Sunday, August 28, 2011

For Week of Monday, August 29th

Hi all, (pictures Monday, pictures Monday, pictures Monday, pictures Monday – bring uniform tops and ALL black shorts)

Before anything else – I have to thank the many parents who have already spoiled the heck out of the team.
Big thank you to Julia Swit’s mom who brought pre-meet dinner TO South Mastick park so the team could enjoy eating together in the pavilion right after practice. She then did double duty by bringing more bagels than Panera could provide then very next morning for the team to have at the meet. Very generous!
Another big thank you to the Harter family who hosted both parents and athletes alike the night before the Early Bird race. Apparently they had so much food leftovers were brought to the meet the next day. Thank you!
And as part of the Early Bird post-race race spread, the McGuire and McGinty families helped turn the post-race food into a full buffet! Thanks!
I know the team LOVES being spoiled like that after a tough race, so it is appreciated by all!

(also before anything else, runners especially READ the post-meet notes about Berkshire at the very end of this posting - if you were slower this year this may make you feel better. Also I calculated some JV results too - check it out!)

School is in full swing that will force us all to get into a regular routine that has to include proper sleeping, hydrating, and eating habits. Parents - you have my permission (not that you needed it) to take away your daughter's cell phone, computer, and TV privileges if they aren't going to bed at a decent hour EVERY night! :-)

Last week was a very strong week for training and it was followed by a solid first meet. The coaches are hoping to get another good week of training leading up to the Ashland Invite then back off some heading into the Tiffin Carnival. Please call, text, email if there are any concerns. Parents - please treat Mondays and Wednesdays as if they were meet days and try to schedule any appointments on Thursdays IF it has to be done after school. Friday is next best followed by Tuesday.


This week:
Monday, August 29th – Pictures first, then South Mastick 5:15 – 6pm (due to pics). CC team supposed to go at 3:45. Don’t diddle – get ready ASAP. Workout is medium long run with 1 minute pick ups at the mile marks (NOT a hard day)
Tuesday, August 30th - SJA 3:20-5:15 - brief post meet meeting in 331 then practice. Shorter mileage, mini-hurdles, abs, weight room.
Wednesday, August 31st - Memorial Field - 3:40-5:30 (this may be early dismissal day but lets keep this schedule anyway) - ladder workout - HARD mile, 2 medium hard 800s, 4 fast 400's. LOTS OF REST between. If raining workout done at SJA.
Thursday, September 1 - SJA 3:25-5ish. typical Thursday - stations then Yoga.
Friday, September 2 - SJA 3:25-5:10. Pre-meet meeting in 331 for goal-setting then pre-meet day same as last week. Pasta dinner hosted by the Lannings at SJA. Expected start time between 5:15 and 5:30 (some athletes will be running at South Mastick to avoid sidewalks).
Saturday, September 3rd – Bus leaves SJA EARLY! 6:45 leave time, 9:30 race for ALL on the team, and we’ll stop at Lodi Crossing for an hour on the way home. Back by 2pm (ish).
Sunday, September 4th – nothing planned.
Monday, September 5th (Labor Day) – no canoe trip planned at moment, however the team can discuss plans for this day during the week leading up. We NEED to meet in some capacity to get a practice in.

Notes on the Early Bird Invitational
1. SJA had the FASTEST 5th runner (Emily Bauer)
2. Our ‘B’ team (8-12 runners) scored 196 points which would have been 8th place out of 16 teams.
3. Our ‘B’ team was clearly the best 2nd unit out there beating Chardon’s 196 to 366.
4. We had 7 before Chardon’s 5th and 12 runners finish before Chardon’s 6th.
5. Our ‘C’ team’s 5th runner (our actual number 19 Summer) finished before Chardon’s ‘B’ team’s 5th runner (but their B team barely beat our C).
6. The course this year was obviously slower…cases in point.
a. Overall winner was 27 seconds slower than last year and could be more fit this year.
b. Last year’s 8th place was this year’s 8th place and slowed down 1:10!
c. 21st from last year was 3rd this year and slowed down 3 seconds…yeow!
d. Mary Kate is more fit this year and lost 18 seconds.
e. Last year’s 11th was 19th this year and lost 1:23!

And we're on our way at the Early Bird!

As with any team in any season great anticipation comes with the first actual competition and for the runners on the SJA cross country team the first meet exceeded almost all hopes.
Running for the third year at Berkshire's Early Bird Invitational SJA finished a solid 2nd place just 8 points behind the winning team from Chardon. Setting the tone for the first meet was a strong three-some of Rachel McGuire (so) in 6th place, Mary Kate Chambers (sr) 7th place, and Jessica Sirchen (sr) in 9th place. To round out the scoring the Jags took 16th place by Bridget Egan (jr) and 22nd place Emily Bauer (jr). The rest of the team finished strong as well as the second team would have finished 9th in the 16 team varsity field.
Competing and finishing in their very first ever high school cross country races were freshmen Mallory Fahey, Lauren Marconi, Audrianna Farris, Clare Fibbi, Maureen Borden, and Erin McGinty. Also competing for the first time were sophomore Mary Kelley, juniors Melyssa Jackson and Ashley Klimczyk, and senior Kristina Jackson. Congrats to all! Next week the cc team will be competing at the Ashland Invitational.
SJA results linked to the right...
overall results can be found by clicking here.

Saturday, August 20, 2011

For Week of Monday, August 22, 2011

Greetings All! Hopefully you have checked the team website to follow up on the results of our first competition at the Moose is Loose relay. There are pictures as well linked on the right side.

We have completed 2 weeks of practice officially and we are heading into the school year now. In terms of attendance we have NOT had all 46 girls at one practice (out of 9 tracked practices). Additionally we had a practice last Saturday in which 20 girls were not in attendance. That practice was poorly understood and is partly my fault, but missing 20 girls for a long run is painful.

With practices starting up after school we would like to ask parents and athletes alike to set up an informal process of how the younger athletes get rides to the nearby parks. Since before I’ve been coaching we’ve always had athletes driving to the practices at closer parks – this saves the school a tremendous amount of money (bus costs are through the roof), time (there are 5 fall sports teams sharing busses as is), and gives us more freedom and flexibility. What we don’t want are kids cramming into cars like clowns creating dangerous situations. If parents have the means to come to school and give their daughters a ride to practice, especially the younger ones then that would be a great help. Traditionally the younger runners find rides with the older girls who have a car to drive. We’re hoping a set routine can get established where the older girls take initiative to find the non-drivers and make sure they take the same runners each time. Parents, if you could please talk to your daughters about who they should and shouldn’t ride with and see how this works out. And please remind the older girls about safe driving habits. We are VERY lucky to have a great park system so close that we can use – it would be a shame to lose this privilege. If there are practices scheduled further away than 3-5 miles then we’ll definitely schedule a bus.

Schedule for the week

Sunday, August 21 – Fall Sports Picnic at SJA – 3:00pm

Monday, August 22 – frosh orientation – practice at Mastick 3:30-5:15 alternate tempo and jog miles
NEED A WATCH

Tuesday, August 23 – practice at SJA 3:30-5:15 run from school and LIFT

Wednesday, August 24 – practice at Memorial field – 3:40-5:30 repeat 400’s
NEED A WATCH

Thursday, August 25 – practice at SJA – 3:30-5:00 – regular cross train day

Friday, August 26 – practice at SJA – 3:30-5:10 – team dinner at Harters – see separate email!

Saturday, August 27 – meet day! @ Berkshire Early Bird Invitational Kent Geauga Branch
More info posted Thursday or Friday

Sunday, August 28 – no schedule practice
Groups 4 and 5 – 6 miles on your own
Group 3 – 4 miles on your own
Everybody – lift and serious core on your own!

Moose is Loose!

The cross country season is officially one week away, but the SJA team went to Malone University to run in the Moose is Loose race - an unoffical "scrimmage" in which teams of 5 runners each run a two mile cross country loop on the campus. Along with the heat, grass, and hills were 2 log jumps, a mini-swamp, and an steeplechase water pit (see pics linked to the right). To top it off a Malone runner wearing a giant mascot moose head was on the course "tagging" people for 5 second penalties. Luckily no SJA runners were tagged!

SJA had 8 teams start the day. In the end, the team known as "NSync" comprised of Maureen Borden, Rachel McGuire, Kristina Jackson, Mary Kate Chambers, and Annie Grove was the top SJA finishers. It doesn't hurt that by random picking they had the 2 faster runners for SJA on the day with Rachel McGuire running 13:52 for 2 miles and Mary Kate Chambers running 14:24 for the distance.

It was impossible to compare SJA's results to other teams, but for the Jaguars it was a great learning experience for the season. Next Saturday the first official meet will be the Berkshire Early Bird Invitational held at the Geauga branch of Kent State University in Burton.

Saturday, August 13, 2011

For Week of Monday, August 15, 2011

Greetings all - this will be the first of a season of weekend postings describing the up-coming week's practice times, locations, and other important information. All of these will be posted on the website and email to each parent and athlete. Parents, if I do not have your email, please send it to me to include you on regular emails. My email is posted on the right side of the website - fkieser@sja1890.org

Important bits of information for this week:
There are a lot of athletes who have not turned in all their Fairview and EMA forms (as well as team contracts). Please do so this week to Coach Kieser.

I have created an "editable" spreadsheet for parents to sign up for hosting/co-hosting team dinners or to bring bagels and fruit to each meet. It is linked on the team website on the far right under "schedule, calendar, roster, and food sign up". You should be able to type your name in the appropriate block. Let me know if this does not work. Hopefully senior parents can get first crack at this, as typically they like to chip in.

Tuesday's and Friday's locations at SJA have been changed to Mastick.

There is no scheduled practice Monday, HOWEVER it is begged that the athletes get to the school's weight room (or their own) either on Monday or Tuesday to get their weight room work in. The facility should be open, especially before noon. Call Coach Kieser if there is a problem.

Monday, August 15th - no practice (lift on this day or Monday on your own)
Tuesday, August 16th - Mastick 9-10:45 (regular run with pipe hurdles)
Wednesday, August 17th - Westlake Rec center 9-11am(combo hills and tempo)
Thursday, August 18th - SJA 3:30-5:15 (cross train day like last week and uniform pass out)
Friday, August 19th - Mastick 3:30-5:15 (regular run - NOT tapering for Saturday's relay practice)
Saturday, August 20th - Moose is Loose at Malone University. Bus leaves at 7:30 AM. Relay begins at 10am.
Sunday, August 21st - Group 3 - 4 miles on your own, Group 4 - 6 miles on your own. Groups 1 and 2 cross train for an hour on your own)

Lastly - athletes I have named captains for each Moose team. Your job is to let me know what your team name is, confirm that you have a team "uniform", and let me know what the order of your squad will be. You are NOT allowed to run a new runner on first or last leg.

Moose team captains
Team 1 Konys
Team 2 Jess Bres
Team 3 K Jackson
Team 4 Egan
Team 5 Swit
Team 6 Fibbi
Team 7 Boyer
Team 8 Nagy
Team 9 Roddy

Friday, August 12, 2011

Saturday's Practice on August 13 at Towpath in Brecksville

First, I'm sorry for the confusion on this. This was left open-ended for either Saturday or Monday. It was hinted to me by a few that Saturday just worked better for rides, etc...

Second, we had an EXCELLENT first week with a great time trial today, so I'm hoping we can finish it off with a good long run on Saturday.
See the results of the time trial and how FAVORABLY we compare to last year already. A wise person will be able to disect just how well today went.

So...

Practice Saturday at Station Road Bridge Parking lot which is part of the Brecksville Reservation where it meets the Cuyhaga Valley National Park.
Here is a link to the map: click here

From SJA/Westside: I-480 or I-90 east to I-77 south. Exit Rt 82 EAST (west does have a separate exit). Follow Rt 82 east PAST Rt 21 by about 2 miles. Turn right on Riverview down the hill. Turn left at the bottom of the hill into the park's driveway. You'll cross train tracks and be at the parking lot. We did go to this location once last year. Even though its only Brecksville this is still a full 25-30 min drive, but the terrain is worth it once in a while.

Parents are welcome to come run, bike, or otherwise workout. Also feel free to bring bagels, fruit, etc...

This is a "long run" day. I'm hoping the athletes will go for their longest run of the year with the longest group doing 10.

I will be running with friends hoping to finish right at 9am. I might be a few min late depending upon my pace (or lack thereof). The shortest group will be done by 10:30-10:40, the longest group done by 11:00am.

If you cannot attend you should run the long run ON YOUR OWN!!!