week!  It only takes one good race to make it a great season!  Keep believing, you both are a huge part of our success this season and the growth of our program!

On the JV side, we had some nice performances as well!  We finished 8th overall, which is much lower than what we know we were capable of, but this is the beauty of the sport.  We race each week with a clean slate, and trust in our progression as athletes through the good and the bad.  We are looking to bring more intention and purpose to our training and competitions, and continue to push ourselves and our teammates!

Cole Orlowski led the pack with a personal best of 19:10.  He got out gradual and really moved up a lot during the race.  This week we will watch him get out aggressive and have the confidence to run with our top 5!  Collin Raschka improved again, running under 20 minutes for the first time in his career!  Sam Walder, Robert Petrovick, David Martinez and Gavin Graham also ran career bests!  All of these guys are guys we'd love to help continue to build our program!  Great job and keep moving up!  We are excited to watch other guys step up this Thursday, and get after it!   Keep learning and progressing.  No limits!

Here's how the next few weeks of our season will work, and what the boys will be responsible for attending!

This week:

Tuesday, October 16th - Pasta party at 5:15 p.m. in cafeteria after practice!  Thank you to the Konczal family!

Thursday, October 18th - JV boys race!  See attached rosters on meet info sheets.  Guys who race here are not racing Saturday but could be alternates or considered for the state meet if we advance.  Varsity will attend this meet and practice at the site, we plan to be back at Hale by around 5:00 p.m.

Saturday, October 20th - Sectional Meet @ Mitchell Park.  Varsity only, but JV will attend with the team!

See Lineups and Meet Information here!!

Next week and beyond:

Friday, October 26th - The team (qualifiers and alternates only) will depart for the state meet at 10:00 a.m. and practice in Stevens Point.  There is no school this day, we are staying over night Friday.

Saturday, October 27th - WIAA State meet, our race is at 12:00 p.m.!  It's the first race of the day.  Information will be given after this weekend.  

Tuesday, October 30th - Awards Night in Cafeteria 6:00 p.m.  All boys must attend, it's a way to cap off and celebrate our successes this season!  Obviously parents and all family are welcome and encouraged to come.  Please let me know if you're interested in helping prepare for this evening!

There will be more information provided for next week in next week's blog and updates!