What a great home invitational we had on Friday evening!  Special shout out and thanks to our parents who hopped in and volunteered with concessions, t-shirt sales, and tear-down (The Venturas, Roemers, Lorbers, Jensens and Kufalks)!

Here is a recap from the meet:

Freshman Race
We had 3 freshmen head to the line and each one had an excellent outcome. 

Despite the heat, Ryan Lorber went out and PR'd by over a minute, running 35:00!   Oscar Reimers ran the first race of his career, battled really nicely in the middle of the race, and crushed the 30 minute barrier, running 28:49 in his debut!  Finally, our Boys Freshman Athlete of the Meet went to Morgan Slade, who not only PR'd by 40 seconds, but won a 27-team invitational, beating every other freshman by over 20 seconds! Morgan had a really nice summer, including a few 7+ mile runs, and the strength he gained showed itself in the race.  Congratulations to all three guys and excited for the bigger things to come for this crew!


JV Race
Bringing just six guys to the line, I thought we competed well as a group.  Each guy contributed and battled in the later stages of the race.  Isaac Kuenzli led the way for us, with a 90 second season best, running 22:48. 

For our JV Athlete of the Meet, we went with a guy who broke out this week at practice, challenging himself in new ways.  We could see he came in this weekend with increased confidence and fitness.  Donovan Green put himself way further up at the beginning of the race, ran tough in the middle and saw the results, running a new personal best by over 90 seconds.  Congratulations Donovan Green and our whole JV crew on a great meet!

Varsity
Putting ourselves in a good position early, our boys ran tough and finished 8th out of 25 quality teams.  For perspective, that's like finishing 17-7 as a record for a team (we beat 17 teams, only lost to 7).  Notably, we missed out on 6th by just 1 place and 7th, we tied, but didn't have a sixth man, so we automatically lost the tie-breaker.  This is fine at this point in the season, but it is just an important reminder of the importance of every spot and every guy on the team.  Overall, I'm really pleased about where we are at this point in the season; we are in a great spot, but need to continue to improve to accomplish what we are hoping to do this season.

We had 3 medalists, finishing in the top 25 at this very prestigious meet.

14th- Koda Bruner
24th- Caleb Jensen
25th- Joseph Ventura


As for our Varsity Athlete of the Meet, we as a coaching staff were really pumped to watch Caleb take the next step in his progression and medal at a really large invitational.  Caleb has had an outstanding summer and his leadership both on the course and off the course have us off to a great start this season.   Congratulations to Caleb and our entire varsity squad.  Bigger things to come!

Next week, we are at Grant Park on Saturday.  The boys JV race is at 10:15am and the boys varsity race is at 11:35am.  Look forward to seeing you all then!

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We were very pleased with the efforts of our boys and how we built this week.  We are excited for our first competition this week, which is at Palmyra!

Thursday: Palmyra Eagle Invite- be at school at 1:45pm, bus leaves at 2:00pm- info below
Location: Palmyra-Eagle Middle School/High School 123 Burr Oak St.
Palmyra, WI 53156-
 The course will begin behind the school on the lower practice field.


Race time: Boys JV/Varsity 4:00 PM
Girls JV/Varsity 4:45 PM 

Medals will be given to the top 25 runners and plaques for the top 2 teams in each of the Varsity races.   ALL AWARDS will be delivered to the coaches or mailed out following the conclusion of the mee

Results will be posted online at www.tracksidetiming.com  following completion of the meet. 

Looking forward to watching the kids compete for the first time this year!

​The WIAA State Meet was another fun one, as Koda and Ethan both raced tough on what ended up being a slower day than last year at the Ridges Cross Country Course.   Koda ended up taking 51st place (16:44) and Ethan was 79th (16:57)!  Both finishers were in the top half against the best competitors in the State!

Both boys have a ton to be proud of this year.  

Let's start with Koda, who hadn't broken 17:20 last year and was, at most meets last year, our 5th-7th man.  Koda finishes his season with a PR of 16:12, 7th fastest all-time in Hale history! Furthermore, he went from 139th at last year's State Championships, up to 51st, almost making his way into the top 50!  Very proud of his growth throughout the year, from track, to a much improved summer of miles, to a great season in XC.  Congratulations Koda; we are very proud of you!

Now, to Ethan.  Ethan set the tone for our team this season, with his work-ethic and focus. Ethan ran the most miles on our team and ran them with consistent, quality intensity. That hard work led to some really cool outcomes.  He improved at every regular season meet this year, medaled at every regular season meet this year, won an individual meet title, finished top 10 at the GMC Conference Meet and improved his place from last year's State Championship.  Ethan caps off his career with a PR of 16:16, which moves him to 11th all-time in Hale history.  Congratulations on an outstanding cross country career Ethan; we will miss you next year!  

Another huge shout out to the support squad they had up at State!  It is so cool to see the boys and families continuing to support each other, even when that means traveling 2 and a half hours to do so.  

Banquet Date Change: now is Tuesday November 18th at 7pm at Hale cafeteria
Due to some conflicts, our coaching staff has changed the banquet date.  It will now be Tuesday November 18th at 7pm in the Hale cafeteria.  Again, it will be a dessert event, where families will be asked to bring a dessert for about 10 people, if possible.   

Winter Training and Uniform Hand-in: Monday November 17th at 3:15pm in room 108
First off, if an athlete is in a winter sport, I want to say, that's awesome!  It is great to get the opportunity to compete and we are excited to support them in that!

If an athlete is not, we highly recommend being a part of our winter training group.  A lot of growth can be made in the off-season and it starts with training together.  It is run completely by the boys, but I will often be around for it, as they meet in my room.  

Athletes meet each week day in room 108 and run miles together.  They can still use their lockers to store stuff in.  As it gets colder, kids will wear hats, gloves, pants and sweatshirts.  Often good to store some extras of these in their lockers.  In extreme cases, boys will use the treadmills or indoor bikes or go to the Pettit Center, but most days, bundling up with layers will do the trick!

Regardless if they are running on November 17th, athletes should bring me their washed uniform and jacket on that day.  Reminder, they are welcome to keep the green dry-fit shirt they received at the start of the season!

Look forward to seeing the boys, to hand-in their uniform on the 17th and all the families at the banquet on November 18th!