State Meet Recap - Successful Day in Columbus!

Competing as individual qualifiers at the Ohio High School Athletic Association's State Meet this past Saturday, both freshman Maggie Wagner and senior Alesha Vovk took advantage of their first trip to this prestigious event.  Both runners ran lifetime best performances in less-than-perfect course conditions to wrap up the season.

Maggie rallied the last half mile to be just the third runner in school history to break the 19:00 barrier.  Her time of 18:57 placed her 17th, good enough for All-Ohio status.  That time also makes her the fastest SJA runner in state history and her place makes her 2nd fastest SJA finisher ever.

Alesha improved on her all-time best effort with a finish time of 19:33, good for 66th place out of 154 runners.  She finishes her cross country career as the 15th fastest runner in school history.

A big thanks to the current teammates and alums who fought through construction and traffic to watch the girls succeed in the last meet of the season.  The support was greatly appreciated and the experience was amazing for all.

Week of October 28, 2013 - the last week!

Week of October 28, 2013

Monday, October 28 – workout at French Creek Reservation.

5.5 miles total with a 1.5 AT effort.  Coach Kieser drive and return to SJA by 5:30

Tuesday, October 29 – 4 miles easy at Mastick.  Done by 4:45.

Wednesday, October 30 – for now lets aim for doing a light workout at SJA on the track and plan on being done by 4:30.  This is subject to change depending on Maggie and Alesha.

Thursday, October 31 – Happy Halloween!  Cross train and meeting day at SJA done by 4:30

Friday, November 1 –

12:00 - leave for Columbus after lunch run at 2:30.

3:30 – leave for hotel

6:00 – head for dinner

8:00 – meeting

Saturday, November 2 – meet day!

8:00 – wake up and jog/stretch, eat breakfast

10:00 – leave for the course (we have to leave early because traffic is terrible)

10:30 – arrive and make camp

11:40 – begin warm-up

12:15 – go to start line

12:30 – Div I girls State Meet

Sunday, I suppose you can have the day to yourselves…J

State Meet Information can be found here: http://www.ohsaa.org/sports/cc/default.asp

Hotel Information here:

Fairfield Inn & Suites Columbus East 2826 Taylor Road S.W.,
Reynoldsburg, Ohio 43068 Phone: 1-614-864-4555 

2 Jaguars Qualify to the State Meet!

The Saint Joseph Academy cross country team will be well-represented at the State Meet next Saturday at National Trail Raceway when freshman Maggie Wagner and senior Alesha Vovk line up against the best state.  Both runners qualified to the state meet by finishing in the top 16 at last Saturday's regional meet at Boardman High School.  The entire team came close to qualifying as a group with their 6th place team finish.  The top 4 teams earn a qualifying spot to Columbus.

Wagner finished a very impressive third place overall with a new personal best time of 19:10 on the cold and blustery day.  Her time moves her to 4th fastest in SJA history.  Maggie will be joined by Alesha, an individual qualifier to regionals last year, who ran a huge personal best this year by 43 seconds and moved to 15th all time on the SJA list with her 19:34.  Both girls attended Lakewood Catholic Academy.

Not to be outdone was another inspired personal best by senior Rachel McGuire who ran 19:50 and finished 23rd overall.  Rachel's time gives her sole possession of 20th on the SJA all-time list.  Lauren Marconi ('15) and Mary Hyland ('17) rounded out the team scorers which helped secure the team's 6th place finish.

District Runner-ups!

Saturday at the Lakeland Community College Division I district, the SJA Jaguars finished 2nd place to the Mentor Cardinals by just 6 points to earn a trip to the regional tournament next Saturday.

On a cold, rainy day the Jaguars had 5 girls finish in the top 20 including freshman Maggie Wagner's runner-up finish overall.  She was followed to the line by seniors Rachel McGuire (6th) and Alesha Vovk (9th).  Junior Mallory Fahey ran her best race of the year to finish as the 4th Jaguar in 17th place (and earn team athlete of the meet honors).  In 20th place was sophomore Lauren Marconi.  Freshman Mary Hyland and senior Maddie Zimmerman rounded out the regional qualifiers for SJA.

Next the Jaguars compete at Boardman High School for the regional competition.  The top 4 teams at Boardman qualify to the state meet.

Week of October 21, 2013

Week of October 21, 2013

Please fill-out and bring in your Fall Sports Banquet Form to the A.D. MONDAY!  If you already deleted the email, its posted on the website as well.

Saturday was a fine day for SJA cross country.  With a 2^nd place finish at districts, the team has qualified to the regional meet for the first time in 3 years (its something we used to do every year and take for granted).  The team – all of you – rose up to the occasion the way we have for so many years.  I was proud to wear SJA colors and I was proud of all the runners, supporters, and family who were part of the District Runner-up trophy.  Congratulations!

The work is not over!  The JV has a meet Monday and the varsity runs again this Saturday at the Boardman regional.  There are 4 regionals in the state, each with 16 teams.  That means there are 64 teams left in the state now.  The top 4 from each region gets to go to the state meet.

The plan for this week…

Monday, October 21 – meet at Walsh for JV (full team travels).  Dismissed from class at 1:50 (talk to teachers of classes you’re missing and get assignments!). 

EVERYBODY bring plenty of clothes to stay warm, varsity this includes you too after your run – bring extra clothes for AFTER your run!

2:00 – bus leaves

2:40 – varsity dropped off at towpath for workout

3:10 – all frosh and sophs warm-up

4:00 – frosh/soph race

4:10 – junior/senior warm-up

5:00 – junior/senior race

6:15 – leave Walsh

7:00 – return to SJA

Tuesday, October 22 – JV now done – only varsity + Molly needs to continue.  Mastick 3:30-4:45.  Easy mileage then drills.

Wednesday, October 23 – school test day – practice at Memorial.  3:30-5:00pm

Thursday, October 24 – standard cross train day with a team meeting before in 331.  Done by 4:30.

Friday, October 25 – varsity team to Boardman after school in team van with Coach Kieser.  Travel to Boardman, jog the course, go to hotel, get dinner. 

Saturday, October 26 – varsity race at regional meet.  Race time 12:30.  Return to SJA by 3:45

Sunday, October 27 – no planned anything (Open House at SJA from 1-4:00pm)

Senior Night a Success!

The SJA cross country team hosted the 3rd annual "senior night" at South Mastick Picnic area with a jv meet against Mentor and Lakewood high schools.  The boys also competed with St. Ignatius competing instead of St. Joes.

In all, 22 senior runners were honored with a flower then a race on a beautiful Wednesday afternoon.  In the competition, the Jaguars finished behind Mentor, but well ahead of Lakewood.  The individual winner was SJA senior Maeve Kroeger, who used a big sprint at the end of her race to over-take a runner from Mentor.  Maeve's time of 21:18 was her best race ever by 40 seconds!

The team next competes at the district championship at Lakeland Community College in Kirtland, then to Walsh Jesuit on Monday for the final JV competition of the year.

For week of Oct 14

Week of Monday, October 14

Do your PR survey please!

Dress properly for practices – be prepared for cold and warm weather.  Hydrate and eat properly.  It appears we are getting bit by the anemia bug a little again.  With all the pre-season warnings I was hoping this would not be the case.  Eat a smart, balanced diet every day.

This is a BIG week for our team/program.  We will celebrate our seniors by Wednesday with a JV race, a “senior night”, and a picnic after on Wednesday and the varsity will be running in the post-season next Saturday at the district meet. 

Wednesday’s meet will include ourselves, St. Ignatius, Mentor, and Lakewood.  In my eyes the microscope will be on us for an evening, so its important to be enthusiastic, well-prepared, and focused on putting together a quality event for all the athletes.  That is our job as hosts.  This will be addressed more in a separate email.

The district 7 is tentatively set but will be officially announced at Tuesday’s practice so that those not running districts can focus on their Senior Night Race.

Monday, October 14 – after school at Memorial Field.  Done by 5:15.

Top group 3 x 1600 of 400 on/400 off

Tuesday, October 15 – at Mastick after school until 5:15.  pre-meet and easy mileage for all.  We will also learn the course and get it clean.  Be ready to pick walnuts off the ground!

Wednesday, October 16 – Senior Night at Mastick.  Get rides to Mastick as usual.  Don’t forget your stuff!

Schedule

Boys race 5pm

Seniors introduced at 5:30

Girls race 5:50pm

Team picnic starting at 6:30

Hope to be done and gone by 7:30-7:45. 

Thursday, October 17 – at SJA.  Team stretch and go home.  Done by 4:00pm

Friday, October 18 – no school for students, but teachers have retreat.

3:00pm – varsity/district squad with Coach Kieser to Lakeland to view district course.  Return to SJA by 6pm (traffic dependent).

Rest of team to Mastick at 3:30 for easy mileage with Coach McHenry.  Done by 4:45.

Team dinner at SJA hosted by Biehls.

Saturday, October 19 – Districts!  Full team travels.  (JV jog the district course as soon as we get there). 

9:15 – bus leaves SJA

10:50 – start warm-up

11:25 – report to start line with spikes on, ready to do strideouts.  Keep gear on.

11:40 – Div I varsity race

Sunday, Oct 20 – no practice.  Relax

Monday, Oct 21 – meet at Walsh.  We will be leaving school near 2pm, so be ready for that!  Full team travels, only JV races.