Transcript
Joining us, Coach's Corner, KWBG, gonna talk some cross country today. Kelly growth is joining us from Madrid. Got actually a lot of stuff to talk about because we now know where state qualifying meet assignments, those finally came out. We actually had a big meet. Maybe that's where I'm gonna start, Kelly, before I talk about West Central Activities conference meet today. You guys had a big meet at the South Hamilton invitation and I say that because I didn't realize, I guess at first glance, I knew that there was some pretty decent teams that were gonna be there. And then when I kind of looked a little bit more when the meet got done, that was a loaded field, Kelly. What a great time to meet and great conditions to run it in. Absolutely, we finally had some fall weather and that was nice to see our kids ran excellent times, either PRs or course PRs from when they've been at that meet previous years. But yes, there was some excellent competition. It was a large, mostly 1A, some 2A and 1-3-8 team meet. But we liked getting to the end of the season where we're competing more against schools our own size. Give us a preview for what that level of competition is going to be like at conference districts in state. And this one is a big meet and there definitely still are some big schools. So it gave us some excellent competition both team-wise and for the individuals. Well, and I was just looking at even the girls that were there and that's where we're gonna start. And I thought that field was pretty solid. And Coach had to feel good about Madeline with the runner up finish. You had Hannah in that top 10 as well. Peasley was in the top 30. I mean, there's a lot of good things to, I think, pick away, especially on the girls' side of things. Definitely. And we saw a lot of improved times from last year. We're still just working on getting everybody a little closer to the runner in front of them, working competitively against the other people in the race and trying to pick people off as we go. But yeah, saw a lot of excellent times and improved times, especially from our like fifth to ninth runner. They're all running really well together and pushing each other as well. Yeah, I was gonna say Jordan and Claire had a pretty nice race for you too, Coach. Top 50 for both of those. Inside the top 50, I should say. Yeah, we're having some definite contributions to the team from younger athletes. And that's wonderful to see because we'll graduate a big senior class and they'll leave some big shoes to fill. So it's good to get some confidence in some younger girls for what we can build on next year. Well, and something else that was fun to see too was when I scanned from the girls to the boys and boy, oh boy, boys did fantastic. I thought that was, I hate to always say the best meet of the year because we're hoping that the best meet of the year is, of course, at the state qualifying meet. But Kelly, to date, that might have been their best meet of the year. You know, I really think it was. We had PRs from our first and second runner. We had three boys with 18 minutes or faster and then our fourth and fifth runner ran their all-time PR. So they're closing in on trying to get closer to the front. But showing that they are a team that can, they are noticed they've been on and off the bottom of the rankings all season and got a draw for state qualifying that gives them a shot at getting through. They're definitely gonna have to continue doing what they're doing and running together, competing against the other teams and being really strategic with that. But the boys have really come a long way. They're a young and fairly inexperienced team, but they're bringing it all together just at the right time. All right, so state qualifying meet. Actually, you know what? Let's talk about West Central Activities Conference Meet. Then we'll talk about the assignments and stuff. It got moved up. So Kelly, tell me on Tuesday, when did you guys find out about this and did that kind of alter what you planned on doing this week? Yes, so we found out that the meet would be moved to Wednesday on Monday. Okay, Monday. And that definitely did affect what we were going to do. Monday was very hot and we had one less day to prepare for the meet. So we adjusted our workout for Monday to just be more what they needed two days before a meet instead of three and with the heat and moved our big work out of the week till later in the week. But just, yeah, retooled and we had a lot less time to talk about and get prepared for the meet than we thought we would. There are a lot of changes in the conference. We had two bigger schools leave it. We had a smaller school join it. Just changes the dynamic a little bit. So we're looking at going into a meet that is different than the meet we ran last year, but it's a course we're familiar with. It is competition we've run against all season. So we know how to race against these people, what they're bringing and what we need to bring to respond to them. Kelly, it kind of sets up pretty darn well here the next few weeks. I mean, you had obviously South Hamilton on October the eighth. Now you'll run conference today and then you've got the state qualifying meet next Thursday. I mean, this is kind of like a regular matter across country schedule really. Yeah, we just like to run about a meet a week, give them plenty of time to train and recover and prepare for the next one. And that's what we'll do the rest of the season. So even though this is the most important part of the season, our conference, state qualifying, and hopefully state meet, I really like to keep it as normal as possible for the kids so that they've just got their routine. They run well when they know what to expect. And there's going to be emotions and excitement for these big meets anyway, but we just try to keep it as routine as possible to help them balance those emotions and just doing what they do and what we know they know how to do well. Well, speaking of routine, it feels like and obviously with them being a member of the West Central Activities Conference, Panorama is obviously a host school that you've been to many, many, many times. Were you a bit surprised or not surprised at all to see that's where your Tigers would be going on the October of the 22nd? I really wasn't surprised. I haven't thought a whole lot about it just because we have no control over where they send us for state qualifying. And there were other things for us to focus on as a team this year before then. I wouldn't have been surprised to be sent to several other locations as well. This is the closest to home we've been in a while. We were at South Hamilton last year, didn't really think we'd get sent back there again two years in a row, but we've gone at 10 minutes from the Minnesota border, 10 minutes from the Missouri border. So staying in Central Iowa two years in a row is different for us. More important than the drive or the location that really is the competition that we're up against. So we just want to look at the schools that we're going to see. And when we go to Panorama, there will be some schools we've seen almost every week and there will be some new schools for us too. So that will be, we're going to focus on the conference meet today and then get past that and get ourselves as coaches familiar with the teams and the competition that'll be at the state qualifying meet and then make sure the kids know what they need to know to be successful to compete against those teams as well. Kelly, final thing. This is kind of your guys' Christmas Eve with a conference meet. Then you've got Christmas, I guess, coming up next week. Are the kids excited? Can you feel that little bit of excitement knowing that these are two huge meets that are coming up? They are. And I mean, like I said, there's excitement, but we try to just bounce that with it being the most normal as possible. But it changes this time of year. When we get through conference, our junior high team is done. Our JV runners, some are done. Some keep running as alternates or just want to keep running with the team for fun till state qualifying and state meet. So, but it does change a little bit. We get a little bit more serious because everybody who is competing knows what's at stake and is just dialed in a little bit more ready to make sure they're at their best for the end of the season. So, we were excited about it, but at the same time, just very focused on hopefully reaching our goals of running at the state meet, too. Kelly, as always, thank you so much for some time. Best of luck today and next week as well. Thank you, Ryan. You bet. Kelly growth is again joining us. Madra Cross Country here on Coach's Corner.
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