Final Week

Well we have made it to the final week of the season. In order to continue running and participate in the state meet you need to be on one of the top 2 teams or one of the top 10 individuals in the race.

Junior Highers, if you are not running at the section meet please turn in your cleaned uniforms to Mr. Schroeder as soon as possible. You are welcome to continue coming to practice with us Monday, Tuesday, and Wednesday. I have been very impressed with you young runners. Not only are you talented but you are also hard workers. I encourage you to participate in some athletics this winter, work out in the weight room or get outside and run this off season.

Monday practice at the regular time running speedwork on the track
Tuesday regular time easy run
Wednesday regular time easy run
Thursday Section 4A meet at Battle Creek park in St. Paul
Students excused at 1:40
Bus leaves at 1:50
Girls run at 4:00
Boys run at 4:30
JV run at 5:00


There is no Junior High race at the section meet but any junior higher that would like to run the high school distance in this final race is invited to come along and run. We are not bringing spectators on the bus to the section meet.

We have had a terrific season this week is the culmination of much hard work. Many of our kids are in incredible shape. We look forward to a very enthusiastic finish. Thanks for all you have done this year. If you have any questions feel free to contact me.

Congratulations

Congratulations to Janessa Meuleners for becoming the MRC girls Conference Champion. She ran away from a very quality pack of runners. Emilyn Siemon's 7th place finish was good for an all conference performance as well. Cheyene Westin was the third Belle Plaine finisher and was awarded honorable mention.

On the boys side Phil Dvorak ran an excellent race finishing second and Jacob Schaffer turned in an outstanding performance to finish in 10th. Both received all conference honors. Nolan Schroeder was this years honorable mention recipient.

MRC

We had a very good day yesterday at the MRC meet held at the Ney Center. Thanks to all of you that came to cheer and support our team. The people at the Ney Center do a great job, if you see any of them let them know how much you enjoy watching cross-c0untry out there.

Our goal this year has been to win the conference boys and girls meet. This is a very lofty goal but our kids really wanted to accomplish it. Part of making a goal is realizing the hard, consistent work it will take to reach that goal. Your kids worked incredibly hard to achieve their goal. We coaches would look at each other after our hard practices and marvel at the work ethic of the 54 people on our team. The fact is we won 3 of the six races yesterday and we were second in the others. The girls JV and JH won their races and the boys JH won theirs. It was a great day.

As runners we realize we might have a bad day and are never really sure when that will come. On those days your best is all that can be asked of you and all our kids did the best they could yesterday. Sometimes you look back on a race and think I could have run a little harder in this spot or I should have kept up with this person. Those are learning moments. That is how you improve and become a better runner.

I could not be happier about the way our team performed yesterday. If you have not given your kid a pat on the back yet they deserve it. Thanks for being there for your runner(s) it means a great deal to them even if they don't say so.

Week 10-10 to 10-14

This week is the MRC conference meet hosted by Belle Plaine at the Ney Center  3:15 Thursday.  We have had a good week of practices leading up to the conference meet and we are in a battle for the top spot with Mayer Lutheran, Jordan, Watertown-Mayer, and Sibley East.  The kids set their goal high at the beginning of the season and have worked very hard to attain it.  This week will determine if that goal is realized.  We all know that goals are sometimes achieved and sometimes not but more important than reaching the goal is the focus and journey to achieve the goal.  The realization of the work that needs to be done is the learning experiment.  Sometimes our goals are realized and we are graciously victorious.  Other times we fall short but have learned from the process the benefit of goal setting and some experience with the process.  If all that gibber gabber doesn't make sense, win or lose we will be the better for it.

Monday 3:15 practice down the ladder


Tuesday 3:15 practice to the Track (4x400's) back to the school


Wednesday 3:15 practice and spaghetti dinner at the coaches house.  Practice will be over at the regular time.


Thursday MRC Meet at the Ney Center
   1:45 students dismissed from class
   1:50 bus leaves
   3:15 JV Girls 4k
   3:25 JV Boys 5k
   3:55 Varsity Girls 4k
   4:25 Varsity Boys 5k
   4:55 JH Girls 2k
   5:00 JH Boys 2k 

Friday 3:15 practice

I am so excited for what this week will bring.  The kids have worked very hard all year in pursuit of their goals and it has been a pleasure being part of the journey.  Sleep, eat, and drink plenty of water this week.  Tuesday night is the big night to put in some extra sleep.  Thanks for all of your help.  Hope to see you on Thursday.
-- 
Steve Schroeder

Rest of the Week 10-6 thru 10-8

Thursday practice after school

Friday practice before school

   3:30-8:00 spaghetti dinner

   5:00-7:00 kids run

Saturday water stop and registration help at the 1/2 marathon and 5k.

Thank you to all that have volunteered to help on Friday at the spaghetti dinner and kids run. I feel as if I was not completely accurate with the list below so If your name does not appear on this list and you want to help or is in the wrong spot please feel comfortable telling me or just show up to help. 

Please promote the dinner this week with the people you see in the community.  Simply telling them about it and encouraging them to come will help us make this a successful fund raiser. Thanks in advance for what I think is going to be a terrific fund raiser.  

Early Cooks  2:30-arrive as soon as you can as we will need to get things cooking.  We are making spaghetti and sauce.  We have to mix up the sauce from a recipe.  Also we need to bake cookies and bread sticks.  Salad will need to be prepared as well.  When the kids get out of school we will come over and set up and help with whatever we need to do.

I know they will need help at the registration tables in the morning before the race starting at 7:30 but besides that they are having a water station competition during the race.  Our cross-country team could run a water station on the course and compete for a $150 prize for best water station.  What a great way to raise some funds and have some fun promoting the local running community.  If you are able to help or have any ideas for a theme for our water station please let me know.  As a cross-country and track coach I am excited that our community is active promoting running.