Award Hangers

Custom Medal Hangers $40.00 

Marked down to $30.00  Pick yours up now.

Product information. 
Made from 12 gauge steel powder coated flat black. Prepped
with 16” center holes for easy hanging.
Medals slip into the lower hanger.
Email bpxcparentsclub@gmail.com to place an order. 

Thank you for supporting the Belle Plaine Cross Country Parents Club. 

2016 Awards Night

The 2016 Belle Plaine Cross-country season came to an end Thursday evening.  Food was fabulous the turn out was terrific and the captains recognized each participant with a certificate of some sort of achievement.

2016 was an amazing season finishing with a trip to the state meet.  The boys JV streak stayed alive.  They have not been beaten by a single A foe in over two seasons.  The Junior High girls defended their MRC championship with a perfect score.  In an incredible JV girls race at the MRC the ladies went 2-14.  Never before have we dominated that race so completely.  The boys varsity had a great season, winning the Mankato East meet, the I90, and the Buck invitational. They also had a strong showing with three all conference runners at the MRC.  The girls had an outstanding season winning the MRC for the 5th consecutive year.  They were runner up at the section 2A meet to the eventual state champions and competed at the state meet to a 13th place finish.

There were many fun and exciting moments this season and it was a pleasure being part of them.

Congratulations to the special award recipients:  Alexa Lenz and John Morrison (Most Tiger Spirit), Emily Nagel and Drew Hastings (Most Improved Runner), Kellen Bergs and Cassie Stolt (Most Dedicated Runner), Emily Berger and Kyle Siemon (Most Valuable Runner), and Teddy Sellnow Cross-country Special Achievement Award.

13th Place Finish!

In the first visit to the state meet since 1978 the Belle Plaine Cross-country team competed to a 13th place finish.  On a glorious morning the ladies went out under control carefully pacing themselves through the first mile.  At the two mile point they focused on whoever they could pass and finished the race giving it their all as they have done for the entire season.  They can be proud of the way they represented the community of Belle Plaine and the cross-country program.

Cassie Stolt had an outstanding run leading the Belle Plaine finishers over the 5000 meter course at St. Olaf in 20:37.  Cassie has had an outstanding year and her durability and experience came through at State.  The only senior on the team came through next, Haley Leger completed the course sprinting down the home stretch to finish in one of her best times of the season 20:57.  Haley has been an outstanding mature presence on the team this year racing with calm and intensity the entire season.  Emily Berger was the third runner at state finishing in 21:02.  Emily is very thoughtful about her racing and has and incredibly competitive instinct.  Fourth for the Tigers was 8th grader Jordyn William crossing the line in 21:15.  In her second season Jordyn has already established herself as a seasoned runner putting in the extra work in the off season.  The youngest member of the squad was next, Malina Koepp had a fabulous race finishing fast in 21:33.  Malina has learned quickly this season and has shown that she is a serious runner.  McKenna Herrmann crossed the finish just behind Koepp in 21:37.  McKenna is a very strong runner and incredibly diligent about her training, she is quickly becoming a highly experience runner.  Lizzy Schmidt finished in 21:43 to round out the squad.  Lizzy has had an amazing first season as a cross-country runner and has brought strength and cognition to the team.

It was very uplifting to see and hear so many Belle Plaine fans come out and support us at the State.  The girls enjoyed the experience and are eager to take another shot against the best in Minnesota.  Thanks to all for their support of the Cross-country program.

State

It was an exciting meet last Thursday in Montgomery.  The girls team placed 2nd with a score of 104 and is going to the state meet Saturday November 5th for the first time in 38 years.  The boys team finished in 6th place with 171 points completing their 2016 season.

Every girl new her job and pushed herself to the limit in pursuit of Belle Plaine cross-country history. Freshmen Emily Berger led the way with a 12th place finish in 20:09.  She was followed closely by 8th grader Lizzy Schmidt in 17th place with a time of 20:20.  Senior Haley Leger sprinted across the line in 20th place just in front of LCWM's number 2 runner finishing with a PR of 20:29.  Cassie Stolt, sophomore was next with another strong performance in 25th place, with 8th grader Jordyn Williams just behind in 30th place to round out the scoring.  7th grader Malina Koepp and freshmen McKenna Herrmann nearly placed in front of LCWM's 5th runner finishing in 34th and 36th.  In the past 17 years we have never had a girls team that had their top 7 girls so close to one another.  This years team has the strength of pack running which is very affective in big races.

The boys division on Thursday was incredibly competitive with two very tough teams tied for 1st place.  The boys finished in 6th place led by junior Kyle Siemon in 20th place finishing the 5000 meter course in 17:32.  Freshmen Drew Hastings was close behind in 22nd place running a 17:38.  Senior captain Kellen Bergs capped off his outstanding career with a 33rd place finish in 17:54.  Sophomore Elliot Rudd and freshmen Ben Hunsader rounded out the scoring for the Tigers in 44th and  52nd place respectively.  Sophomores Mikkel Schmidt and Tristan Cruz finished the course in 56th and 67th place.  The boys competed very well.  It is nice to be able to go to the section meet and be in the conversation for the state meet.  They are on the right path and their turn will come, hopefully sooner than later.  

The state meet will be held at St. Olaf college in Northfield Saturday November 5th.  We will be running at 11:00 am and will start in lane 10.  A fan bus is available sign up in the office.  The team will be busy preparing this week you are all welcome to come out and join us.  See you Saturday!

Season end rapidly approaching

Dear Parents,                                                                                    October 14, 2016

Thank you for all of your support this season.  The rides to practice, cheering us on at meets, hooking us up with chocolate milk, having our senior pictures taken and put up in the gym, driving us around for the homecoming relay, organizing a terrific meal and opening up you house to us at the homecoming relay, helping out at the spaghetti dinner and water stops, has made this a memorable season.

We are rapidly approaching the end of the season and the fruits of all the hard work your children have done will become evident.  Our final junior high competition of the season will be at the MRC meet on Tuesday October 18^th at Baylor Park north of Norwood.  Junior High kids are encouraged (but not required) to continue practicing with us until the following Tuesday October 25^th to participate in the JV extravaganza.  We love having them around and would like to see what they can run at the high school distance (5k). 

We are very excited about next weeks MRC meet at Baylor and are anxious to showcase your children’s talents.  We are hoping you can come out and support us it is very motivating hearing big cheers for Belle Plaine.  The remainder of next week we will be holding practices.  Thursday the 20^th and Friday the 21^st practice will be at 9:00 am.

The final meet of the year everyone is able to participate in is the JV Extravaganza a meet we host to promote the future or our team.  It will be held at the Ney Center on Tuesday October 25^th, see race times below.  This is a very exciting meet one you will not want to miss. 

The Section 2A meet will be held at Riverside country club half way between Winnebago and Blue Earth on Thursday October 27^th.  We are limited to have 9 runners on the roster with 7 of them running the other 2 back ups.  Top 2 teams will advance to the state and top 8 individuals not on one of those teams will advance.  We will bring as many kids that have practiced and competed to the JV extravaganza that want to come and will be stopping on the way home in Mankato again.  Hope to see you there.

Finally.  We will celebrate and recognize this seasons accomplishments at our end of the season potluck on Monday November 14^th in the high school commons beginning at 6:00 pm and going to around 8:00 pm.  This is our time to acknowledge the hard work the team has put in this year.

Thank you, for your incredible support of Belle Plaine Tiger Cross-country.  We can’t do what we do without such wonderful parents.

Steve Schroeder

MRC October 18th

Baylor Park)(3 miles North of Norwood Young America on Co. Rd. #33)

10775 County Rd. 33, Norwood Young America, MN 55397

Excusd

3:00 PM         -           Teams arrive

3:15 PM          –          COACHES’ MEETING

3:30 PM         -           JV Boys 5000 m

3:35 PM          -           JV Girls 5000 m

4:15 PM          -           Varsity Girls 5000 m

4:50 PM         -           Varsity Boys 5000 m

5:20 PM         -           MS Girls 1600 m

5:30 PM         -           MS Boys 1600 m

5:45 PM         -           Awards

JV Extravaganza October 25^th

Ney Center

Out at 250

Bus at 300

4:15 Girls 5100 meter Race

4:50 Mini Harriers (local 4-6graders)

5:10 Boys 5100 meter Race

Section 2A October 27^th

Riverside Country Club

Between Winnebago and Blue Earth on the west side of 169

Out at 12:50

Bus at 1:00

Varsity Girls 4:00

Varsity Boys 4:45

End of the Season Potluck November 14^th 6-8 pm high school commons.

Big Week 10/3-10/8

We have another big week of activity for the Cross-country team.
Tuesdays event the LSH coed will be run at the Ney Center bus leaves at 2:45.  Race times are:

4:00pm            HS boys/girls 5k Open Race

4:40pm            Coed JV 5k Team Race (4 boys, 4 girls)

5:15pm            1k Youth CC run (grades k-6) Mini Harriers

5:30pm            Coed Varsity 5k Team Race (5 boys, 5 girls)

6:00pm            Jr. High Girls/Boys 2k

6:15pm            Awards

Please ask your child what race they will be running so you know what time their race will be.  We will be mixing things up a bit on Tuesday.

Wednesday is team and individual picture day starting at 3:20 pm.  Team members should have their uniforms on at the start of practice for pictures.

Thursdays event is in Fairmount.  The bus will load at 1:30.  We will be stopping on the way home in Mankato to eat at the pizza ranch have $ to pay for meal (should be around $8).   We should arrive back in Belle Plaine before 10:15.  Race times are:

4:30 7 th -8 th Grade Girls 1600 Unlimited Ribbons 1-25/Team Ribbons 1st & 2nd 

4:45 7 th -8 th Grade Boys 1600 Unlimited Ribbons 1-25/Team Ribbons 1st & 2nd 

5:00 Girls Varsity – JV 5000 Unlimited Medals 1-25/Team Medals to 1st & 2nd 

5:40 Boys Varsity – JV 5000 Unlimited Medals 1-25/Team Medals to 1st & 2nd 

Once again ask your child which race they are planning on running.

Friday is the homecoming relay.  Your child will be given a permission slip to participate on Monday.  It must be signed by a parent and returned by Wednesday.  A link to the homecoming relay permission slip is here.

Saturday Morning at 9:30 am we are hosting the race for the Mini Harriers at the Ney Center.  Race time is 10:00 should be finished by 10:30.  

Spaghetti Dinner and Water stops

Thank you to all the volunteers, kids, and community members that made the spaghetti dinner a success.  We served around 200 hungry generous customers on Friday night a delicious meal prepared by our parents and team members.  Also a big thank you to the water stop volunteers on Saturday morning at the Scenic Byway half marathon.  I received many compliments about the cross-country kids water stops.  The enthusiasm was terrific and from a runners perspective it was great hearing the cheering even before I could see the water stop.  The underclassmen won 1st place and the upperclassmen where just edged out for second by the gorillas.  Congratulations!  Revenue from this weekends activities will be able to cover the trip we took to Winona.  Thanks again to everyone that helped out.

Half Marathon Water Stops

Saturday morning is the Scenic Byway half marathon and the Cross-country team hosts the last two water stops on the course.  We will have a stop at the intersection of State street and Stoppelmann Blvd and the one before that which is on State Street a bit closer to Blakely.  The 7-9th graders will man one stop and the 10-12th graders the other.  The race starts at 9:00 am and the kids need to be at their stations by 9:30 am.  They should be seeing the last runners around 12:00.  Each station has come up with a theme which I can not divulge at this time.  All we really need is some of the kids enthusiasm down on the course to cheer in the runners.  The kids do a great job and have fun doing it.  It is great to be able to have this opportunity to give back to the local running community.

Winona

We had a great trip down to Winona Friday for Saturday's races.  Stopping in Cannon Falls to run along the Cannon River Valley Trail on our way to the hotel Friday was an excellent way to break up the ride down.  When we arrived at the hotel we ate Jimmy Johns it was freaky fast then spent some time in the pool before our 9:00 pm team meeting and 10:30 lights out.  Saturday morning breakfast was early as our departure time was 7:50am.  We arrived at the meet ran through the course and prepared to run well.  In the first race Mikkel Schmidt led the boys JV to an 8th place finish behind all AA competitors.  The JV boys are still undefeated against A competition since the 2013 season.  Way to go boys!  In the next race McKenna Herrmann led the girls team to a 4th place finish up from 6th place last year due largely to the 17th Herrmann, 18th Cassie Stolt, and 19th Haley Leger place finishes.  The boys Varsity finished ahead of all A competitors in 5th place led by Kyle Siemon placing in 7th place.  The final race of the day saw our highest finish as the Junior Varsity girls placed 2nd in a very strong field behind the 2nd place finish of Malina Koepp.  There were many notable performances including Gabe Bran de Leon's PR on the very tough course.  For all the results click on the link.

Winona full results

Jaguar Challenge

Tuesday the 27th the Tigers will be attending a new meet the Jaguar Challenge sponsored by Bloomington Jefferson High.  The meet will be held at:

Hyland Greens Golf Course, Bloomington, MN

(10100 Normandale Blvd, Bloomington, MN 55437)

Race Times are:

3:40 C Race Boys (Middle School) 2.5K

4:00 C Race Girls (Middle School) 2.5K

4:25 Varsity Girls 5K

4:50 Varsity Boys 5K

5:15 Junior Varsity Boys 5K

5:45 Junior Varsity Girls 5K

There are around 20 teams at this invitational and most of them are bigger AA schools.  We look forward to the challenge of competing against quality teams knowing that will ultimately make our team better.