Coach Mikes Blog

in meets by coach mike on 09 Sep 2008

Both squads won! So extra work on the day before the meet didn’t affect the performances of the runners. Best race the girls have ran all year. Courtney continues to lead the way. She looked strong again today, best time on this course for us in several years. Mollie had her best race so far this year, she is starting to show some life toward her running. Shetley was Shetley, she just works hard all the time. Miss Kissner ran strong as did Ellie. I was very please to see this group of young ladies step up. Varsity boys looked good 1 to 3. Jones went out fast, another sub 5:10 first mile, he finished 3rd over all. Kubicki even though he took a bad fall and skinned himself up, raced to a 5th place finish. Nix looked very strong and is getting better each race. The new kid, Jacob H, ran a very good and smart race for a freshman in his first varsity race and brought home 9th. Thomas is having some problems with his shins and struggled to a 17th place finish, followed by Clark and Davis. In the open race Bryce was the number one boy. Brittney ran very well in the open. Gray stone fought through the pain to run well.

in meets by coach mike on 07 Sep 2008

Sunday morning, just got back from church. Fried some eggs for breakfast. Some notes about the meet yesterday. Need to leave by 6 am, 6:30 is to late, we got there at 8:10 am and the first race starts at 8:30 am!!!! The weather was nice, over cast at first, nice temperatures for racing.  Tif had a good jv girls race, finished in the top ten and, she was proud of the medal she got, I should of raced her in the jv race at Murphysboro. Chelo had a good race for only 3 practices, she was disappointed, but I wasn’t, I saw the will to compete in her eyes.  The f/s boys race was a test for Jake and he came through with a very good race finishing in the top 10 and putting up a good time, good experience for him.  The other younger runners are looking better, which is good to see.  The girls varsity race, as far as the finish as a team, I wasn’t very happy about that. But looking for bright spots, Court continues to race well, as did Alyssa. Mol showed some signs of improvement. We still need to work harder and get better before conference.  The varsity boys race was good, but not great. We still need to put together a complete team race from top to bottom. Jones had another very strong race, but Jacob struggled, while Nix picked it up. Goff was strong at the end, but still struggles at the start. Clark looked stronger this race, while Hopkins fell off. We had set goals -top 5 team finish- we finished 5th. Beat as many 2A schools as we could-two beat us. Triad and Springfield High. Triad looked tough. So we move on to Tuesday at Herrin, a meet that we do well at every year, only difference is we are going to work hard on Monday and then work through the meet, test of toughness! The grades will be posted on Tuesday night!

in meets by coach mike on 03 Sep 2008

The first one is in the book, and what did we learn? First don’t get on the floor of the bus, there could be gum on the floor that will stick in your hair!  The hurricane did not cause it to rain! Baby D can run a whole race. P D Meigs can run a whole race. Tanya and Britany can run a whole race. Tiff can pull her hair back.  Little Jake can race, as he won the jv race. Grayson can be a leader of young men. Cam the man can gut it out! Jim West is not out west but in Murphy! And he is ahead of schedule. That the Mt Vernon jv girls can start the race from their camp site. AND THE WILDCATS CAN WIN AS A TEAM IN MURPHY!

Jones, Kubicki and company raced well enough to win the team race beating Mt Vernon by 6 points, but where was Cross? That was the big question?  Fast first mile for the boys JJ at 5:07 and JK at 5:18. Then Nix at 5:35.  We won but, here comes the coaching thing! Big gaps-need to close the gaps! But we will! i thought Tyler had a good race! He needs to get more mileage and he could be a big help!

The girls struggled as a team-Courtney and Alys had good races-the rest are going to get better, I promise!

in meets by coach mike on 03 Aug 2008

First day of practice is August 13th. We are meeting at the high school on the track at 6 pm.

August 13^th season starts

Season Starts August 13^th

September 3^rd Murphysboro

September 6th Granite City

September 9^th Herrin

September 13^th Mt. Vernon

September 20^th Olney

September 22nd Tri Meet @Mt. Vernon

September 27^th Hancock Invite @Jefferson Barracks St.Louis

October 4^th Peoria

October 11th Centralia

October 14^th Apollo @ Onley

October 20^th Benton

October 25^th Regional@ Mt. Vernon

November 1^st Sectional@ Centralia

November 8^th State@ Peoria

Changes on the schedule: no Metamora, Centralia Invite instead-two reasons for this change-1. the high cost of travel for us and the parents. But the most important reason-the sectional will be held on this course and we as a team we do not run this very well-we need to become tougher on this type of course and the only way to conquer is to attack and you can’t attack if you don’t race on the course and own it! as of now it has owned us!

in meets by coach mike on 24 May 2008

The season is over-a day early-but the end always shows up. The state meet is always a tough place to perform. The pressure is more than at any meet all season-bigger crowds-more stress. Plus throw in the weather, there were at least 5 delays that I knew of. It was cold, it was windy, rainy and a lot of stops and starts, tough to warm up. Sager couldn’t clear the opening height-which started at 6’2, he had two good attempts, just couldn’t get over today. He had a great season and came back from an injury last year that put him on the shelve all track season. Keep your  head up Sage!  The 4×800 was a big question marking coming in, Pruden had been hurt all week with a knee problem, swelled up on him, right under the knee cap. So he wasn’t able to doing any training all week-we weren’t sure he could go today, but he warmed up and said he could. He was leading off for us today, so we could stay in the race, the pace was a little slow and he ran a 2:01 to keep us in the middle of the pack, but after that the splits were all around 2:06, so we settled for a 8:21 finish time. Wish it would of been better, but it was what it was. So thats how the 2008 Wildcats track season ended, in the rain and cold, just how we started. There’s always next year and with the three class system, things could be brighter!

in meets by coach mike on 17 May 2008

Mini state meet-the Cahokia and East St. Louis Flyer’s show.  Speed, speed, and then more speed! Run 21.4 in the 200 and get beat by 3 feet! Run the 300M hurdles in 36 or 37-crazy stuff.  The Wildcats stepped up-Kevin Sager cleared the  state mark of 6’4 in the high jump to advance to the state meet-3rd attempt at the mark and he cleared. Great feeling for that young man.  Next up was the 4×800 relay, we knew we were in for a race and needed to run faster than we had all year. First leg handed off was in 3rd or 4th place-Wilkins took an early lead by going out at 55 seconds and then came back with a 67-Kubicki kept us close  and then Goff got us even closer-then Big Dog Pruden stepped up and battled with the Belleville West # 4 runner, with the both of them closing on the O’Fallon #4, you could see it unfolding on the track- around the last curve Salem and BW and BW and Salem-both gaining on O’Fallon-right to the finish with BW and Salem passing O’Fallon at the finish line. What a race, what a finish!  Pruden kicked out a 1.55 split!  Some  other  young men competed well,  Follet  in the  pole  vault and  Jordan  also.  Brummel ran  his  best  400  of the  year and the  4×400 ran their  best time of the year.  Thats  all  we can  ask  at  a meet  with  that  just  your  best effort.  Thanks.

in meets by coach mike on 12 May 2008

First the Big Trojan-we went-we won! I’ve never been sure how to handle this meet-where to use people-how much to use people. Good things-Kevin “sage” Sager 6’4 in the high jump-now he knows he can do it! Now he needs to do it one more time-Friday night! The 4×800 guys got a nice work out in-Logan Pontious keeps getting better in the shot put 42′. We won enough and placed in enough to win, thats what good teams do. The 4×4 team of sophomores and freshmen almost broke the school record-almost. That would be the fr/soph record. Wilkins ran a good 800 and Kubicki a good mile. Freshmen Clark ran a 5:09 mile for his best time, thanks for help from Nix. White ran his best time in 3200M. Always good to see the young guys finish with their best times.

Now Big Dog Time-that would be Friday night! In our sectional you have to be a Big Dog to get out of there! Only have the 2 time defending state 2A champions, not to mention Eat St. Louis Flyers, then throw in Belleville East and West picking up the left overs and O’ Fallon. The Wildcats will have a tough time of getting anyone or ones out.You just need to lay your ears back and do the best you can do! David against Goliath! Oh we have some shots- the 4×800, the open 800, the high jump, maybe the pole vault, the discus, maybe even the 1600M and you never know what is going to happen in the 3200m run. Stand up! do all you can do and then more and you never know what will happen! Don’t back down from the fight! Be that Big Dog-Be that Wildcat!

in meets by coach mike on 07 May 2008

Someone needs to check it out, I’m not sure but the Wildcats boys frosh and soph boys have won their conference championship for over 30 years I would guess, we have won every year we have been in the Apollo. Numbers are the key-score in every event! Double place, thats what we do. Had a coach from one of the other conference schools ask me about my policy towards guys working and stuff like that. We try as much as we can to work around things like that. We try to work around school events and we will share with other programs. We do what it takes to put together good teams for the team. I hear other coaches talk about kicking this kid and that kid off their team for little things. Sorry they are just kids and they will make mistakes, I think trying to keep young people busy, will maybe help keep some one out of trouble. Don’t get me wrong, I will get rid of someone that pushes me in the wrong direction. Back to the meet, Q Garrison won both the long jump and triple jump, he is just a natural. Harris after getting nipped in the 110 hurdles came over and jumped a career best 39′ in the triple, either he was mad or warmed up or both. Klop goes to the shot and wins with a throw over 41′, first time he had been over 38′. He also won the 300′s after racing hard to only get beat by a Charleston runner that was later DQ’ed for bumping into Kory in the race, I thought as did Kory that he should not had been DQ’ed. Big Dan the man won the 400 in his best time of the year and threw his best discus throw of the year with a 127′. Still like to see him hit 130′. Ricky Francois vaulted 10’6 and Josh went 11′ but had all kind of troubles. The 4×200 won the 4 H’s-Hanus, Heminover, Harris, Hargis. 4×800 won as did the 4×400. Brummett, Goff had good races. Hemi looked good in the 200. Just was a good meet, winning by 90 points is always fun. Nice job guys.

in meets by coach mike on 03 May 2008

No matter how much these guys have driven me crazy this year, almost to the point of throwing in the towel, (not really) when it comes to the conference championship, they don’t mess around! We scored in every event, doubled placed in all but three, every relay was in the top 4. Sam Follet cleared 13′in the pole vault to finish 2nd!!! Thats crazy! Josh finished 3rd in the event! Tony Bartley, what can I say, around season long, he couldn’t hit the board, he was driving me nuts! I yelled at him at Centralia, I don’t like to do that, but I needed to try something different with him, it didn’t work. Finally we had a little heart to heart talk, a little pat on the back session, he started to look better, then at conference he goes over 21′ in the long jump and over 40′ in the triple to win both, All Apollo!  Then Q Garrison was 2nd in the triple with a jump over 40′. The high jump we doubled, we had some problems, but Sager and Follet scored points and thats what counts! Branch got to the finals of the 100M, he was pumped! Both of our hurdlers won their heats to get the finals. I took a little bit of gamble and let or put Pruden in the 200M, thinking we could get two to the finals, Pruden did make the finals. Matt won the discus with a throw over 140′. We doubled in the shot put, Logan finally threw over 40′, he went over 41′!!! I told him if he didn’t throw over 40′ he would walk home (2 hour trip in a bus) and there would be NO FOOD!!!!! He showed me! So down he needs to hit 45′! On the track we started to pile up the points! The 4×800 won going away. The 4×100 placed and ran a good time for us. Jones was 2nd in the 3200M race and Nix was 3rd, more points. The 110 hurdles was the race of the night, the two Wildcats battling a Robinson hurdler. Ryan Knapp fell at the finish to settle for 3rd. The top two spots between Harris and the young man from Robinson was tight, Harris got the nod, to win. More points. Branch finished 4th in the 100M with his newly colored red hair, every year he comes up with a new hair style at conference! The 4×200 with preparation H with Bartley finished out of the medal hunt but still scored points for us, not bad for 3 sophomores, Hanus, Hargis, Heminover! We doubled in the 400, Brummel 2nd and Dan 4th. Kubicki ran a great race in the mile to win that event, looking very strong with his finish, Jones placed to score us more points. The 300 hurdles we went 2 and 3 with Knapp and Kloppadel. Pruden placed in the 200M and the 4×400 relay team of Pruden, Wilkins, Brummel and Conklin won the last race of the night. I left out the 800m run, we have won that race the last two years. Newton High School gives a traveling trophy each year to the winner of this race, so I handed the trophy to Pruden on the way up and told him we expected him to bring it back. I was very worried about this because i let him talk me into running the 200M. Which means he had to run that prelim, then his leg of the 4×800 before his race. Coach Cummings was not to pleased with me over this, so Kory needed to bail me out. There were two other good racers in the event, young man from Newton and one from Robinson. All three with about the same seed time. This at the “get go” turned into a four horse race with Wilkins in the pack also. Cummings and I both thought Wilkins would go out to the front, instead Kory took the front. After the first two hundred Kory and Hahn from Newton pulled away, strange thing happened next at the 400 meter mark Hahn took the lead, which means he ran the back stretch running into a head wind. Pruden set in behind him until the last 150 and he started his kick to win the race and keep the trophy in the hands of the Wildcats.

The boys stepped up, won the meet by 80 points for the 3-peat! I couldn’t be more proud of their efforts, everybody that made the trip scored points for the team one way or another. Guys like Dustin Fredrich, Adam Hargis, Matt Heminover, Doug Hanus made the trip for 1 or 2 events, maybe just a relay, they could of belly ached and said no way I’m going for one event, but no they were there for the team, to do what is needed! Thomas Goff, was very strong in the 4×800 relay to help us score points that was his only event, but Thomas is your team player, what we need he does! The 2008 Wildcats will go down as winning the Apollo Conference Championship by 80 points! Be proud to be called conference champions!

in meets by coach mike on 03 May 2008

How can you tell where a track coach lives? Look for the yard that needs mowed! Spring time is busy time for track coaches, baseball coaches, softball coaches, the weather controls your decisions, the weather controls your life. Cold, rain, sun, thunder, lightning, wind, nature dictates your life. Time to get caught up, lets start with the dual meet with Mater Dei, we had the meet, we won. What was good? Most everything, we won every event but one, what did stand out was the pole vaulter, they have become real vaulters, over 12′ and getting better. Next up was the Marion Relays, we were excited about this meet, there would be two team trophies handed out and we had a shot at one of them, probably second behind Granite City but they’re a large school. We started out well, by winning the high jump relay and was doing well in the triple jump and long jump, Tony Bartley was back into the 40 foot range as was our sophomore Q Garrison, so that was good. The pole vaulters were in good shape both over 12′ and the freshmen over 10’6, then the flash in the sky, far away but after the death last year of the young man from Carbondale from lightning, the meet was shut down for 30 minutes. After checking the radar more storms were on the way into the area, so the meet was canceled. Loaded up the bus and the team headed home, I stayed. My daughter had flow into Nashville, TN to run a 1/2 marathon on Saturday morning, so the whole family was going down to spend the weekend and watch her run. My wife and oldest son had went down earlier in the day, while my parents and my youngest son and his girl friend were meeting me in Marion and we were all driving down after the meet. We had a very nice weekend, the weather was good for running, cool with a little early drizzle. We found our way around the coarse after a small amount of confusing twists and turns. Audrey did very well, ran under 2 hours, looked good, looked like she was having fun. Some of her friends came down from Chicago to be there also, so along with her brothers, her husband, her friends (Laura and Mark) all ran with her for awhile. Nashville seems to be a neat city, lots of stuff to do down town and some good BBQ to eat, might go back sometime and ride that fake bull! But Audrey as your father and former coach, no marathons!