in Uncategorized by coach mike on 31 Jan 2010
The above link should take you to the Illinois Prep Top Times page for information on the site. Including qualifying times. You have two chances to make those times, SIU-C indoor and EIU Indoor.
in Uncategorized by coach mike on 30 Jan 2010
Where have I been? Right here in the cold, frozen, gloomy darkness of January. Did start track practice, if you want to call, running inside on the tile covered floors of SCHS practice! Most years, I could set up the first indoor meet after the first day of practice-but not this year! I HAVE NO IDEA! I can put 3 guys on most relays-but don’t know the 4th! Don’t know who the number 2 guy is in most events and you can use 3 at the first meet. For the 1st time ever I may not fill out every event. Setting here pounding these keys- I get do three throwers oh wait-one of the guys is hurt! Its going to be a very interesting year, I might loose what hair I have left and I’m sure that what I have left will turn gray! Need some warm weather!
in Uncategorized by coach mike on 12 Dec 2009
Maybe I have hit on this subject before-but I’m getting old and my memory is not the same as it use to be. Anyway here goes-wait what was I going to hit on???? Just kidding! I went to the basketball game last night to see Salem and Robinson at Robinson. Since TC has been out of HS, I have not been to many out of town games, but I was excited by this one. I had never been in Robinson’s new gym for one thng-plus I knew this was going to be a good game. I got there for the last couple of minutes of the JV game and was it a barn burner! Went down to the last seconds of the game-with the Wildcats pulling it out! I think Caleb Lush made the game winning shot. On the varsity team Robinson has a 7′ kid that has committed to University of Illinois for next season and wanted to watch him play and see how we try to handle him. The game was a hard played, tough game, with a lot of double fouls called- of coarse being on the side of the visitors the officiating didn’t always look that good but-you’re on the road-you shouldn’t except any breaks. Robinson won the game and I was impressed with the big kid-he dribbled the floor a couple of times-had several blocks and threw some down. With all that said I’m finally getting to the point that I want to make. I just don’t understand and I’m just not talking about the Salem fans, I see this at all the games-what right does the fans have to yell and scream, call names at, just be plain rude to the players on the court? The kids are playing a game and playing hard. Yelling at the officials is one thing, maybe even screaming at the coach, but the players? I’m not talking about-”he’s fouling, or he’s walking” I’m talking about rude remarks directed at the player on a personal bases. Watch the game, root for your team and your players, boo the officials, telling the opposing coach to sit and down and quit crying, but leave the players on the court of play alone! Just kids playing a game and doing their best, no reason to rip into them just because they’re wearing a different color uniform.
Just saying!
in Uncategorized by coach mike on 10 Dec 2009
How much is a baseball player worth? The big talk is about Matt Holliday and where will he end up? I’m a big Cardinal fan, so I would like to see him play for St. Louis, but not if it breaks the bank. I think the Cards can field a team that will compete without him. You have 3 All Stars on the team, in Carpenter, Wainwright and of coarse Albert, plus Molina. We just need a another good bat. I really think the whole thing is just a big game-Boras is playing the Cardinals to get more money for his guy and I really think Mozeliak is playing a little bit of a game right back at them. When this all settles Holliday will be a Cardinal. Why would Holliday want to play in the AL, he did not hit very well for the short time he was in Oakland. For what ever reason he is more suited for the NL. I think the whole thing is just one big “card” game and I believe Mozeliak is holding the better hand and will play his “Cards” at the right time and Holliday will be the left fielder for the next several years for the Cardinals.
Back to my world-the world of small stakes and very little money. I had my first recruit come to the college on Wednesday of this week. That was exciting-Toni Huff from Mt. Vernon met me at the campus, I enlisted Josh Thebeau for help with the grand tour, I thought things went very well. Toni would be a great pick up for us, she will fit in with us very well. I hope she thinks the same. I’m going to meet with a male recruit Friday evening, not at the campus but going to his home town to visit. If I can recruit this young man, he will be a big addition to the mens team. This process remains me of the free agent “game” in baseball, I only have so many scholarships to give, so should it be first come? Or can I be patience? Be easy if all the number one runners were coming your way, but they aren’t and they won’t. Be nice to have more than 8 scholarships but I’m sure that is not going to happen with the way money is right down. The state owes the school 2.3 million right now, so the cash flow has to be tight. So we will just do what we can-I’m not limited to 8 runners, I can take walk ons. We can have 15 on each team-some schools can not offer scholarships, so they are all walkons , I guess. Most everyone is finishing up the semester this week, I know a few are struggling, I hope they can pull things out. Later!
in Uncategorized by coach mike on 24 Nov 2009
oK-The season is over and I’m on the recruiting trail, well sort of. Making some calls-pouring over results and times. My past experience has taught me that a lot can happen between now and next fall. I know that Kaskaskia is not going to get the top notch state champion-wait we did have a state champion this year! So that means we can get that top runner. Anyway that’s what I have been up to. I do hope to have some signees after December 1st. I have notice that there is not very many Sr girls in this area, so I’m going to have to expand my search to a bigger area. I have been getting some hits from some outside sources, mostly from New York. I have several leads on the men side and are working them, but you never know
in Uncategorized by coach mike on 18 Nov 2009
http://www.icc.edu/xcnationals/FansAndFamily_programsMerchandise.asp
Not sure this link works-so here are the instructions
1. go to Illinois Central College web site. 2. Click on NJCAA logo and then look for link to photo and merchandise click on and then search for your picture-good luck.
This link should get you to the page where you can order photos if you wish. I was able to find pictures of Lindsey and Shannon.
in Uncategorized by coach mike on 15 Nov 2009
I added the link to Jennifer Shetley’s school web site her school won the USCAA National Championships and she was All American. Jennifer called me last Saturday to let me know- it was great to hear from her.
http://www.coolrunning.com/results/09/nh/Nov6_USCAAN_set2.shtml
Results page-seems they ran a 6k.
in Uncategorized by coach mike on 15 Nov 2009
The Rams played well enough to win today. I had a feeling they would play the Saints tough. But playing tough does not always adds up to winning. I hear a lot of people complaining about Bulger the QB but the receivers dropped a lot of passes. Ok enough about the NFL. The National meet is over and the first season of the KC Blue Devils and Blue Angles is in the book. We were able to put teams on the line for every meet. To be honest I was not sure we would be able to do this at the beginning of the summer and then the week before the Nationals I wasn’t sure we would put a womens team on the course. But we did. Over all we raced well. We weren’t last team wise and our back runners didn’t bring up the very last spot. Both teams placed 32nd out of 35 full teams and I believe there were 48 teams represented. So we were better than 16 other schools in the nation. We should be better next season. Everybody improved over the season and that is all you can ask as a coach, just get better, improve. The race was fun to watch and was a tight battle on the men side, decided by 2 points. That is the slimmest of margins in cross country. If one of your kids passes only 1 runner and that could change the whole race. We are able to say the National Champions came from our Region. The coaches meeting Friday night was very spirited with a big discussion about qualifying for the Nationals, right now its an open meet to any member, this lead to the discussion of the international athlete. Some hard feelings in this area.
Our top finishers Jordan and Danielle raced well and did a good job all season. Josh had finally started to feel better at the end of the year but I’m not sure how he felt Saturday, and Voss almost broke the 30 minute mark. Mollie ran a good race and will have more base miles next season and will be stronger. Carie finished the season with a strong race and Shannon with some knee problems raced well. Lindsey won some personal battles. Thanks to Wes for coming out, I hope he had some fun. Corey was a real card. Cameron had a tough finish of the year, he just never felt good racing. Tyler did what Tyler does and then did it some more. I hope you all learn something this season, I’m sure you did, even though it might be some time before you realize what you learned. Do remember this- you are still all on scholarship and still all have to still do your 5 hours of study table and 10 hour each semester of community service. One last thought a quote from a famous American- ” Life is tough………being stupid makes it tougher!” John Wayne.
in Uncategorized by coach mike on 15 Nov 2009
Had a fun weekend. We left Friday morning, ran Saturday morning and came home. Our goals as teams were met. We didn’t want to finish at the bottom and we didn’t. We were 32nd which means we were only 7 spots from the top 25! Both team scores were under a 1000 points, our first season was a success. More later have to get ready for church.
in Uncategorized by coach mike on 02 Nov 2009
Not sure a golf course was made to get so messed up, but after all that rain, we were lucky to be able to run and not swim. I was proud of the Kaskaskia College cross country runners. In the women’s race Danielle went out like a real mudder and had a great race. We were able as a team to finish 4th in our region and we even beat a team from one of the other regions. Mollie and Shannon raced well also. Mollie raced hard like she has been all season, she has been fighting that old flu bug but battled like a trouper. Shannon keeps improving each meet not sure she liked all that mud but she gave it her all. Carie freaked herself out before the race and I know will race better at the Nationals. Linsey had her own personal race with some runner out on the course and showed some real guts. Was real proud of the ladies from the school named for a river. On the mens side- Mr T Bo had his best race of the year, looked strong and raced well, real good for someone without any speed work. Jordan had another strong race but has the beginnings of the flu bug, so he struggled some, but still had a gutsy performance. Voss keeps getting better, raced real well at the first part of the race-tough kid. I have always been a big fan of that kid, that gives his all and keeps getting better-not the most talented-doesn’t complain-just works and wants to get better. Wesley just keeps coming to practice and working hard and it has started to pay off for him. We didn’t beat anyone in our region but we were close and we might of beaten someone in the Iowa Region. So if we can stay health the next couple of weeks it will be fun to see who can drop their times and by how much.