MHS Cross Country BRC Championships Girls Comment Sheet

Transcription

1 MHS Cross Country BRC Championships Girls Comment Sheet You are. What you do. When it counts. One of my favorite quotes; you are what you do when it counts. And it counts, every day. Habits matter. It counts every day over the summer on those runs. Every lunch in the ice bath. Every night when you have your head on the pillow by 10:00. Every time you fill up your water bottle during the day. Every workout. Every single day, good habits lead to good racing. And we have some amazing habits ingrained in the culture of or program. Still, we do all of this for a reason, and the reason is to run fast when it matters. Today it mattered. So how did we do? This was the best day for MHS girls cross-country since I ve been coaching. Everything fell in place for our varsity girls. We edged out a very good Hudson team on their home course by seven points to finish in 2 nd place. This is the best BRC finish for a Menomonie girl s team since This is no accident, ladies. We ve worked hard to develop a culture of year-round running, and you girls have had the willingness to buy into that culture and put in the work. We have leaders that set a great example. We haven t had any whining on our warm-ups. Our workouts have been unbelievable. Our long runs have been outstanding. Excellence is not an accident. It is a habit. It is a reflection of attention to detail and discipline. It is a CHOICE. This is something many athletes do not understand. Many athletes are reactionary, believing that good races or good games or good performances are somehow outside of their control. This simply isn t true. You are what you do when it counts, ladies, and I think you are starting to understand this. It isn t luck. It s habit. And I couldn t be more proud of you all! For the individual performances, Emma had the race of the day. An unbelievable 34 second PR on a very difficult course. I could tell on the warmup that Emma was going to run great. She was all smiles and was relaxed. Being able to relax pre-race is extremely important. I know other sports focus and are quiet and so on, but in track and cross you can waste a tremendous amount of nervous energy focusing. It isn t good for you. Relax. Emma had no problem being relaxed. In fact, Laughing on the Warm- up! all of you were extremely relaxed on the warm-up. Everyone was laughing and having fun. There was no nervous tension. Look at the picture. This is what you should be like! When the gun sounded, Emma was with her group and fast through the 1k (but everyone was fast, so it s no big deal). At the top of the hill past 2000m she committed to a HUGE move, catching up to Tyra and Grace. That move is what got us 2 nd place. Emma pushed the big two and they rolled past runners, eventually getting near the top 10. Faustina

2 wasn t oblivious to the move, and she tried to hang on as well, doing so for most of the race. By the top of the 2nd hill, Grace made a HUGE move, while Tyra and Emma ran together. When it was all done, Grace was 8th, Emma 11th and Tyra 12th. All three are ALL BRC 2nd TEAM, and it might not have happened if Emma hadn t made the move. Oh, and Emma broke the sophomore 5k record by seven seconds. What a terrific day! It is far easier to respond to a teammate than it is an opponent. Emma s move forced Grace and Tyra to respond, and if they hadn t, then their times wouldn t have been nearly as fast. If Emma hadn t made that move, the varsity girls would have probably finished in 3rd place as a team. In other news, Grace broke the freshmen record. The record had been set by Tyra a week earlier. 19:51, on that extremely hard course. Eight place in the BRC, behind three very good seniors! That Getting into position for the move... means she s fifth next year, assuming no amazing freshmen come along. And she could move up even more if she improves significantly with winter running, track and another great summer. Tyra also had the best race of her life. 20:04 on this hard course is far better than 19:57 at Old Abe. Far better. All-conference 2nd NAME Old Abe BRC Diff. team is pretty amazing, too. It s awfully A. Roberts (ECM) 17:57 17: rare for a freshmen to be all-conference in H. Roske (ECM) 19:23 19:30.07 anything. For Grace and Tyra to make 2nd E. Smith (ECM) 19:13 19:45.32 team is pretty special. Z. Smith (ECM) 19:55 19:59.04 Check out the chart to the left. I took 19:58 19:59.01 the times from Old Abe for the top five (or K. Bertrang (ECM) Memorial Average Differential +7 sec so) from each team. Eau Claire Memorial E. Daniels (CHI) 20:04 20:18.12 averaged times that were seven seconds 20:09 20:43.44 SLOWER at BRC than Old Abe. Chi Hi s M. Wingert (CHI) K. Faris (CHI) 20:42 20:46.04 times averaged 25 seconds SLOWER. T. Loiselle (CHI) 21:21 20:51.30 Hudson s times averaged 27 seconds M. Chihasky (CHI) 21:31 22:09.38 SLOWER. Menomonie s times averaged Chippewa Average Differential +25 sec 17 seconds FASTER! I put the girls who 19:16 19:26.10 had faster times in bold; only five girls did R. Anderson (HUD) L. Ichel (HUD) 19:35 20:46 1:11 it. Four were from Menomonie. 20:49 20:56.07 Yesterday Topper said, I d rather you run E. Farago (HUD) S. Miller (HUD) 21:12 21:32.20 a PR on a hard course by having a great race than running a PR on a fast course by Hudson Average Differential +27 sec having an average race. What a great T. Boettcher (MEN) 19:57 20:04 :07 comment! Most of you took that to heart, G. Bilse (MEN) 19:58 19:51 -:08 had great races and had significant PRs. E. Welch (MEN) 20:44 20:03 -:41 Ingrid Kilde is a beast. She ran a 21:08 F. Zertler (MEN) 20:43 20:37 -:06 on this difficult Hudson course. Her I. Kilde (MEN) 21:47 21:08 -:39 lifetime PR is 18 seconds faster on that Menomonie Average Differential -17 sec super fast Eau Claire City Wells course last year at BRC. This 21:08 is faster than last years 20:50. And it s not even close. For those of you that have doubts, for those of you that struggle, for those of you that wonder if you ll ever be fast again, look at Ingrid. This season started rough for her, and she was

3 eventually beaten out of her varsity spot. She didn t complain or whine. She fought. She figured out her puzzle, fixed her breathing and, because she s persevered, she ran the best race of her life at BRC. Last year she was all BRC honorable mention, grabbing the 21st spot. This year she was 24th, but five freshmen beat her. Darn freshmen! The conference is getting faster. We are seeing an influx of talent, especially on our own team, and it s not easy to repeat as an all-brc runner. I don t think Ingrid is too upset, though. She ran a massive season PR, had the best race of her life and, in doing so, came through her illness better than anyone has in quite a long while. I m very proud of the example she s set. Boecker is in the same position. She had the best race of her life as well. Last year she ran faster one time at the BRC meet on that fast course in Eau Claire. This year she s run faster times twice, but on much, much faster courses. 21:16, on this course, on this day, is the best race she s ever had. And she looked strong. Eyes were up, she was attacking the course, she was passing people. This was the Boecker we knew from last year! This race was a great step forward for Brea heading into sectionals. Tayia had a rough race. This happens, and it is part of the process. It was an amazing season Tayia, and I hope you appreciate how far you ve come as a runner. Your season was very typical of a rookie; one good race, then one rough race, then another good race. Consistency generally comes with experience. You ve brought so much to the team this year, but mostly you ve been a terrific running partner. You re pace discipline is awesome, you are very tough and you are funny. It s wonderful having you on the team, and yearround running is going to turn you into a great runner. Then there is Faustina s amazing day. Her PR last year was 22:10, and that was an outlier. She spent most of the season hurt, struggling to finish races. Her final 5k of the season last year came at Chippewa Falls, and she ran 23:13. Today she ran 20:37, the 9th fastest time in the history of MHS. She also earned all-brc honorable mention status by finishing in 17th place. Oh, and she was sick. Nothing like a lifetime PR when you re sick! We not only finished in 2nd in the varsity race, but we were 2nd in the JV race as well. In fact, 19 runners and 22:43 had passed before the first non-menomonie, non-memorial runner crossed the finish line. Our top three finishers were in the top 20, and our fourth and fifth were right behind. MHS and Memorial have a tradition, and that tradition includes the development of a JV team. Look at how well our JV team ran compared to Hudson and Chippewa. MHS only has 970 students. Hudson has over 1600, as does Chippewa Falls. It s amazing that we can get ahead of them, but it s not just our varsity girls that are running year round. Anna, Madee, Ellen, Nicole, Kali and Erin all put in some serious mileage this summer as well. That s what it takes. In the end, Madee, Anna, Ellen all had very nice lifetime PRs.

4 For Madee, she was running against Memorial s pack, and she was running to get that varsity spot back. Madee lost her spot a couple of weeks ago when she was sick. She had a really difficult race, then a race where she bounced back, then this race. Memorial has a terrific pack of JV runners and they usually sweep the JV conference meet. Madee s job was to wreck the sweep and bust them up. She did just that, finishing 5th, and taking away Memorial s perfect score. Remember, we own the last two K. Madee owned that last 2k, passing a group of Memorial runners and gapping those that were behind her. Still, it came down to a kick, and Madee hung on for 5th place. Technically she s on the All-BRC JV team, but more importantly she ran a 21:10. This was an amazing turn-around, and a lifetime PR on a hard course. Ellen ran brilliantly yet again. She s had an incredible journey as well, and I can t say enough about how tough she s been. In Once A Runner, Denton, the coach, compares training to climbing on a giant spring. There are ups, then you cycle down before another up. Last year Ellen needed time to figure everything out. Now she s one of the better runners in the area. She would not have been out of place in the varsity race and would be varsity on most BRC teams. I m extremely proud of her perseverance and awesome attitude. Bischel gave everything she had in what was the finest race of her career. The time wasn t a PR, but running 22:38 on this hard, hilly course was exceptional. It seemed that she was pretty relaxed about racing today. There was a little less anxiety and fear this time around. After the race, she was very positive and proud of her efforts. For Bischel, cross is the set-up for track, and she s a heck of a track runner. This past season, she grew tremendously as a runner and leader, and it s going to pay off with some amazing 800m times! Anna ran the best race of her career as well, and missed the varsity letter standard narrowly. If this had been Husky or Memorial s course or even Rice Lake, she might have had that 22:30. She had an amazing summer and worked so hard, and if anyone has ever deserved a letter it s Anna. Still, the time is the standard, and she was a little off. If there is one reason I don t like the letter standard, it s this; Anna had the best race of her career, put up a very nice PR and was disappointed. You should never, ever be Geese, for the last time this season. disappointed with a PR, and you should never be disappointed with a race well-run. Hold your head up. Be proud. You ve learned an awful lot this season, and with another 700 miles in your legs before next cross season, you ll get that letter for sure. Erin was in the same boat. She ran her best race of the season, tied her PR and came up short of the letter standard. Be proud of your efforts, Erin. You raced well. Battling injury this season wasn t easy. Finding balance is never easy. Still, you learned a lot, and if you want to take your running to the next level, you know what you have to do this summer. Andrea missed a PR narrowly as well, but had an amazing race. Andrea is soooo positive and has such a good heart. Remember Chippewa? That was brutal. Look how she rebounded! One last think; Erin and Andrea had varsity spots last year. This year the team was much better, and they lost their varsity spots to freshmen. Did they ever once complain

5 or make anyone feel unwelcome? Heck no! Erin and Andrea know that if they want those varsity spots back, they have to earn them, just like they earned them last season. I m proud of how they handled themselves this year, and they set a great example for the team. Kaufmann didn t have much pop in her legs after the 1 st hill. She s got sooo much potential, but consistent mileage creates consistent racing, and Clara didn t have a very consistent summer. Actually, it s more fair to say that Kaufmann didn t have a summer at all. 22:42 as a PR (right around where Faustina was as a freshmen) with no off-season this is interesting. I wonder how fast Clara will be with a thousand miles in her legs. Hopefully we ll find out this winter, because the potential is off the charts. I was awfully proud of Kali this season. 23:00 last Friday was a spectacular time. I know she wanted more, and I know she worked hard and I also know she wasn t very happy with her BRC time. Still, she PRd by 30 seconds this year. She also found a great home with Clara and Lindsay and a few other runners with similar ability levels. She worked very well with the underclassmen. Oh, and she was also very positive! I couldn t ask for much more from a runner. So let s have a great winter, Kali, and turn that into a great track season. Annie B. was dancing and having a lot of fun before her race. This is good! Stay loose! The race was rough, sure, but the effort was outstanding. Annie is like Clara; if you want to take your running to the next level, you need a summer of training. You could be a very good runner over the next three years, Annie, and with your leadership skills you could be an amazing captain. But you need to train. Jess ran a great race as well, and what a great way to finish the season with three PRs in a row! She had some major calf pain heading into the race, but she gutted it out and ran a lifetime PR. She also beat 12 runners. I feel bad for runners like Jess, who just start to figure it all out as the season is ending. Still, there s winter runner, track, summer running and then cross country next year. If you train hard, you could easily win our most improved award next year. Viktoria displayed some guts in her last race. Due to illnesses, she hasn t race in a month and I was worried that she d breakdown or quit half-way through her race. She didn t quit, tough. Instead, she finished and was all smiles at the end. Did it hurt? YES! Was it worth it? YES. I hope you enjoyed this part of American culture, Viki. Lastly, Brenna ran a solid race. She couldn t quite match the PR, but she was very solid throughout. Those darn hills took their toll, but Brenna was able to battle on the home stretch. Great racing, Brenna. And a great summer as well. Well, that s all I have for this week, and what an amazing week it was. We had four all BRC runners, we were 2 nd behind an elite team, we beat a state ranked team and we had more PRs than all other teams combined. What a great day. One last note before I go: The man on the left is Bob Peterson. He coached the cross country team before the Olson / Topper era.

6 We were his assistant coaches for a few years, then he retired. Bob s contribution to the sport was significant. He coached a state champion, a state runner-up and he had numerous teams go to state. In fact, he was the coach in 1995 and 1996, which were the last years that MHS has placed in the top two in the BRC. He was also coach in 1997, the last time a Menomonie Girls team qualified for state. Bob was a super smart coach who knew the sport very well, and he said to me your girls team has a great shot at going to state. I hope he s correct. Enjoy the great day, ladies. Enjoy it, and then let s get ready for Sectionals next Friday! Top two teams qualify for state, and we have a good chance.. It's all about the base...