Riverside Recap

 

The cross country team opened up their 2021 season with some very strong performances at the Riverside Kickoff Night meet held in Painesville.  Out of 52 runners that SJA sent to the line, 25 were first time runners, so there was a lot of excitement in the air for this rare night time race.

The JV group opened the night for the Jags, where 24 of the 25 first time runners were making their high school cross country debuts.  One of those new runners, Ruthie Becker (’25), had the lead for most of the race until being caught at the very end.  Her 2^nd place finish helped the JV squad finish 2^nd to Massillon Jackson out of 14 teams.  The rest of the top 5 for the Jags were; Addy McGee (’25), Kate Boland (’23), Anna Khuri (’23), and Alexia Wenzel (’23).

While the JV race was run before sundown, the big event was for the varsity races to run in the dark.  Lit up by temporary light stands and Christmas lights, the varsity race had the unique experience of running at 9:30 at night.  In a very good field of 19 teams, SJA finished 6^th.  The team employed a pack strategy for most of the race and finished very close to each other at the end.  Junior Ali Blouch was first across the line in 34^th place, followed closely by seniors Carlee Blankenship (35^th) and Anna Duesenberg (37^th). Sophomore Erin Hvizdos was not far behind in 43^rd, with senior sister Emma close by in 48^th.

Next weekend the team travels to Erie, PA to compete in the McDowell Invitational.

Week of Aug 23

 Cross Country Weekly Plan - Monday, Aug 23-Aug 29

1st meet week!!  Also hot as heck week, so hydrate!!

Monday, Aug 23 (sophomore orientation) - 3:30-5:15 (5:00 for shorter groups 1 & 2)

Long run day @ Mastick

Bus provided from SJA to Mastick for sophomores

Tuesday, Aug 24 (junior and senior orientation) - 3:15-4:45 at SJA

Wednesday, Aug 25 - early dismissal day (2:00pm)...LT repeats at Memorial field.  

I cannot be free until 3:30, so we have some time to kill.  Will have a bus take athletes at 3:00 and they can start their warm-up

Done by 5:00.

(Memorial field is ON Valley Parkway ½ mile north of Hogsback.  This is 2 miles from SJA.)

Thursday, Aug 26 - 

NEW…7:00am run group for 3s, 4s, and 5s at SJA

PM...circuit day after school at SJA - done by 5:00

Friday, Aug 27 - pre-meet at Mastick followed by team dinner at SJA cafeteria (more info on this in a separate email)

Saturday, Aug 28 - 1st meet

Group 3 - jog 2 miles in am

Groups 4 and 5 jog 3 miles in am - we are absolutely training through this meet!

4:30 - busses leave SJA

6:20 - open race warm-up (Mercedes and Morgan lead)

7:10 - open race...all healthy runners NOT in varsity race (all warm-down 10 min when done)

8:30 - varsity warm-up

9:25 - varsity girls Div 1 race - Emma Hvizdos, Anna Duesenberg, Ali Blouch, Carlee Blankenship, Erin Hvizdos, Grace Rowell, Maddie Jarc, Keira Leneghan, Susie McGowan (all warm-down 15 min when done)

10:30 - bus leaves for SJA

11:15-11:30 - bus returns to SJA

Sunday, Aug 29 - all runners OFF!

Congratulations to our new captains!

For the summer/fall of 2021, the team has voted rising seniors Anna Duesenberg, Emma Hvizdos, Lily Hynes, and Morgan Rudolph as the their captains.  They have big footsteps to fill and potentially the largest team in school history to lead, but they will do a great job!  Congratulations!

A season completed - successfully!

 2020 has been called a lot of things, but rarely have positive terms like "successful" been used.  In the wake of losing great leadership and some varsity runners to graduation, it was unknown to many what was left in the tank.  With a roster of 55 runners, one hope for this season would be depth, which would prove to be very useful at the end of the season.  What was left unknown to all was whether there would even be a season or not.  COVID restrictions and uncertainty over whether cross country is a contact sport or not left every team in the state wondering if we'd even get to the first meet.  But after many thermometer readings, reminders to "spread out", and many other adjustments allowed us all to have a season.

For all schools, their schedules were in a constant state of flux.  Which meets were cancelled?  Which were open, but to limited numbers?  Can we run in this county or that county?  In the end, we had a full season with at least 6 new courses (Riverside, Wooster, Districts, State, Mentor, Oregon, and a completely new Gilmour course) which forced us to become comfortable with the uncomfortable.  And who can forget the completely new home course for senior night??  So many things had to be changed, and we ALL showed the ability to change with the times, adapt with success, and not get caught up in the details.  

Senior night, which early on looked like it would never happen, became one of our greatest triumphs.  We changed courses at the last minute due to excessive water on the normal course, the weather broke and was PERFECT for race day as the runners headed out and back on the horse path - a much faster surface than grass.  After having lost to Mentor's JV badly early in the season, the Jags came back with a dominating win and 28 PR's!  

The varsity would continue the PR train, with two more PRs at districts, where the team finished 4th.  Nobody in their right mind PRd at the Boardman regional, but the team finished 6th and headed to the inaugural running of the state meet at Fortress Obetz.  Another two runners (Erin Hvizdos and Liz McGuire) PR'd at the state meet helping the team secure 14th!

When looking back, the 14th place finish is a remarkable feat.   From 2019, the 1st, 2nd, and 5th runners all graduated, 3rd was injured, and only 4th and 6th were returning in 2020.  That means 5 new runners comprised the 2020 team.  This is why the depth of the team proved to be so important this year - not only were so many new runners needed to fill in the gaps, but another few were lost to injuries and other causes.  Most teams would have thought qualifying to state would have been impossible under such circumstances, but that thought never crossed this team's mind.

Truly, 2020 was a success in every way for the cross country team...congratulations!

Heading into post-season!

With the regular season behind us, we are now hitting the post-season, beginning with our annual "senior night" meet this Wednesday at South Mastick Picnic area. This is a chance for seniors to lace them up one more time with their teammates and be recognized for their efforts. The actual senior night ceremony will be Tuesday at the school at 5:30, followed by a meal for the team and senior parents. On Saturday, the varsity will be traveling to Madison High School for their district competition. The top 6 teams will advance to the regional competition, scheduled to be held at Boardman High School. We are thankful to have a complete season in relative good health, and we would like to extend our thanks to all the athletes, parents, administrators, and race managers who helped this season not only happen, but happen successfully. Go Jags!

Virtual Meet is Concluded

After 3 weeks of a 2k time trial virtual meet, the results are in!

37 out of 45 athletes completed the time trial at Mastick.  If an athlete wasn't able to complete it for some reason, then they were allowed to recruit friends and family members.  In the end we  had many sisters, moms, aunts, and alums jump in to run....

When all was said and done, the winning team came from Saturn (all the teams were named for the planets). 

Congratulations to the winning team members and to the whole team for working hard during this irregular track season to make sure we are on a proper course for our upcoming fall cross country season.

Keep running until the end of May, then take some "active rest" for a week or two.  We will know our summer training schedule soon.

Go Jags!

New Athlete Zoom Meeting Wed, May 20

This Wednesday, May 20, we will have a new athlete/parent informational meeting on Zoom at 7:00pm.

We cannot publish the connection information due to digital security concerns, but all families of freshmen should have received an email last week from Mr. Manuszak, the athletic director.

The meeting should last between 15-30 minutes and go over the basics.

For more information, please email Coach Kieser at fkieser@sjastudents.org