SJA enjoys Hilliard Davidson's Hot Summer Bash

Living up to its name, the Hot Summer Bash cross country meet in Hilliard, Ohio brought temps well into the 80's.  For the Jaguars, they kept things heated up by placing in the top 2 in all three races they competed in.  The varsity team finished second overall to host Hilliard Davidson, ranked 4th in the state, while also defeating 3 other ranked teams in the process.  Leading the team was freshman Maggie Wagner, who was 5th overall with a time of 20:02.  Seniors Rachel McGuire and Alesha Vovk were close behind in 8th and 11th place.  Finishing the scoring for SJA were junior Mallory Fahey and sophomore Bridget McGuire.

In the 9th/10th grade race, SJA were the winners.  The top 5 scorers for the Jags were led by 4 freshmen; Olivia Battistoni (2nd overall), Mary Hyland (4th), Alana Vovk (7th), Katie Pelegrino (16th), and sophomore Corinne Baker (18th).

In the 11th/12th grade open race, heat conditions forced the race to be cut to just 2 miles instead of 5k.  The Jaguars overcame the heat to finish 2nd overall led to the line senior Molly Moore.  The pack of Maeve Kroeger ('14), Clare Fibbi ('15), and Shannon Stauffer ('14) finished 10th-12th place.  The final scorer was newcomer Karley Mullins ('14).

The athlete of the meet was Alana Vovk who took almost 2 full minutes off her time from last week and helped the 9th/10th grade team win their race.

Next week the Jags travel to the fast and prestigious Tiffin Carnival.

Week of Monday Aug 26

Be sure to check results from your meet in the results section at the top of the website AND the meet review in the post previous to this one.

This week will be hotter all week than you are used to.  Please take care to hydrate properly.

We will not have practice on the Sunday before labor day, but we WILL have a long run scheduled at the towpath (no bus provided) on Labor Day morning (will labor a little on labor day).  More on this in next Sunday’s missive.

Monday, Aug 26 – at Westlake Rec 28955 Hilliard Blvd Westlake, OH 44145 3:30-5:30

Tuesday, Aug 27 – at Mastick 3:30-5:15

Wednesday, Aug 28 – at Mastick 3:30-5:30

Thursday, Aug 29 – at SJA – Groups 1-2 only 3:30-4:30…Groups 3,4, 5 3:30-5:15

Friday, Aug 30 – team trip to Hilliard (west side of Columbus).  Bus leaves at 2:00pm

You may bring your bags for the overnight to Room 331 and store them in the back of the room.  Please do NOT pack for a week-long stay.  It is one night and your purpose is to run!!!!  You don’t need 3 outfits, etc…J

There IS a t-shirt exchange at the meet.  If you want to be involved, bring a team/school shirt for this.  I am told this is a very fun thing to do, and we’ll be the only school from Cleveland at this meet.

We will be taking 52 girls – that is exactly 13 rooms of 4 girls each – begin figuring out who your 4 are because I’ll need to send a room list by Thursday.

We are staying at La Quinta Inn

6145 Parkcenter Circle
Dublin, OH 43017-3584
Phone: 1-614-792-8300

The hotel will be paid for, but you are asked to bring $5 toward the pasta we will order for dinner Friday night.  Coach will collect that on the bus ride down.  The hotel has breakfast available.  If you don’t like hotel breakfast bring your own extra food.

Friday itinerary (rough)

2:00pm – leave

4:30pm – arrive at Hilliard Davidson to preview the course/practice

5:45pm – leave HDHS for hotel to shower, etc…

7:00pm – team dinner in the hotel then team meeting

Saturday itinerary (rough)

7:00am – wake up, loosen up, fuel up

8:00am – bus leaves for the meet – set up camp, etc…

9:45am – 9^th/10^th grade race (8:45 warmup)

10:40am – varsity race* (9:40 warmup) see varsity roster below

11:40am – open girls race – all non-varsity 11^th and 12^th graders

All-teams pot-luck after – see separate info below on this!

Hope to leave the meet at 1:30 and return to SJA by 4:00pm.

*varsity = R. McGuire, Wagner, A. Vovk, Zimmerman, Farris, Marconi, Fahey, Marconi, B. McGuire (in a few meets we are allowed to run 9 in varsity instead of 7)

Some notes regarding the Berkshire Meet

Meet Review – Early Bird

Overall I was very pleased with the team as a whole.  I thought your spirit, attitude, and effort was inspiring.  The first meet is always exciting and a little nerve-wracking for everyone, so you handled the anxiety well.  Running with teammates like we do on workout day makes racing a lot easier – hopefully you found your group and worked with them!

A big lesson needs to be learned from this meet regarding scoring and how an inch can change a team place by a LOT!  Team scores are calculated by adding up the places of the top 5 runners from each team (only 7 runners are ever part of official results).  We finished tied for 5^th, but won the tie-breaker with Aurora because our 6^th finished higher than Aurora’s (thank you Mal).  Even more shocking was we were 1 point behind 4^th and one point AHEAD of 7^th…4 teams within 3 points of each other!  Many of you were close with other runners right at the finish line – imagine if you were passed by 3 people in the last straightaway how much that could affect our score and therefore the team place.  We easily could have been 4^th or 7^th just depending on such little things (like Maggie Wagner edging an AURORA girl at the line by .3 seconds!). 

I’m hoping after the first meet you can see why we emphasize getting longer mileage on our recovery days and pushing yourselves on your workout days.  You need to teach your body to run faster and further – get it more efficient in practice so you can race better!  I’m also hoping for you all to BUILD more confidence from week to week.

Some things to look for now that you have a race under your belt.

1.    Where are you on the all-time list?  (see the link on the team website) How far can you move up?

2.    How far up within the team can you run?

3.    Is lettering possible?  See the standards on the team website.

4.    Do you have a chance to make a mark on the class level records?

Also, be a little self-critical and consider what you can do better, not just in meets, but in your workouts, pre-race preparations, and mental effort.

Always, team comes first.  Please remember that every time you want to make a selfish decision regarding your training, behaviors, or interactions with others.

Go Jags!  Build!

Early Bird Review

The SJA cross country opened up the 2013 campaign at the Berkshire Early Bird Invitational in Burton, OH once again, and once again the Jags finished near the top.  This year the Jags were 5th out of 22 teams.  A school record 53 girls competed in the race including 26 first time runners!

The team was led across the line by senior Rachel McGuire who finished 8th overall in the race.  The other 4 scorers for the Jaguars were Maggie Wagner ('17) 13th, Alesha Vovk ('14) 31st, Maddie Zimmerman ('14) 39th, and Anna Farris ('15) in 41st place.

Senior Katie Waters was chosen team athlete of the meet for her efforts.  As a 4th year senior Katie ran over a minute faster than her previous best time ever.

Team results can be found in the tabs at the top of this website.

Week of August 19th

Hi all!

We continue to build toward the first meet next Saturday!  Last week was a VERY solid week for us and I hope the girls continue to grow together as a team and get fit together as well!

Monday Aug 19 - 3:30-5:15  at Mastick - Repeat AT miles.

Tuesday Aug 20 - 3:30-5:15 at Mastick - over-distance run

Wednesday Aug 21 - 3:30-5:30 at SJA - uniform hand out then workout behind the school in the park.

Thursday Aug 22 - 3:30-5:15 - Mastick mileage...GROUPS 1 AND 2 OFF

Friday Aug 23- 3:00-5:30 - at SJA - Fall Sports Picture Day!  Have your uniform and order forms (to be passed out this week).

Team dinner at Butterfied house in Lakewood.  Please plan your night around this as its the first team dinner of the season and a great time to bond!

Saturday Aug 24 - Early Bird meet at Kent State Geauga Branch in Burton.

Bus LEAVES 7:00am.  Full team races at 9:30am.  Likely return to SJA by noon.

**note - we have more girls on the team than can fit on the bus.  If any parents don't mind driving their daughters out early enough to warm-up then please let me know.  I absolutely positively cannot let students drive themselves though.  

Sunday Aug 25 - no team practice BUT at 3:00pm there is the fall sports picnic at SJA for ALL sports and ALL coaches.

Week of August 12th

Hi ladies - we have just 2 weeks until the first meet, so if you needed incentive to get out the door on the weekends maybe that thought will scare you into going for a jog right now.  :-)

On a quick side note, I was very happy with how the canoe run went, and I grow more excited about this coming season with each passing day.  Help me and help each other continue to BUILD!

**NOTE we have an athlete who lives near St. Bernadette's who needs help getting to and from practice this week.  Please email or text me if you can help with this!  216 252-7866   fieser@sja1890.org

It turns out everyone needs to have the concussion paperwork filled out - please go to http://www.sja1890.org/?_athletics for the form (sorry).

It would also be very helpful if everyone had a watch!!!!

All-in-all this is a simple week - all practice times at 8am (we begin 3:30 practices next week)

Monday, August 12th - at South Mastick 8-10am.

time trial - no spikes needed

Tuesday, August 13th - at Second Sole Shoe Store Rocky River (19341 Detroit Rd  Cleveland, OH 44116)

We will meet in the parking lot behind Second Sole and go for a run at 8am into the Rocky River Park and have a shoe clinic in the store at 9am - they will provide bagels and juice.

You do NOT need to purchase anything, but if you need new shoes or spikes feel free to bring a credit card.  Discounts will be offered.

Done by 10am.

Wednesday, August 14th - at South Mastick - 8-10am

Groups 1 and 2 stay home - you do not need to come to practice.

mileage day

Thursday, August 15th - Memorial Field - 8-10am

workout (repeat 800's)

Memorial Field is found in the Rocky River Metroparks roughly 2 miles south of Detroit Road.  It is just south of the Rockcliff park entrance and north of the Hogsback entrance.

Click here or go to the team website, click on "directions folder" and look under "practice locations" for Memorial Field.  

Please leave early if you're not sure where you're going, but its only 2 miles from SJA, so it shouldn't take longer!

Friday, August 16th - South Mastick 8-10am

mileage day for all

Saturday and Sunday - run on your own!!!  You are given the weekend off because it is the LAST weekend you'll have off during the season.

First week - its go time!

Its go time!

I've always held the belief its important to be ready to go when  a season, school year, or anything has a set start time/date.  Be ready, be excited, and help everybody move forward toward a successful year.  If everybody is on the same page then great inertia can begin together, however if there are a handful that don't buy into this or show up late then the team is held up and everyone is on a different page.  From there its always hard to get them together.  Solid starts are important!  Be at practice, have your paperwork printed and signed, and please be ready to go!

We currently have 60 girls on the roster, only 22 of them have up-to-date physicals in the school's possession.  You cannot practice if you do not have the OHSAA physical updated!  Reminders and links for this have been given since before summer started.

Here is a link to the team roster and the dates of physicals  https://docs.google.com/spreadsheet/ccc?key=0AvtDf2KdJGRIdFpsVGYtN044ZjdacGpoY19kSmZ4Nmc&usp=sharing

yellow means expired, red means soon-to-expire

Please remember to have the EMA form and handbook forms turned in as well for the first practice.  A link to print these can be found on the SJA "athletics" website - http://www.sja1890.org/?_athletics

There is a mandatory fall sports parent meeting this Thursday night at SJA at 7:00pm.  This is held by the athletic director for all fall sports.  It is NOT my meeting so any conflicts or concerns must go to her.

Monday, Aug 5 - location SJA, 8-10am.  

paperwork turn in

season opening talk

drills

medium distance run

hip mobility

team stretch

Tuesday, Aug 6 - location Mastick park, 8-10am

warm-up

longer run

push-ups/sit-ups

drills

hip mobility

team stretch

Wednesday, Aug 7 - location SJA, 8-10am

workout day

warm-up to Stinchcomb

repeat 400s on dirt trail at easy pace, but short rest

a few hills to follow

warm down to SJA

stretch

Thursday, Aug 8 - location Mastick, 8-10am

warm-up

longer run

push-ups/sit-ups

drills

hip mobility

team stretch

Thurs night - 7pm - mandatory parent meeting

Friday, Aug 9 - canoe run at Canal Fulton http://www.canalfultoncanoelivery.com/

Bus leaves SJA at 9am - expected return of 3pm.

The gist.....

bust leaves sja at 9am and arrives at the livery at 10am.

please have $14 for canoe rental and the waiver form signed before we get there

line to waiver form - http://www.canalfultoncanoelivery.com/release.html

you will partner up with someone and canoe about 5-6 miles down a lazy river that is not even 5 feet high.

We will run on a towpath back to the canoe livery.

We will have a simple picnic when done.

Saturday and Sunday - we will NOT have practice on these days, but athletes will be expected to run on their own if they are scheduled to.

Future date notice - August 25th, 3pm at SJA - ALL SPORTS (including winter and spring) sports picnic.

--

"Don't be afraid to give up good to go for great"
www.sjaxc.blogspot.com

www.sjatrackandfield.blogspot.com