Week 9 Hale XC

Viking Invite Recap
The men competed close to home at the always competitive Viking Invitational.  Coming from our off weekend of racing, it's our final tune up before entering the post season competitions.  

In the JV race, David Bevsek lead the scoring once again as he continues to progress this season.  The four freshmen in the race all ran lifetime bests, with Elijah scoring in the top 5 for the first time in his career.  'Papa' John Kuchinskas had a huge breakthrough race running 27:20 and came back on Saturday probably running faster on his run at Minooka Park, meaning a huge drop is still to come.  

Overall, we had a lot of good things happen in that first race!  A point of emphasis heading into conference for these guys is when the race gets tough to be focused on the team and overcoming for the team.  David moved up nicely and we are going to work on getting our squad to move with him this week.  The race will be fast and a great opportunity to get after it and see some very impressive performances.

In the varsity race, we saw our five scorers come through with a 30 second spread.  Senior captains, Alex and Collin paced the scoring 5 up front.  Jack Hutter continues to drop time each race and has been our most consistent man this fall.  Parker Szura trusted himself to get out more conservative, trusting his fitness and racing ability to move up throughout the race and run to a near 30 second lifetime best and finishing as our 3rd man this week.  Carson rounded out the scoring with Dylen coming in as our 6th man in a season best time.  It has been great to have our scorers finishing in different spots every meet as it allows our guys to not have a pecking order.  Selflessness and working together are the best chance at success no matter the order.  The men finished 5th place, matching our 2019 finish at this invitational.  The 2019 team went on to finish 15th at the state meet.  Our team this year are ready for the challenge and excited to come together for some big performances down the stretch.

Thanks to the guys who helped carpool to Minooka Park long run practice Saturday!  Thanks to the parents who drove athletes out as well and always for the support.

​The Journey Continues
The culmination of the regular season brings a clean slate across the state of Wisconsin.  Rankings are thrown out the window, previous failures have been forged into learning experiences, and past successes provide the momentum as great opportunity awaits these hard working athletes.  Each week brings a new chance to get better and the next three weeks will be no different.  When teams toe the line, anxiously waiting for the gun, it will be 5000 meters that decide the race.  When the gun is fired, the mind will go blank as athletes shoot off the line and get into position.  In the midst of the race, battles will be waged inside the mind of every athlete.   The champions will be the ones with a willingness to hurt more than they ever have, more than anyone else, and to run for something bigger than themselves.  Trusting their hard work that allowed for the opportunity, and being privileged to be in the position they are.  

As we head into conference, sectionals and state, we are business as usual.  We cherish every opportunity to compete.  We live our standards and pursue our best as a team.  Our biggest focus will continue to be running for the team.  Motivate each other and put the team above everything else.  Let's build and love our way to an amazing three weeks!  

GMC Conference Week

Meet lineups and information link from the meet hosts are in the document below.

There is no pasta party planned this week.  I am thinking some guys might want to get together at Noodles or somewhere else after pratice.   We can discuss this week.

GMC Meet Information