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in Uncategorized by coach mike on 23 Mar 2011
Just to update-this past weekend at the EIU indoor meet, things looked better, I was real pleased with Bullard and Meigs and their 800 times, gives us something to work with. By the end of the season we should be good as long as people stay health. Hess looked good in the vault at 12’6. Brummett had a good 400 but was all we could get out of him. Heser looked better in the 1600 at 4:48. Daniel R i like this kid, others are looking better, still have areas to work on. Later. I did see coach Hargis there a couple of times! Maybe he is back?
in Uncategorized by coach mike on 17 Mar 2011
Where did coach go? Almost twenty years later, is he still there? Somewhere he most be? Lets see if we can find him, I saw him for a few minutes the other day, believe it was Wednesday afternoon. Thought it was him, seem to have a plan, seem to show some fire. Seem to want to teach. Was that him at the hurdles? Or was that him at the 200 meter start. Looked like him for a few fleeing moments. You could see that look in his eyes. Lets make it work. Lets get these kids better.Then he was gone, rushing back to his real job. Not his love, but the job that helped pay the bills. Not that job that made his heart beat faster, that made his eyes sparkle. Does working with youth help keep you young? Coach seems to draw energy from a good practice, you can see that bounce in his step. Hope to see that energy, hope to see that bounce in his step! Need to lift up not drag down! Tough foot steps to follow. Big shoes to fill. Good luck Coach finding Coach!
in Uncategorized by coach mike on 09 Mar 2011
We had a good first meet. Crossland placed 2nd in the high jump with a clear of 6’2. Freshman Chase Mercer placed 4th with a leap of 5’10 in the high jump. Tate tripled 38’11-Oller had a long jump of 19′. The two vaulters went 12′-Tyler Jourdan tied the freshman record with the 12′ clear. Good start for Travis Hess with his 12′ clear. Also in the field Andy Meador had a throw of 41’8 in the shot put. So the field events looked good. The track was another story-BULLARD HAD GREAT FIRST MEET ON THE TRACK-A 2:11 SPLIT IN THE 4×800 and then came back with a 2:12 in the open 800. Our two freshmen Miller and Barnfield had good first races in the 1600. And a another new face was Zach Donnie England looked good in the 800 and Burkett was good for his first race with only a week of practice. Lots to work on-lots of work!
in Uncategorized by coach mike on 02 Mar 2011
Saturday is our first indoor meet of the year, can’t believe its time! Here we go-how will things turn out? Will Brummett ran sub 51? Will Crossland clear 6’5, How will the 4×800 run? Only time will tell-get it time!
in Uncategorized by coach mike on 25 Nov 2010
Well its nasty weather outside. But inside all my kids are asleep under the same roof. Only missing Rachelle! Audrey and Ryan drove all night from New York and got in around 5:30 am. So I’m sitting here with some free time because I have to be quiet so they can all sleep. Sleep is a waste of time. Seems like as you get older it gets tougher to sleep. Maybe your mind and body knows you only have so much time left and not to waste it asleep. Of coarse a lot of people go through life asleep. Never seeing the butter flies flying. Thought I would send out some thanks to the many fans of my blog. (That won’t take long!) This past cross country season went by way to fast. I hear other coaches that can’t wait to get to the end of their seasons. I hate the end. I hate missing the kids and this year seems worse. We were just getting things going and then its gone! Back to the long days at the office!! I just love coaching. Got off track there! That happens a lot! Also get lost once in awhile don’t I?? At least this past weekend when Bruce went to D111 nationals he got lost without me!!!!!!!! Backing to Thanking people-lets start with Bruce-you have been a great help and a friend. Someone with great ideas and someone that is willing to listen. Thanks for your help Bruce! And just so everyone realizes this-Bruce does this because he loves it! He loves the sport! His trip to SC with us, was on his vacation time from work-I know he was as proud of the team as I was. So if you see him tell him Thanks!!! Forward I go! What about the parents of this years team-we had a great showing of fans in SC. Susan Jones you have been great-(for years) Grandma and Grandpa Fitzwaters (Jordan’s grand parents, in case you didn’t know who and if i missed spelled the last name) right there with us, thank you so much! And big Jim, I know you wanted to be there! And I know your thoughts were with us-thanks for all your support and thank for the pictures all year. M/M Voss, there for us the last two season-great folks-type of parents that all kids should have! The Huffs were there with us-supporting us all season. Thank you and thank you for the great pictures. And what about Tom and Robin? They have had my back for years! Probably tired of carrying me around! Love you! Other parents followed us during the season as well-thank you for supporting us and for supporting the team. I would also throw out there a thanks to the parents that could not make the meets. But still support us in other ways. Thank you Chuck Voss! (Never would of met a great kid like Colin! If I had a 20 year old daughter, well I don’t. so never mind) Thank you to a great bunch of young people! Love you all! Thanks to my wife, Vicky, you know I love this! Thanks for trying to make me a better coach, don’t give up! Love you! Have a great and safe Thanksgiving! Blue Devil and Blue Angel Cross Country catch that wind and ride it!
in Uncategorized by coach mike on 15 Nov 2010
http://www.fs.fed.us/r8/boone/districts/london/wildcat.shtml
in Uncategorized by coach mike on 13 Nov 2010
This has been a crazy few days. Its 11:32 pm right now and I’m setting in a motel room. Due to the some mix communications, our groups got disconnected and ended up in different areas. Seems we or I spend most of the weekend lost on the streets of Spartenburg, SC. I would like to know who invited the round about! I would like to have a word with them in private! Also the person who made up the directions for the banquet-when the directions shows coming from different area of the town and you have no idea where you are at to begin with, that’s not much help. The area is beautiful, the course was great, the weather was fantastic. How did we race? The men were 31st out of 36 full teams and somewhere 50 total schools represented. We had talked about trying to be in the top 30 and have 5 guys under 30 minutes, close but no cigar! We had three guys under 30, thought Dirty had a good race and Jordan had a good race. Colin wanted to run faster either though he was somewhat disappointed, he gave a great effort as he did all season. I was glad to see JJ finish his NJCAA career with a good solid race, finishing in the top 100 out of 250 plus runners. My other two freshman struggled some today (Nix and Goff) so now we know what we need to do to get better. I have confidence in them to do the work for next season. Davis gave his all as usually and Tyler finished what he started and now can be done with the 5 mile stuff. We should have some Academic All American members later this winter on both sides. The ladies had a good team effort. Finally Mollie you can be done with the racing-finished on a good note, we didn’t quiet get the time where we wanted it but gave a great effort. Toni has her first year under her belt and now has an idea of what it takes on this level to drop those times. The rest of the ladies had good races, Shannon finished strong, Chelsea had a good last race for the season, as did Megan and Janelle “sticky fingers” J. I have spend what seems like a hundred hours in a small area with moving wheels with these ladies this long weekend and have learn many things-most of which I can not repeat. I can tell you this, these 6 girls have become good friends and teammates and it has been an enjoyment coaching them. (For Christmas I’m going to get a few of them a bar of soap) You know what I’m talking about. I hope you remain friends-that’s is one of best parts of being part a team-that lasting bond that you create. Some teams do and some do not. I think part of reason that this group “bonded” is that there is some crazy girls on this team!!! Its been a fun year and it will be tough to replace Jordan-Colin with their work ethic and racing. Cameron with his dedication to the team and Tyler for his ability to just off set certain things. Mollie with her niceness and quiet leadership-she improved so much from last year in different areas. And what do I say about Shannon? Her leadership was one of being up front and vocal. She can things hopping and once we got past her fifty questions, she help get the team ready. Couple more thoughts as it approaches midnight-extra thanks to Jordan for allowing me to bounce workout ideas off his shaved head and for providing lots of the workouts ideas, he is a real student of the sport. And thanks to Bruce, you don’t realize how much help you have been, (sorry about the drive home but thanks for taking care of the guys or putting up with the guys, in case you didn’t know you are now a hero in the eyes of the girls! But there is no way you could of survived what I had to listen to in my van on this trip!) So I going to be stole (not sure that’s the correct word?) the honor of being All Kaskaskia All American on you! That’s all for now heading to bed and hope to home in time to see some of the Rams game!
in Uncategorized by coach mike on 12 Nov 2010
Anybody know where Jim Ryan is? And who knows Jim Ryan? I could not find Jim Ryan but I know who he is. I’m bad at directions. But I’m real bad when the directions are bad. I had google this church weeks ago and thought I had the correct church. Well I guess I didn’t. Never again, if there is a next time, I’m go out and search and find mission prior to the event and find where I need to be. The girls were good sports about the whole thing, I would almost guess that had not laughed so much and so hard. And you know the best part, none of them got real upset. I would not had blame them, if they had got testy about it, but they didn’t. They just laugh some more. It has been a lot of driving the last two days, but the sights have been beautiful. The mountains are just fantastic this time of year.
The race is tomorrow and it will be the last for some-at this point, Mollie, Shannon and I guess Megan and maybe Janelle will be running their last races. On the men side Jordan, Colin, Cameron and Tyler will finish up tomorrow, but there is more on the horizon for Jordan. Really Colin should continue some where. Good luck to and thanks for your two seasons at KC. More later.
in Uncategorized by coach mike on 31 Oct 2010
Neil Diamond is one of my favorite singer to listen to and I had so much fun “singing” Sweet Caroline with the team on the bus ride home. Even scobie Steve was singing along. Was Bruce singing? I have seen Neil in concert twice. Great time. Eating at Ryan’s Steak House. Just want to say thanks to Cameron and Jordan for the special talk we had. Thanks to Tyler, because who else can we pick on? Mollie and Shannon have extra miles for breaking bus rules 14 and 16! Back to the race, Voss you did not mess up and you have one more race to beat that big guy from Danville. The Rams won today and looked good doing it. Olney won their sectional, Robinson had three guys in the top 15 and did not make it out as a team. Nashville’s girls advanced led by Brandi. Sparta had the sectional champion and was 2nd as a team to Olney. Jacob Heser of Salem advanced and Colten Strotheide advanced from Mater Dei with a real good time of 15:38 or something like that. That’s about it for now. Except-GREAT JOB MY BLUE DEVILS AND ANGELS!