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.
in Uncategorized by coach mike on 29 Oct 2009
The Bay of Pigs Invasion (known as La Batalla de Girón, or Playa Girón in Cuba), was an unsuccessful attempt by a CIA-trained force of Cuban exiles to invade southern Cuba with support from US government armed forces, to overthrow the Cuban government of Fidel Castro.
The plan was launched in April 1961, less than three months after John F. Kennedy assumed the presidency in the United States. The Cuban armed forces, trained and equipped by Eastern Bloc nations, defeated the exile combatants in three days. Bad Cuban-American relations were made worse by the 1962 Cuban Missile Crisis.
The invasion is named after the Bay of Pigs, which is just one possible translation of the Spanish Bahía de Cochinos. The main invasion landing specifically took place at a beach named Playa Girón, located at the mouth of the bay.
in Uncategorized by coach mike on 22 Oct 2009
Easy To Be Hard
How can people be so heartless
How can people be so cruel
Easy to be hard, easy to be cold
How can people have no feelings
How can they ignore their friends
Easy to be proud, easy to say no
Especially people who care about strangers
Who care about evil and social injustice
Do you only care about bleeding crowd
How about a needing friend, I need a friend
How can people be so heartless
You know I’m hung up on you
Easy to be proud, easy to say no
Especially people who care about strangers
Who care about evil and social injustice
Do you only care about bleeding crowd
How about a needing friend, we all need a friend
How can people be so heartless
How can people be so cruel
Easy to be proud, easy to say no
Easy to be cold, easy to say no
Come, on, easy to give in, easy to say no
Easy to be cold, easy to say no
Much too easy to say no
in Uncategorized by coach mike on 20 Oct 2009
Why do we run? We use to run to get from one place to another faster than we could walk. Or we ran to get away from something that was chasing us. Maybe chasing us because we were going to be dinner! Do we run for fun? Do we run for pleasure? Do we run to stay sane? Or do we run because we are insane? Probably more people thank we run because we are crazy. Running is easy for some-hard for others and impossible for some.
Why do we go to school? When we are young we go because we have to- we are told to go by our parents. And if we don’t go-our parents can get in trouble. But when we get older, we get to make choices. Do we go to college or do we go to work? Some go to college and work at the same time. Some don’t. I worked while I was in college, not all the time but enough to make some extra cash. But if we decide to go to college, shouldn’t we do what it takes to succeed? Why go to do half a job-to put half an effort into? If someone gives you a gift-you should cherish that gift and make the most of it-the gift of education, is a gift not be taken lightly. Here is your chance to make yourself better, to make your life easier, to provide for your future. To make a difference in the world around you and the people around you.
in Uncategorized by coach mike on 18 Oct 2009
Monday-quick fast practice at 4:30, we have welcome back dinner at 5:30.
Tuesday-4:30 practice Wednesday 4:30 practice
Thursday-Murray Games
Friday-Steve Cox has set aside times for Cross Country to register for next semester- 9 am to 12 noon and 1 pm to 3 pm. Take advantage of this and you won’t have to fight the crowds.
Saturday- we will practice somewhere sometime so plan on it.
in Uncategorized by coach mike on 17 Oct 2009
Ok, we made up for the course being changed at Edwardsville for the race yesterday at Decatur. Rolling hills? There were a lot of rolling hills, matter of fact it was all hills. But we raced well, I’m proud of whats taking place, the kids are getting better. Our times are improving. On the men side, Jordan continues to race very well, he finished 7th over all and Thebeau is starting to feel better and race better, taking time off his race even with the hills. Voss almost went under 30 and would of on an faster course. Probably the biggest improvement has been Wes, he keeps knocking time off each race. On the women side, Moe continues to race very well, finished in the top ten and is looking strong, Carie had another improving race, all the young ladies are racing better, Danielle, Shannon and Linsey! Thats what we want this time of year, better. Nice job to all. We are now to post season, I’m not sure what that means on the college level? Unlike high school, you compete against the whole country. Are region meet has 5 teams, plus another region is running with us, but we all can compete at Nationals. Not ready to or do we need to set lofty goals-we have been able to field full teams at each meet this year, which is more than some programs can say and with our late start with the program that is a goal reached in its self. I love watching those teams that have a pack of 5, 6, 7 or more all working together for the first couple of miles, maybe some day we will be there. Our 1-4 pack time for the girls is not bad, but we are never working the first part of the race together. And I understand that right now, we don’t have the tools to be able to do that. And to be honest with a 2 year school you may never get there, because you will never have that senior leadership, but we can always dream of seeing 5 Blue Angels or Blue Devils racing past the first mile marker all working together and then booking it later in the race. With the ladies we have, and the ones I hope are coming back next year and the ones I hope to recruit, we could have that, a pack of Blue Angels!
in Uncategorized by coach mike on 10 Oct 2009
Wasn’t as muddy as we thought. The officials changed the course, less hills, less mud. We ran better, I think almost everyone improved their times. We got a look at last years NJCAA Nationals champions. PV from AZ. Looked tough. We seem to be making progress on some levels and loosing ground on others. Keep moving ahead, that’s all we can do. On the women side Mollie looked strong, Carie, Danielle and Shannon raced very well, the four had a pack time of around 1 minute, not great but much better, our other woman runner Jenn is bothered with a knee problem. On the men ledger, Jones had a good race as our number 1, hopefully his “calf” muscle gets better. Colin had another good race and almost got under 30 minutes, Josh felt better, only threw up once and said he felt much better. Wes ran his best time all season-Cameron wanted to run an extra mile but decided against it. Tyler struggled with some hip pain. Meyer improved his time as well.
Next week we finish our regular at Millikan and then start to get ready for the post season.