The scholarship is awarded to a senior selected by the Christensen family.

The scholarship was made possible by a generous donation from an unnamed XC family, and then supplemented by further donations from other contributing families. With such funding, the scholarship amount has been set at $2,000 — notably larger than the standard $500 booster club scholarships. Funding is completely independent of booster funds. Only dollars donated directly to the scholarship are used for the award.

Many thanks to the families that have made this scholarship possible, and congratulations to Whitson.

Meet Time and Check-In on Saturday at 10:00 am with Coach Coonrod

For this meet we have parents bring their runner to the meet and runners leave the meet with their parents. WE WILL NOT BUS THEM TO THIS MEET. We will bus them during regular season meets.

CLICK HERE to see map with indicated drop off point and check-in location.

Runners should be at the Team Camp at 10:00 am and find the LOVEJOY camp area. Coach Coonrod will be there with a list of those running and their bibs for the race. They must have these on the front of their uniform to race. They will need to check in with her at the black tent. They should hang out around the tent, and some of the experienced 8th graders will lead the team in a pre-race warm-up/drills/stretch.

Parking

Parking instructions are on the website, www.lovejoyxcfallfestival.com. Please keep in mind that there are 8 races PRIOR to the middle school, therefore, a lot of people coming and going. Please allow plenty of time to get parked as it will take some time. I recommend arriving at the park between 9:00 and 9:15 AM. This will allow for you to park in case there is backed up traffic to the spectator parking area and allow you to walk from the parking are to the team tent area.

Carly Littlefield

As summer starts to wind down and we enter into mid July, we will begin to pick up the intensity just a tad. We are 8 weeks out from our first race! It is absolutely imperative that every runner attends every practice while they are in town. The only exceptions are multi sport/activity kiddos and church. Once we hit late July/early August, practice should really begin take precedence over all social-type activities. (We are super lenient with that in the summer ... because ... well ... it's summer!!!) :) Being present at workouts is imperative to being the best runner they can be! It is also crucial in the development of the team dynamic. It can be tough to get a group of this size all on the same page ... but we are working on it!!!! It is truly an awesome sight to see at least 60-80 runners at practice each night for workouts this summer between our boys and girls teams!! Thank you to all who are so dedicated to the program and help make it a success.

LISD Online Athletic Paperwork

Lovejoy ISD Athletic Paperwork is now online HERE. Please click on the link and complete all online required paperwork ASAP.

As a reminder all athletes will need to complete a physical on the bright pink physical forms provided by Lovejoy. This is the official UIL Physical form. You can pick up a pink form from us at practice or at the front desk of the school.

All physicals need to be turned into the front desk of LHS.

IMPORTANT DATES for your calendar:

• August 3rd — TEAM TIME TRIAL - We will start at 7:00 AM and run a 2 mile time trial at Celebration. Parents are welcome to watch. All athletes should be there.
• August 11th — The booster club is looking at hosting a team gathering at Seis Lagos. We have done this in the past, and it was a blast. All parents and athletes are invited. More info to come.
• August 31st — First XC meet of the season at Marcus!

Carly Littlefield

As a reminder all athletes will need to complete a physical on the bright pink physical forms provided by Lovejoy. This is the official UIL Physical form. You can pick up a pink form from us at practice or at the font desk of the school.

All physicals need to be turned into the front desk of LHS or to me.

IMPORTANT DATES for your calendar

• August 3rd — TEAM TIME TRIAL - We will start at 7:00 AM and run a 2 mile time trial at Celebration. Parents are welcome to watch. All athletes should be there.
• August 11th — The booster club is looking at hosting a team gathering at Seis Lagos. We have done this in the past, and it was a blast. All parents and athletes are invited. More info to come.

Please let me know if you have any questions.

Logan Kelly
cell: 903-821-8399

As a reminder all athletes will need to complete a physical on the bright pink physical forms provided by Lovejoy. This is the official UIL Physical form. You can pick up a pink form from us at practice or at the font desk of the school.

Athletes may turn physicals into the coaching staff at practice this week if you have them completed.

Only those who will risk going too far can possibly find out how far they can go!

Please let me know if you have any questions.

Logan Kelly
cell: 903-821-8399

LISD Online Athletic Paperwork

Lovejoy ISD Athletic Paperwork is now online CLICK HERE. Please click on the link and complete all online required paperwork by 7/1/19.

As a reminder all athletes will need to complete a physical on the bright pink physical forms provided by Lovejoy. This is the official UIL Physical form. You can pick up a pink form from us at practice or at the font desk of the school.

All physicals need to be turned into the front desk of LHS or directly to the athletic trainer, Stevie Olivares.

Please let me know if you have any questions. See you all tonight!

Logan Kelly
cell: 903-821-8399

CLICK HERE for the results from the first two Tempo workouts. Please make sure that if your athlete is here in town, they are attending workouts. Also, please try to get vacations out of the way as early as you can if possible. I hope to have the full team here on August 3rd for the time trial and thereafter.

Have a great weekend!

Carly Littlefield

I will be out of town this week visiting family out of state and Coach Littlefield will return from visiting family on Tuesday this week. I will return to team workouts on June 24th!

This week the weather is expected to be in the low 90's this week - a bit warmer than what we have experienced so far. Make sure to bring water to each workout! Its also a great idea to bring a small snack for after running at the park.

Please let me know if you have any questions.

Logan Kelly
cell: 903-821-8399

14-Jun-2019: Camp I is winding down ... the guys did a great job on the ever-demanding "Mountain Challenge" ... after hot chocolates in the Village Square, we will reconnoiter for a trip to the river for some afternoon wading/swimming. Then this evening will be end of camp:

• spaghetti
• bonfire
• house cleaning
• packing

They will most likely be back on the road by 7:00am which should have them back home by 8:30pm. I have been very impressed and pleased with the group of guys ... and I so appreciate Coach Denton for taking a week out of his summer to be a part of it !!!

Each camp only gets better and better, and the locals are so happy we are here ... I can't wait for Camp II to get underway.

Camp II, Girls:

21-Jun-2019 It was a great week with the athletes!!! I appreciate the trust you put in us during the week ... the girls did everything we asked of them and hopefully have grown as athletes/team mates/ and individuals ... I can't wait to see them scoot on the courses this fall..!!!!

Camp III, Boys:

22-Jun-2019 The Freshman Girls should be just about to arrive back at the fieldhouse on the conclusion of their trip back ... so far the camps are going great and the weather has been absolutely ideal.

Tomorrow the JV Boys will leave the fieldhouse at 7:00am. My brother Bruce and good friend Randy Adair will be driving the 2 vans up. As a reminder ... soft sided luggage only. The vans will be full and the bags need to be able to be fit in small spaces.

Also ... if the athletes are interested in a snow-cone after rafting (newly opened) or a chairlift ride up to Kachina Peak (starts operation this week) the should be an extra little bit of cash (but not much).

I am really looking forward to seeing the group of guys tomorrow and building on where their seasons ended a couple of months ago and setting a course for the fall.

When you get to the fieldhouse in the morning, if you sign up on "Group Me" with Mrs. Joiner, we will provide all the daily updates and pictures from the camp.

If you have any questions please contact me ... it's going to be another great week !!!

29-Jun-2019 Good week with the boys ... most improved on average about 3-4 minutes on the Mountain Challenge.

Uniforms

I gave out uniforms to those at practice today. I will hand out all other uniforms tomorrow morning. If your child is in basketball, they need to come see me before 7:15 to pick up their uniform. I cannot guarantee that I will have time to get these to them the morning of pictures. Please have them do this tomorrow morning before basketball practice.

Meet Location Change

Rockwall has changed the location of their first meet on November 27th to Rockwall-Heath High School.

Basketball/Cross Country Overlap

Basketball has started. I will speak with the coaches of 7th boys and 8th girls to determine what days I can expect them at XC practices. I will send out an email with the schedule once it's confirmed. PLEASE make sure your runner is still getting in some miles after school on their own or with a group. My daughter is one that will be practicing in the mornings, but she will run everyday after school - usually at Celebration Park. If you are interested in your child running at the park after school, let me know, and we can set up a group run for those kids to help hold each other accountable. Even if just 15-20 minutes each day. They have worked so hard up to this point, and I don't want them to fall behind in their fitness over the next few weeks.

Run-a-Thon

We are awaiting a few more kids to turn in money/forms to announce and hand out prizes. T-shirts have been ordered for those who completed the goal. Thanks again to everyone who made this event a great success!!! I'm already planning for ideas to make it even cooler next year!

Carly Littlefield

Girls Race:

Carson and Amelia will toe the line at 2:30 pm. Both have had a great 10 days of preparation and I feel as though neither one has had their best day on the course this season. The time to do it will be Saturday. When you're racing as an individual there are pros and cons ... the cons being that you don't have the support group of your team mates to key your early stages of the race off of ... I think one of the pros is that you can be totally selfish and only worry about yourself, and race only for you! We have told Carson and Amelia to key off of the Wakeland girls team ... if HP is closer to us in box assignments, they will be another good group to key off of. Just find them and run in their upper packs to the 2 mile, then run aggressively over the last mile. Both girls have the ability to go sub 18:45, and if the race goes favorably Im hoping they can go under ...

Boys Race

Like the girls, they have had a great 10 days of preparation after dominating the Region. The goal/expectation is for a State Championship. To do that we are going to have to have solid days from each of our guys. We have spoken to them about their roles for Saturday. We need to have 3 in front of any other team's top runner ... We need someone in our 4-7 pack to break up Eastwood's pack ... and then our #5 guy HAS to be in close if not in the mix of the Eastwood guys or close behind. We have to have our closest 1-5 split of the season to pull it off.

We will have company with Eastwood, Grapevine, Austin LBJ ... and other teams who have great days ... so we certainly don't want to only focus on Eastwood ... I feel really good about the guys this season and believe they will bring home title #6 to the Lovejoy program.

It is going to be a lot of fun to see Carson and Amelia go out on Saturday and get some goals for the season achieved. This is also the deepest field in 5A boys we have ever faced for a team title. It is going to be exciting to see the guys put everything they have been working for since May 14 on the line. Current Texas State rankings have them #1 in all divisions...time to show everyone we truly are !!

• https://tx.milesplit.com/teamscores

If traveling down, please drive safely.

Other News/Notes:

Now that everyone is back to running it is our EXPECTATION that everyone in the program attends every workout. If you have circumstances which will alter that expectation for the day, you as an athlete need to communicate that to your coach either Carly or Logan. That is non-negotiable. Each day until the meeting room is made available after construction, we meet as a team in the gym. You must attend this meeting or you will be counted absent.

Pysche Up and Spike Up

Greg

Run-a-Thon Money / T-Shirts / Prizes

Please send money and forms ASAP with your child to Coach Kelly or myself. Once we have all money in we can start the process of delivering prizes and ordering shirts. We need to meet our goal of $3,000 to make this happen — which I think we will!!

NO PRACTICE FRIDAY THIS WEEK — COACHES AT STATE XC MEET.

Multi-Sport Athletes

Last week I invited junior Carsen McFadden to come and speak to our middle school runners. Carsen is the EPITOME of a multi-sport athlete. Carsen has been a varsity player on the basketball team for 3 years — helping lead them into the playoffs last year, she has been an instrumental piece of the District Champion Track and Field Team — competing in 5 events including relays, long jump, high jump, and pole vault, and she is also a member of our HS Cross Country team. She does everything at a high level and maintains excellent grades! She did an awesome job talking to the kids about time management, the importance of balancing tutorials and practice, how communication with coaches is key in playing multiple sports, along with how to handle club and school sports. I hope the kids were able to take away something from this discussion.

Carly Littlefield

Girls:

Carson and Amelia will be the first race up for us at 2:30. Both girls are having outstanding workouts and look to have season PR's on the course Saturday. I would really like to see them both go under 18:30. We will talk about who we can key off of and how to have our best day of the season ... if it rains much there this week, the course could be pretty tore up by the time we get on it ... but we will deal with it whatever the shape its in and have our best races of the season..!!!!

Boys:

Last week the DMN had an article about how no team has won State 3 years in a row in the next to highest UIL classification. So when there was only 5A..no 4A team ever won 3 in a row. Now that we have 6A, no 5A team has ever won 3 in a row. Our boys team is favored by 18 points over El Paso Eastwood. They have been running well as a very tight pack all season long. Austin LBJ has had a great season, and we certainly don't want to overlook Grapevine, Cedar Park, or Dripping Springs. As we all know, anything can and usually does happen at the State meet. We will prepare and be ready for anything...

I think for the boys to win the title, we need to have Will, Brady, and Brett up ahead of any other team's #1 guy ... (very doable). Then Trevor, Whit, Micheal, and Grant will have to break up their pack ... it'll be fun to see it all play out.

Wednesday I will send out a more detailed "what to look for" and weekend itinerary ... Friday we talked about believing in what we have accomplished so far this season, our fitness, our team mates, and the program. It's going to be key that there are no doubts or confidence issues when the toes are on the line. I'm currently reading a good book "You Are Not a Rock" by Mark Freeman. It's mainly about (I'm hoping) guides and exercises to better mental health (no I'm not crazy ... well ... on the other hand ... 😏). I wanted to read it to learn more about how to better help my athletes with anxiety, fear, and self confidence issues. A couple of the tenets are:

1. Be Present: Enjoy and celebrate the moment you are currently in. The girls and guys headed to State need to enjoy this week and have no worries. Very few teams (16) state-wide get to experience this feeling.
2. Embrace Uncertainty: Don't worry about things out of your control ... we can't worry about Eastwood, LBJ, or Grapevine ... or the girls going under 18:30 ... all we can do is our best to be ready, and take on the challenges as they approach us.

We will talk about these this week as hopefully it will let the athletes know that they are ready to go out and perform as they have been trained ... if they BELIEVE they CAN !!!

I hope everyone enjoys the beautiful weather today and the week ahead.

Run Happy Run Long Follow Your Arrow

Greg

Tomorrow our girls will give everything they have at Region. They have trained very hard (mile repeats last Monday in a torrential downpour!!) ... and I have no doubt that they are super prepared. They all seem to be in a great frame of mind - not too nervous at all ... but just nervous enough to give them the edge they need! We will compete against some fantastic teams ... (4 of the top 10 ranked in the State come from OUR region! ... including us...)

Tomorrow can't come soon enough! Please send good vibes and thoughts toward the Jessie Owens Sports Complex! GO LEOPARDS!!

Carly Littlefield

Major challenges for the girls will be from Wakeland who has a very tough tight pack at the front of their line up, HP (who we have beaten but they are always a tough, deep team. Frisco Reedy has been running well as of late. Frisco Liberty who has talented athletes ... and then just because they have the States' #1 girl, North could present problems if they have a great day. But all we have to do is be in the top 4 to qualify out ... we are also just as talented and deep as most everyone in the State. We just have to relax, run with our team mates in mind and race to the level of our training. I'm confident we will be able to do that tomorrow.

Boys Region Outlook:

If we run without issues or mishaps ... we should qualify out easily tomorrow. I'm not that concerned with winning tomorrow (which we should easily do) as I am just getting through the race healthy. The guys right now are running their best of the whole season. And I know our racing has been limited and not many have seen us at full strength ... but it will be on display tomorrow. Brett Pedersen has had a reemergence has a healthy force for the guys and with him racing well gives us a legitimate chance to accomplish our Taos goals. Another runner who has come on strong as of late is Michael OBrien..!!! It has been so cool to see him have the season he's having after having overcome sooo many physical ailments over the past couple years. It should be a very good day for the guys tomorrow ...

New Course:

After looking at most of the course yesterday, we can expect a soft surface, with soft grass...not cut too short..(at least it wasn't yesterday) There are a couple spots of standing water..soooo...just another typical championship race day for Lovejoy. We always run our best in the worst conditions. We welcome adversity when others let it get to them....we will do it again tomorrow...Unlike the Lynn Creek course, I think we will be able to see most of the racing action as they run visible loops past the start/finish area. Here is a link to the new course map:

• utamavs.com/documents/2018/10/20/UIL_XC_COURSE_MAP_5k_with_writing.pdf

Departure Time:

We Depart from the LHS Fieldhouse at 7:00 am. I know we don't race 'til noon, but Dallas traffic can be sketchy and getting through the downtown area difficult. I don't want to be pressed for time or have to have the athletes hurry any part of their race day prep.

If planning on watching the Leopards race, the spectator parking is on the east side of the stadium, with all athlete warm-ups in the stadium ... be loud, supportive ...

Get Psyched and Spiked

Greg

2. Basketball is starting up soon. We will have many kids who will play ... which is great, and we will work it out. This primarily affects 7th grade boys and 8th grade girls. During tryout week, they will attend basketball every day. Please try to have them continue running on their own in the afternoons when they can. After we find out who made the team, I will discuss with those kids individually a plan so they can easily do both. Please do not worry — we will make it work, and they will not miss much (if any) basketball practice. I will talk to those coaches and we will have a great plan in place to help all kids.
3. LONG RUNS — a good majority of our kids are getting in a good long run over the weekend! Please continue to encourage your child to do this on either Saturday or Sunday each week. For some this will be 4 miles ... for more experienced 8th graders ... they can be going up to 8 miles.

We will not have a team practice on Monday morning, October 22nd because all of the coaches will be attending the high school Region XC Championships. WSMS athletes should run OYO (on your own).

Carly Littlefield

I grew up in the 70's and watched distance running become one of the most popular sports in the ... Kip Keino, Jim Ryun, Rich Wolhuter, Frank Shorter, Steve Prefontaine ... and Bob Christensen (older brother) ... were my distance running idols. I wanted to be like them. So in Jr High I was the full back on the football team (we ran the Wishbone) and played middle line backer ... I played basketball ... and then ran track ... My Freshman year I ran XC instead of playing football because my older brother Bob got a concussion returning a punt and my parents said "No more. Find something else." So he started our HS xc team ... By the time I was a sophomore in HS he had already run races against Prefontaine and was on his way to being an All-American. I wanted THAT ... my times in HS were as fast if not faster ... but in retrospect my ambition was nowhere near where his was. I was chasing something that he had already done and that I wanted for myself ... instead of chasing where I wanted to go on my own. My Collegiate experience was basically non-existent because I was doing it for the wrong reasons ... never had good races although I could kick almost everyone's butts in workouts (that was one of my problems). It wasn't until I graduated and got out on my own and started running because of the joy and freedom I felt from workouts and races ... that I started to improve and become the runner I had wanted to be ... a 9:05 indoor 2 mile on a 170m track gave me the confidence that what I was doing was right for me. From there I continued to have pretty decent success in my own running and then got into coaching as a volunteer asst at West Texas State ... eventually then to HP, and now at home at Lovejoy.

But the only real lesson I have learned from my running is that you have to find out why you're doing this ... and what is it about it that drives you? For me it was early on chasing a misguided belief that I could do all the things my brother had done, without the drive or talent. Things I have learned from my experience have I feel molded me into a mediocre coach who has been fortunate to have landed in districts where distance running and the drive for excellence is valued. But in the end ... I think it really comes down to having the passion to do all the things we talk about in Taos ... saying "no" to the tiny distractions which can become huge. Having a genuine and real respect for your teammates ... you don't have to like them all the time ... but you DO have to respect them because they are doing all they can to represent you on the starting line.

If you as a ... aren't doing all of this for the most pure of purposes ... then you are going to struggle ... you are going to doubt yourself and you are going to ask yourself everyday why are you putting yourself through this? But if you have found that reason early on:

• the way the effort makes you feel
• love beating people
• the look that you get from your teammates after you all endured a grueling workout
• a pat on the back from someone on the team you may hardly know because they kicked your butt today ... but you know you will get them tomorrow
• the TEAM
• the PRIDE you feel on race day with LOVEJOY across your chest

Then it makes everything you will ever go through worth it whether you set a PR on race day or have the worst race ever ... but also knowing there is another race down the road and another chance to reinvent yourself into whoever you want to be.

This isn't really a "sport" its more a lifestyle and you come to welcome the eccentricities that come with it because it in times helps to define you as a person. As someone who on raceday isn't afraid to put on the Lovejoy Singlet and put yourself and your body of work from May to October on display for all to judge.

I hope that by the time all my runners have graduated ... they know the "why" as to what they are doing when we meet at the green box at Celebration. If you ever need help in finding your Why ... come see Carly, Logan, or me and we can help.

Greg

WSMS parents and athletes can CLICK HERE to download the pledge form.

If you'd like to pledge but don't know a Springer to pledge with, then please send an email to Coach Littlefield specifying your pledge amount (either a flat donation or per lap rate up to 25 laps), and she will asign your pledge to a worthy runner.

And come out to WSMS on October 15th to support our middle school runners.

• Chile Pepper results

• The Pre-Race Moment: Taking Advantage of where Psychology and Biology Intersect

Have a great week, be safe/dry and I will send out race outlook/updates on Wednesday.

Run Happy Run Long Follow Your Arrow

Greg

This week we will be racing at the Ken Gaston Invitational at the Regional Course in Grand Prairie, TX. This will be an important race for all since it will be our last before we race at District on October 9th at Myers Park in McKinney. This will be a BIG meet. Hebron, Wylie, and Frisco Wakeland are the better teams that will be attending. We will look for an alternate race just in case this one is cancelled as well. Keep in mind the course is next to a lake and majority of cars and buses park on the grass so there is a possibility of it being cancelled due to the ground being to muddy. We will have a modified workout on Monday and get ready to run fast for Thursday! It will be a fast course so I am hoping to see a lot of our guys break through some race barriers and set some new personal bests.

We had some runners who made the trip out to Arkansas to run in the Chile Pepper Festival and they had some decent performances there. We still need to solidify our top group of guys going into the championship races — close the gaps for our 3-7 runners and we need as many as we can to run sub 16:00 minutes or 16:15 if we want to win another state title. We have a group of guys who are able to, we just need to go out and execute it on the race course. We have a good group of runners, but this is not the same team from 2016 or 2017 and we have not won anything or accomplished anything major yet. Still work to be done and results to be proven this season. We don't want to settle for being a good team — we want to be THE team when it is all said and done.

Please let me know if you have any questions (903-821-8399 Cell)

Thank you,

Logan Kelly

• El Paso Eastwood ran in Arizona at the Nike Desert Twilight. All of their top 5 were under 16:00. However, the race was run at night against top flight competition
  https://www.athlinks.com/event/286337/results/Event/804823/Course/1400860/Results
• HP and McKinney North girls had good weekends at the McNeil meet in Round Rock
  https://tx.milesplit.com/meets/326844/results/610196/formatted#.W7D7v2hKjIU = McKinney North Girls
  https://tx.milesplit.com/meets/326844/results/610176/formatted#.W7D79GhKjIU = HP Girls
• We saw Wakeland girls on Thursday

Traditionally, the McNeil produces fast times ... typically as much as :20-:30 faster than what is run at the State meet a month later. There is always speculation if the course is altered slightly or what. It probably just comes down to the size of the race and having to go out much faster than normal to avoid getting trampled !!

Later this week I will give a rundown of what we are looking at for the District meet. We have lofty goals which I think are attainable for our first meaningful meet of the season.

We are entering our training phase where we really have to pay close attention to all we are doing now. Emphasis has to be on wise nutrition choices, longer quality sleep, and taking the extra time after workouts for rolling/stretching.

I believe both teams are going to achieve the goals set out for the season in Taos !!!!

Run Happy Run Long Follow Your Arrow

Greg

1. If you haven't signed up to volunteer, please consider doing so ... it takes an army to put on a good event.
2. Please check your runners training shoes ... if it has been several months since they have been updated lets look into some new kicks. (Especially for those looking to advance past District racing.)
3. Rest/nutrition will be important from here on out as we look to shift our training to more speed-oriented phase.

Here is a good article I would like all the runners to read. I think it provides a good narrative on how we can rationalize good/bad performances ... when we have a great workout or race, the story we attach to it can determine our future successes:

• The Blame Game: How our reaction to failure influences future performance

We will need to keep a good thought regarding rain this week. Myers Park can't handle much more than what we already have had. The Boyd meet 2 weeks ago was canceled and if we get much more rain late in the week we might lose our meet as well ... so please don't wash your cars this week haha.

Run Happy Run Long And Follow Your Arrow
Corri Felice e Veloce

Greg

Our girls are running well and are highly thought of across the state ... but they have to put all that aside and focus on doing all they can to stay healthy and continue the work to be ready for the challenges at District ... and putting it all together at Region to qualify out to the State meet.

The boys are much deeper and talented than they are giving themselves credit for ... the results today proved that !!! Now they know they are fast and all they have to do is race to that level and have fun!! In the end ... it's all about having fun.

"corri veloce e divertiti" (run fast and have fun — in Italian.)

I am really excited to see the season play out ... my experiences this summer in Taos have got me more excited for a XC season than I have been in a long time. The real racing is just around the corner and we have two squads who are putting their hearts and souls into their training. It's going to be a fun the next 1.5 months to see how it all plays out.

I know there is a bug going around the school ... be vigilant regarding nutrition/sleep ... 2 of the 3 pronged spokes ... !!!

Greg

In Taos we talk about our program as being similar to spokes on a wheel ... where training, sleep, and nutrition are the spokes of the wheel ... and our team culture/character is what provides the "air" for the tire to keep the wheel moving. As coaches we are always talking to the team about sleep, nutrition and going easy on the easy days to be ready for the next workout. It's a simple equation: Stress (workouts) + Recovery (sleep/nutrition) = Improvement. Our workout days in our program are Mondays/Wednesdays/Fridays for non-race weeks ... and Mondays/Wednesdays for race weeks, with the Race day as the 3rd hard effort. Sunday runs are long easy recovery days, but provide the easy time on the legs to get the desired mitochondrial development without taxing the the cardiovascular system. To provide enough recovery at this age of athlete we like to go on a hard/easy schedule with a scheduled day off on the weekend. If an athlete ever has a rough night of homework and shows up thrashed before the workout, the best thing is to often tell them to go home, or just do an easy jog to clear the head ... and not another stresser of a workout. This article is about the best and most comprehensive I have read on elements of recovery. This is the area that the athlete has total control over, but it is the one that often gets overlooked the most and can tank a season quicker than anything if adequate rest/recovery tools (sleep, nutrition, rolling) aren't utilized. It even talks about alternating temperature in the shower (which is a new on one me!!). Please print this out and have your athlete refer to it often ...

• Rest and Recovery

Lovejoy XC is getting a lot of publicity on Tx.Milesplit.com since the Plano meet with the showing the girls/boys/and Will had. The racing is going to be a lot of fun tomorrow to see how we have improved on cutting our splits down. The thing about the course tomorrow are the sharp turns early on ... we will need to be placed well early on to have room to move mid race and score well ... we will outfit the group today in longer spikes for those who want them for better traction on the turns.

Here is the latest article: Texas' 2018 Rising Stars

Have a great rest of your day and travel safely to Bob Jones Park tomorrow.

Greg

Girls Outlook

HP, Grapevine, The Colony, and North if they run Culbreath will be the 5A teams to be on the watch for. I really feel that overall our girls are going to be able to finish in the top 3 Coppell and Prosper are 2 6A teams which are currently running well but I feel like we are going to be the best 5A team on the course Saturday. Carson is running better than ever and if the footing isn't too soppy should be in the low-mid 18 range. Amelia, Katie, Sofia, and Zoe all have the ability to go sub 20:00. If we can get that done this week we will be right on target for some faster racing in October. We have a host of girls who have the ability this weekend for breakout races based on what I'm seeing in workouts. Lily x 2, Sara, Avery, Emily, Ashlyn and the Malik twins, and Mia will hopefully have performances to shake things up a bit as well ... all are having a great season so far.

Boys Outlook

For the boys the only teams who I think will present a challenge in 5A will be Grapevine. If we want to be in the hunt to keep our nearly 2-year undefeated streak in play, we will need to get past 6A #1 ranked Flower Mound ... which is very doable based on our talent. We just have to put things together and have strong races from our closers. Will, Brady, and Brett should be firmly up in the top 10 of this meet and all 3 under 15:45. If we can get our 4-7 down under 16:15 I will be very pleased. Our remaining races on the course should fare very well ... as I believe we are the deepest program in the area !! This is a very flat, fast course that in the past has yielded some fast results. It will be our last chance until Region for another flat course.

We have races in (almost) every division so its going to be a very busy day ... thankfully weather temperatures won't figure in and we'll have tons o fun !!!

Training Update

We are 1/2 way to the State meet and classes are well underway. What I want to remind everyone of and for us to be cautious of is not losing sight of team goals and keeping the TEAM in mind first and foremost. When athletes put the needs of the team before themselves and trust the synergy of the group ... good things happen for the individual athlete. We will be talking to the team, but we need to try to keep distractions to a minimum and keep our focus in tact. We are losing workouts due to various goings-on ... and we really need to try to limit workouts away from the team.

What I would really like to see from this weekend on out to our last race of the season, is for all of our top 7-12 runners getting their weekend long runs in together as a team. So many good things happen over the course of 10-12 mile runs with a group ... it enhances team chemistry, trust, bonding, and is a lot of fun!! Over the course of my running career I have been on so many of these runs, and I have so many fond memories of running with the group away from our coaches and having some really good conversation about the training, season, and whatever else comes to mind. I understand religious commitments ... but if we can at all make it happen to have all our athletes working together on Sunday's that would be awesome ... and will pay huge dividends in November. Miles together are what make the team unbeatable.

I cannot make these workouts mandatory ... but if your athlete cannot meet with the group and they are in the Varsity/upper JV group, please let me know and we will see what we can do as far as the times of the group runs to see if we can get everyone together ... now that everyone is getting about the same number of miles on the weekends, it will be very beneficial to have everyone together.

This is the first season in a looooong time that we have both teams ranked in the top 10 by Texas Coaches. The boys, based on Eastwoods depth, are now at #2 ... and the girls enter the rankings at #5 ... I believe both teams will finish higher when it counts !!!

Race Day

We will be leaving bright and early at 5:00 am as our first race goes off at 7:00 ... with the expected rain for the week, we will get as many in the longer spikes for race day. I would also recommend they bring a grocery plastic bag to put muddy shoes/clothes in post race for the bus ride back. If it doesn't rain as much as is anticipated then we'll be fine either way.

Get Spiked and Psyched

Greg

In looking at race results from yesterday, the Marcus I meet was fast as usual. Athletes who raced at Plano and then yesterday at Southlake were on average about :30 faster. Some of that may be due to better footing, increased level of competition ... but they didn't get :30 faster over 2 weeks of training. The race course for us this next week is going to be very flat again, and if the rain doesn't soften things up too much this week — should be pretty fast. We will see the toughest competition for both the girls and boys teams this week we will probably see all season. I will send out an outlook on Wednesday ... but I'm very excited for this one !!

• CLICK HERE for the Marcus I results

Here is a good article which explains how we as coaches put the pieces together for a training season. Its a little oversimplified, but can give you some insight into how we put the pieces together for a season:

• The Simple Principle of Training: Build, Maintain, Connect

With expected highs in the 80's for this coming week, I think we will see an uptick in our training. Several of the team have come to me asking about why they are feeling very tired during workouts. I don't think it is a case of being anemic more than just the heat/humidity combining for tough conditions and the added stressor of school days and maybe a lack of adequate sleep ... we will see how this week goes for them.

Have a great week and enjoy the weather !!!

Run Happy Run Long Follow Your Arrow

Greg

Another piece of the team puzzle that I am very pleased with this season is the unity and camaraderie of the groups. It is awesome to see the older athletes bring in the younger crop of runners and show them the ropes and teach them all the subtleties of the program so they don't feel left out or on the fringe ... Here is an article from scienceofrunning.com that proves how beneficial the sense of belonging and community is:

• Peak Performance: Brad's Thoughts on Community and Belonging

I haven't read Tribe but its up next on the list.

There are a few athletes I would like to make a special mention of here on their impact they have made in a short time this season:

• Hannah Bohnenkamper: Splitting time with XC and softball she is at every XC workout and puts everything she has in to doing all she can to make a difference on the team !!
• Katie Armstrong: A newbie but has made a huge impact in the varsity lineup ... has made a steady progression of improvement since her first workout in May.
• Sara Rouse: Since joining the team last December has worked hard to achieve her goals ... very inspiring to see her work ethic.
• Collin Jones: Coming from a long legacy of Jones boys in the program ... he has made a huuuge jump in fitness and commitment to the team which has paid off.
• Stefan Lingenfelter: I can see his steady improvement and as a sophomore has shown that there is a lot of talent we will be seeing ...
• Tate Barr: Definitely one of the new guys with a lot of personality !! His work ethic has improved over the year since 8th grade and it shows !!!

The BIG meet this weekend to keep an eye on is the Marcus 1 meet ... most all the major programs from Region II will be racing.

I hope everyone has a safe and relaxing Labor Day Weekend ...

Greg

Nutrition

For breakfast athletes should have as big of a meal as they are comfortable with ... this is the one that refuels from overnight, and provides the energy for the 1st 5 hours or so of their day. If this meal is skipped or they don't eat what the body needs, they will be operating at a deficit ... eggs, bagels, toast, bacon, oatmeal, fruit, milk — all are good options as I'm sure you all have your faves.

At lunch, since we are working out 3-4 hours later, I would recommend a light sandwich, fruit. Think of this meal as fuel for the workout. Not something that should totally fill you up because you don't want to feel weighted down in your workout.

After the workout, around 5:15 or so ... the athletes need to get home and have a big dinner with protein, carbs, fats ... this is the one that is going to provide all the body needs to rebuild and repair overnight. A snack of protein/carbs before bed helps too ... peanut butter on a cracker or somesuch, along with a glass of water so the kidneys have the goods to do electrolyte balancing overnight.

I would also recommend athletes bring a water bottle with gatorade that they can water down and drink from during the day.

Please be deliberate with a nutrition plan, just like we are with a training plan ... !!!!!!!

Race Results from the Weekend

We were able to see some interesting results from area and teams from across the state we are keeping tabs on. At the Frisco meet, most all the schools we will need to beat for our girls at Region were racing. Keep in mind that London Culbreath was not racing for North. At the El Paso meet, we see that Eastwood had an impressive split over a reported 5K, but historically this race has been a 3-mile. At the Hebron meet we were able to see Grapevine race against common opponents from our Plano meet.

• El Paso results
• Frisco results
• Hebron results

With the shift to afternoon workouts, we will be sure to adjust workout efforts in accordance to an athletes fitness level and the ambient temperature. Even if we have to cut back on the tempos, we are getting in the work because of the heat. It does a lot to make us physically fit ... but I believe makes us much more callused and tougher on race day. I am well aware of the dangers of heat and training, but also keep in mind our athletes, because of what they have done all summer in the heat are acclimated and can handle more than someone who hasn't been doing what we have been.

• The Surprising Benefits of Training in the Heat

I hope everyone has a great week and please let me know if there is anything I can do to enhance your team experience.

Run Happy Run Long Follow Your Arrow

Greg

To date, all of the other, current booster club online presences have used LovejoyXCTF as their root address/label. The new site has an avant-garde feel by using LeopardXCTF.

CLICK HERE to go to the new website.

The site is administered by Steph McGowan (m: 214-901-6022, e: steph.mcgowan@live.com). Please contact her with any feedback or questions.

A permanent link for the new site will be embedded in the toolbar above once the weather widget has been reworked.

If your child is not participating in Cross Country this year, please email me to let me know so that I can remove you from the contact lists.

First Practice

We will have our first official practice at Willow Springs. We will begin at 7:30 sharp. Please have your child their on time. I do not recommend arriving before 7:10 unless you have a conflict with work or dropping other kids and must do so. We will practice every day at 7:30 from this day forward (unless I notify you otherwise). We will ease into the workouts ... so please ensure your child that they will be just fine regardless of their current fitness level!

Morning Practice Drop-Off

Please drop your child in the back of the school and tell them to enter through the cafeteria door. I usually get to the middle school between 7:00-7:05. We will start at 7:30 sharp at the trophy case in front of the gyms.

Schedules

1st period athletes (7th grade boys/8th grade girls) will be with Coach Kelly. 8th period athletes (7th grade girls/8th grade boys) will be with off season. They will report with their given coach during off season each day. We will discuss and answer questions they may have on Tuesday.

Lockers

These will be issued the first week for each athlete.

Paperwork

Your child MAY NOT participate in any practices until all paperwork and athletic physical is complete. They can bring their physical to the trainer. All other paperwork is online. We will take care of the IMPACT test for those needing it.

If you have not completed the online paperwork for athletics please do so ASAP HERE

We will answer a lot of the basic questions kids have in the first few days, so please tell them not to be nervous about lockers, clothes, etc. ... just be ready to have an awesome first week of school!

Carly Littlefield

What I'm wanting to see: Girls

1. Carson is running great right now (as are all the others too), and other than Hilyard from Plano, could be considered one of the race favorites. The girls have done a great job of grouping up behind her and providing a closer gap with more girls than in previous seasons. We could potentially see 4-5 girls in under the 20:00 mark Saturday.
2. I would expect North to sit Culbreath until later in the season, but we still want to crush their 2-5 runners so we will know where we stand 7 weeks out from District.
3. I'm hoping we have some hotly contested races 2-10 for us as that only makes the overall team stronger. Several of our girls who will be running in the JV race, have the potential to make a big impact on our Varsity squad later this season.
4. In both Varsity and JV girls races, I want to see them get out off the line and run aggressively, especially over the last 1 mile where all their summer work will show ... I think we have the athletes to win the JV girls race both as a team and individually.

What I'm wanting to see: Boys

1. The boys Varsity team hasn't suffered a defeat since October 8, 2016 ... Wylie will be a strong test for us, but I think we have the strength up front to handle their challenge, if our 4-7 runners can nail the lid shut. Our JV boys should win out handily as most of our JV boys could be running Varsity for most other teams.
2. Will, Brady, and Brett are running better than any trio we have ever had ... I expect them to be in the mid 15's with our 4-6 runners in around 16:00-16:20. Whitson and Grant should be close to going under 16:00.
3. We should be in a great position to win the individual and team titles for both Varsity and JV divisions ...

The race location is Russell Creek Park in Plano (head west on McDermott). It's a flat course around soccer fields.

Race Day

• All athletes will ride the bus to the meet ... if they cannot ride back on the bus, we need notification in advance to Carly/Logan. All athletes are expected to ride home on bus unless there is a conflicting circumstance.
  Click here for the alternate travel release form.
• Athletes should wear only Lovejoy XC team gear.
• Athletes should bring enough water for their own hydration (we will have team water as well) as well as post race snacks to initiate the recovery process.
• Parents should refrain from entering the team camp area. This is reserved for coaches/athletes to focus and discuss race instructions.
• Parents/spectators: Please be loud and supportive of all Lovejoy athletes ... do not interfere with any race day protocol (for example grabbing a runner from an opposing school because he was beating her son in a race ... (yes I have seen it happen at a Plano meet !!!))
• Unless you know our specific race instructions for your son/daughter ... please refrain from giving specific race advice other than "you're doing great", etc. I have yet to see an athlete go out and purposely run a bad race. Everyone wants to do well and on race day they are doing all they can ... please be supportive and choose words of encouragement wisely. 😊

We have over 100 runners on the team this season ... I can't wait to see the level of support this yields on race day.

Greg

Weekly Workouts

Since Wednesday night is Spike night at RunOn!, we will do our workout in the morning @ 7:00 am at the Chase Oaks Church off Stacy. Those needing to get in additional miles can run from Celebration ... just make sure you're at church by 7:00 am.

Thursday evening will be our annual parent/athlete team meeting at the HS Cafeteria starting at 7:30 pm ... you will have the opportunity to meet the other team members, parents and coaching staff.

Race Day

I will be talking to the team this week about a race week routine, but we really want to keep things pretty much normal. A 5K race really isn't long enough to where anything special needs to be done ... by way of carbo-loading or anything like that. Eat what agrees with you and make sure adequate liquids are being consumed with electrolytes.

We really prefer all of our athletes race in spikes on race day. If you haven't procured them for the season, Wednesday night would be a great time and I would recommend everyone do a few strides in them during the week just to make sure everything fits ok. Uniforms will be passed out at the meeting on Thursday ... if you or your athlete cannot be present, please make arrangements with Carly and Logan to get the uniform for Saturday.

This is looking like another great week for weather with the rain/cooler temps ... let's make sure we get the most out of it, and be cognizant of sleep this week especially. There may be some nervous nellies late this week so the extra sleep may come in handy.

Run Happy Run Long Follow Your Arrow

Greg

Once our racing season starts I will give a brief overview of the raceday, and Carly and Logan will provide a more detailed version. If during my breakdown I inadvertently leave someone out, it is not by intention ... as was the case yesterday with the time trial on the boys side. I overlooked Trevor Malik (10:36) and Alex Pedersen (10:51). Usually it's a case of me being too excited to let everyone know how proud of them I am ... and I may not see something I overlooked ... old eyes probably.

The weather is predicted to be taking a definite change for the cooler by mid-week sooo we should be able to really get in some good work ... if the predicted rains are too much for the evening ... we will get word out on the workout status.

Most programs across the state will start their racing seasons on the 17th/18th weekend ... you can always go to TxMilesplit.com to see results from all meets reporting.

RunOn! is having a "spike night" on the 15th at their Frisco location @ 6:00pm 8300 Gaylord Pkwy #121. Might be a good time to update the racing spikes and trainers (especially the trainers if haven't been updated this summer). But keep in mind you can also go to:

• https://www.vsathletics.com/store/Nike-Shop/ (discount code/coupon: LovejoyXCTF)
  (here you can get gear 40% off and it continues all throughout the school year ... and applies to anyone ... team member or not)

I'm currently reading a very good book that Stefan Evan left for me about Emil Zatopek ... one of the world's top Olympic performers over the 1500-10000 distances ... it's a cool look at how his training has given us the foundations for what we now do as far as intervals and thresholds ... Today We Die A Little by Richard Askwith ... worth the read..

As we are getting closer to the start of the new school year ... I would suggest:

• athletes begin getting their sleep routines adjusted
• athletes begin getting their nutrition needs met and begin eating like they would during a school day: (large breakfast including protein/carbs ... moderate lunch with carbs ... smart snax ... and a large dinner w/protein/carbs/fats post workout ... drinking water before bed and upon waking up)

Let me know if you have any questions ...

Run Happy Run Long Follow Your Arrow

Greg

A few important notes:

1. Practice attendance at this point is imperative. Beginning next Monday, all athletes are expected to attend practice every day unless they will be gone on vacation. Please make sure to let me know (or have your daughter let me know) if she will be out of town between now and the start of school. The girls have done a fantastic job of letting me know all summer when not to expect them at practice ... it is very appreciated!
2. Season schedule attached — time trial August 4th/first meet August 18th!!!
3. Online orders due tonight at midnight
4. Paperwork Due ASAP

If you have not completed physicals or online paperwork, please get that done ASAP. All athletes must receive an annual Physical and complete the required online forms to participate in Lovejoy ISD athletics. Please click on the links below to complete the forms and for Physical Information.

• Required Athletic Forms for 2018-2019
• 2018-2019 Physical Information

Let me know if you have any questions ... looking forward to the best season yet!

Carly Littlefield

Although it is summer, there is the tendency to go to bed late/sleep late for those not working. Sounds great, but remember that as far as quality sleep goes, every hour of sleep prior to midnight is worth 2 after midnight. The body repairs itself during sleep, so the more you get, the more recovered you will be and the less likely of injury/sickness.

16-Jun-2018:    If this week with the Freshman boys camp is any indication, the summer is going to be very productive and we are going to have great camps !!!! The guys camp this week has gone great, and although the weather has been dry, we are getting a pretty heavy downpour now and the rain is expected to hang around for most of the upcoming week. So that is great news as hopefully the forest won't be shut down due to fire concerns as a lot of the state parks are.

We had a great week of discussions after the dinner clean-up, and I thought our interviews went a lot better than what I have done in past summers by allowing more of a free dialog rather than following script. (I guess old dogs do learn new tricks).

The altitude seemed to really affect only 1 or 2 of the guys this week. In one instance I gave him the day off from running and he was able to recover and came back with a very strong showing in the Mountain Challenge. Please keep in mind that the running up here is merely incidental as the primary focus are the discussions/interviews/and dialog between campers late night and in the van ...

Click here for the results from the Boys Camp I Mountain Challenge. I was very proud of how they worked together and fought through the initial discomfort. Just getting to the top is an accomplishment when you start at 8500' and finish at 9600' over 3.5 miles.

I'm excited to see the first group of girls in tomorrow evening. We have a lot to accomplish this summer with the girls ...

Girls Camp I

17-Jun-2018:    Its rainy/misty and 43 degrees here this morning ... the girls are well on their way so everything is looking good !! One thing I want to really stress regarding the camps is that the athletes on return take the information and make the needed adjustments to diet/sleep habits. Try to make the necessary changes and stick to them ... it will make huge differences in training when:

1. We are getting the necessary sleep. During deep sleep is when the body repairs itself from workouts.
2. We are getting the right foods for fuel for the workouts ... carbohydrates for energy/protein for recovery.
3. We have empathy for team mates and are always looking to build up others.
4. We are being consistent with attendance at workouts and having the right mindset to get the most out of them. Be "present" in the workout ... meaning know the purpose and be fully invested in the task at hand. Don't go through the motions.

22-Jun-2018:    The girls just finished off the Mountain Challenge and they had an awesome day on the mountain ... which polished off another great week of camps. I think for me the highlight was our discussion last night of team culture and character ... we had a very good dialog regarding what they believe a leader is and how we roll that into our team culture. It was very cool to hear so many of the girls talking about those ideals and taking it to heart.

All of the girls made it to the top today and I will admit that at the beginning there were a lot of doubtful eyes being cast in my direction when I spoke to them on the bridge before we started ... but they made it through by working together and believing in themselves and not letting their team mates down. Click here for the results.

From here they will grab some lunch, and when ready we will go out to the John Dunn Bridge/Hot Springs to soak and swim in the Rio Grande ... then back to the houses to begin the clean up. We will wrap up the camp tonight after my last 3 interviews, and I will send them off tomorrow morning probably around 7:00am.

Boys Camp II

24-Jun-2018:    Its still pretty dry up here and if they have to shut down the forest trails due to fire hazard, we will still have a productive week ... in fact the forest shut-down would only affect 1 of our weekly runs ... so I think we will be ok. The girls this past week had the opportunity to do some pottery sculpting with an artist in Arroyo Secco. Scott Carlson has become a big fan of our camps and he always makes it a point to remark to me about how polite and respectful our athletes are ... as parents and administrators you all should be proud.

28-Jun-2018:

1. The Northern New Mexico area is very dry and as of yesterday, the Carson National Forest has been shutdown to campers/hiking. All roads and shops are open however. So as far as our camp goes, we really aren't too affected. The only activities we are losing is the Wheeler Hike, and the Trail 438 run. Rain is in the forecast for this afternoon and for much of next week.
• -As far as fires in the area goes, the Sardina Canyon fire is burning to about 800 acres about 20 miles south of Taos. Prevailing winds are pushing it to the east. The smoke from the ridge of the canyon south of Taos is visible..but none of it is blowing this way so I believe we are ok...They have 150 firefighters, trucks, and air support for the fire so a threat to this area isn't expected.
• several of the fires in Northern NM are believed to be from a serial arsonist ...
2. This article is a good one regarding: a. Decision Making, b. Effort. Both of these will be the focus of our discussion this evening. I have been very impressed again this week with our evening discussions and the level of involvement the guys have and questions they're asking ... pretty cool ...
• https://www.peakperformancebook.net/single-post/2018/06/27/Ask-Yourself-These-5-Questions-When-Making-Tough-Decisions?utm_campaign=cdfd5a3ea3-EMAIL_CAMPAIGN_2017_07_14_COPY_01&utm_medium=email&utm_source=Peak%2BPerformance&utm_term=0_ca7b0a0e16-cdfd5a3ea3-153260937

I will keep you updated on the local goings on, and if you have any concerns or worries, please let me know...their safety is my #1 concern.

28-Jun-2018:    The Mountain Challenge for the 2nd boys camp just finished up with our best results of our 2nd camp we have ever had. The most guys under 40:00 and the closeness of the guys to each other further exemplifies how the week of camp went. One of the guys mentioned this morning after his challenge that of the 3 years he has been to Taos, this was by far his favorite ... when I asked "what made it so ...?" he replied the camaraderie of the team and how close they were able to get to each other and come together as a new team this year ...

The team we had last year is gone, and we have a new crop of runners ... The overall team goals may remain the same, but the faces chasing after the goals changes each year giving us a new team dynamic.

Click here for the Mountain Challenge Results ... it is a very difficult running climb of 3.5 miles and close to 1000' elevation increase over an average 8% grade !!

They all did great, but 2 guys I want to make special note of are a couple of guys brand new to the team, and completed their first Challenge ... Reid James and Walter Bedell ... both guys have done an outstanding job of seeing what the team is about and making their marks throughout the week ... of course this couldn't have been possible without the support of their team mates ...

From here they are ice bathing/lunch ... soon after we will go to the Rio Grande John Dunn Bridge to swim/wade and partake in the hot springs.

Very proud of this group.

Girls Camp II

03-Jul-2018:    Yesterday on our run at the Gorge there were a few guys on the trail as well ... after our run we met them and they turned out to be the XC team from William & Mary in Virginia who are out for the month getting in some altitude training. They are also staying in the Ski Village so I invited a few of them over for spaghetti Friday evening and let them talk to the girls about the "collegiate experience" and racing. Should be fun and since they will be up here all month, the remaining camps will get to meet them as well. They mentioned that NCAA 5k Champion Sean McGorty from Stanford may be joining them as well (grew up in Virginia).

With the 4th Celebration here in the Ski Village tomorrow, we are rafting today and the girls are getting in a run in the Village roads ... then they'll have off tomorrow (since doing 30 minutes at 10,000').

In a few of my interviews so far this summer, I have been kind of surprised by some remarks regarding injuries and how devastating they have been to the athletes psyche. I was tempted to send this article out last weekend, but didn't because of some of the language in a couple spots Steve uses ... but after talking with a couple runners last night, I think it needs to be shared. One thing I try to get over to the kids is that — yes we want you committed and training hard, being smart ... etc. But we also need to keep in mind it is only High School athletics and there will be a much larger world for them after high school. Being so consumed with an activity is not healthy and we should try to encourage them to have other interests as well and not make their identity and sense of self about running. Again, if some of the language offends you I'm sorry ... but the message is good:

• https://www.scienceofrunning.com/2018/06/lessons-i-wish-i-knew-a-letter-to-my-18-year-old-self.html?v=7516fd43adaa

06-Jul-2018:    Just completed was the 2nd Mountain Challenge of the summer for the girls team. I was very pleased with the effort and how they all worked together to accomplish what is admittedly the most difficult run they will most likely ever do ... of the 9 girls in attendance for the camp, we had 5 finishers ... those who didn't finish ran the first 1/2 as a workout due to the fact that they aren't quite ready for the complete Challenge ... but they also ran great and did exactly what I asked them to do !! This has been a remarkable week with all of these girls, and I definitely believe not only they, but WE all got closer as a group to reaching the goals of the team in unity and connectedness.

Click here for the results for the Mountain Challenge.

It is expected to be a rainy afternoon here, so the river swim/hot springs may be in jeopardy, but we will spend the day recovering and cleaning getting ready for the trip back tomorrow and having the house ready for the Boys 3rd Camp ...

08-Jul-2018:    With the 3rd Boys Campers on the road up, I am still reflecting on the camp just past and couldn't be any happier with how the week went and be more confident of the impact those girls are going to have on the season. Several have the ability to make a big jump in their training/racing and I can't wait to see them make the jump in confidence over the first 1/2 of the season and on into the Conference 10-5A Championships. Early in the summer I stated the season's rallying statement "Why Not Me?" We will continue to focus on that and it was really emphasized by the college runners Friday night when they spoke to the girls.

One of the things they hammered home was that competitors are just people too ... even the pros ... they have their own set of doubts and issues they deal with in their running too. Everyone can be beaten on any given day/race. As we work towards the time trial on August 4 and the Plano Invitational on August 18. "Why can't it be me to be the one to make a breakthrough difference on the team?"

We have had rain here the past several days, but I expect the forest lands to remain closed for awhile ... it's been very dry here. But it really won't affect our routine much. This summer I have backed off somewhat on the workouts here as well, due to comments made from last summer that they had a bit of an "Altitude Hangover" when they got back ... taking a few days to get back to feeling normal ... the meetings/interviews are the big emphasis here and not the training, so it won't hurt to back off a bit and let them have a week to focus on themselves and their team mates.

I hope everyone's summer is going well ... it's hard to believe that we are already almost 1/2 way through July. One of the comments made this past week during meetings was how quickly High School goes by and especially the XC/Track seasons. We talked about how all it takes to make a big jump at this age is consistency in training (not losing time to injury/sickness) and believing in yourself and the program. For the most part except for a few, the athletes are all at about the same ability levels and it is just putting together the training seasons and getting the racing experience that makes the difference between an athlete racing at the varsity level, and one at the JV level. Confidence, I am believing, is sometimes more essential than the training ... taking that leap of faith and trusting yourself/team mates/coaches to get you where you want to be in your training and racing can make a huge difference. When the athlete is ready to make that leap, they will know ... but all the coaxing and prodding has little effect until the athlete believes in themselves and decides it's time.

Boys Camp III

13-Jul-2018:   Well these just keep getting better and better as we had a record from last year, (which I thought was pretty fast) beaten by nearly a minute this year, as last year's record was eclipsed by 2 athletes this year !! Will Muirhead surpassed last year's time with a clocking of 25:25 ... Brady Laboret also beat his record time from last year with a 26:09 ... Most everyone was faster today than last year ... Shalin Mehta beat his time last summer by nearly 3:00 !!! I was very pleased with John Armstrong and Trevor Malik running in their first Mountain Challenge and posting the results they did ... We discussed though that this has no real bearing on the season ahead except to show what a positive approach and assistance of team mates can accomplish. 😉 This has been our fastest grouping of finishers ever !!!

It has been a remarkable camp this week with the guys and I feel like they are in a good spot to go back tomorrow and carry out the work to be done we have discussed this week. I am very proud of all of the guys and with 2 more camps to go here this month, I am excited to see how the guys this week, and the girls next week return and get to work !!!

They are ice bathing now and after lunch we will head out to the Rio Grande for some swimming and R&R before house clean-up and spaghetti tonight ...

Click here for the results from earlier this morning.

Girls Camp III

15-Jul-2018:   The 3rd Girls Camp of the summer are well on their way up today, and its a beautiful one here today ... after walking the girls in 48 degree temps this am. 😉

I'm very excited to get the girls in this evening and work with them this week in continuing the great summer they have already had getting in mileage and quality work ... now we want to focus this week on team goals for the season, mental approach to training/team, and ironing out any individual quirks we need to so they can have the season they are wanting.

There is a difference in the camp this week, and I know there is some apprehension regarding having other teams here during the week, but this is why I want to try this.

1. I'm hoping that having additional teams here enhances the friendships made. Some of my best buddies during my hs running were guys from other towns ... we had a kinship of running and it transcended team boundaries. That is the main thing I'm hoping for this week is that the athletes are able to see that yes, we are from different teams and train differently, but we all have the same goals, and fears ... but in the end we are all XC runners !!!
2. Coach Richards and I have become friends over the years, and she brought her team up here at the end of the summer last year and she said her girls haven't stopped talking about the week all year. When she approached me about bringing her team up here the same week our girls are here, I thought it would be a great addition to the week. I think it will be good for our girls to get to know London Culbreath, who is arguably one of the best distance girls in the nation ... to see that deep down she is just the same as all of our girls. I think it will be interesting for our girls to talk to her and get her approach to racing and training ...
3. The week will basically be the same schedule as it has been in the past. We will hold meetings separately except for talks on Nutrition/Sleep. When we discuss our training, team culture, and racing ... we will be separate. Teams will eat separately in their respective houses ... some of the runs will be done on the same trails, but staggered so the teams will be together and to avoid congestion on narrow trails. Some things they will do together like shopping tomorrow in the Taos Square, and rafting ... although they will be in their own team rafts. In the end, this is a Team Camp so I will keep the focus on that as I think that is what makes our camp different than any other camp they can go to.
4. I have been approached by 2 different groups recently about including their teams for next summer. The guys from William & Mary who are here training are wanting to do a house next summer with their team/Stanford and some post collegiate guys who are running professionally. Peter Lamong whose older brother Lopez has been on several Olympic team, is currently in Flagstaff training with a professional group, but is interested in bringing his group to Taos next summer. I think it would be so cool for our teams to be able to go to the Village and see professional runners sitting having coffee and sit and talk training with them ... and have them come to the house in the evening and join in on our training talks. Anyway ... I will do my best to make this week in Taos the best yet for our girls !!!!

I had to laugh when I read this article this morning ... it is so true and I see our athletes do this at a run's conclusion to get the "miles" ... I would much rather them end a run when it ends, and trust their effort during the run.

• https://www.scienceofrunning.com/2018/07/the-east-african-vs-american-mindset-to-running-volume-or-quality.html?v=7516fd43adaa

19-Jul-2018:   To say this week has gone better than I was hoping is a vast understatement ... the girls from the 3 different teams have done a great job !!! Last night we had at our house 32 athletes, 4 coaches, former runner Ariaan Cnossen (camp counselor) a former runner of mine from HP along with his wife (Pete and Jenn Janson) who both ran at CU, and 4 runners from William & Mary ... and 2 border collies ...

We did a session on sleep and it was especially helpful to have Pete, who just finished his med school residency contribute ... along with the college runners. I think the girls fully understand the benefits of sleep to training !! 😊

Today we did the Arroyo Secco loop and in a bit we are leaving for town to get last minute supplies for tomorrow's spaghetti and the girls want to browse for last minute bargains.

The Forest has reopened and the fire ban has been lifted, so if all is good rain-wise we hope to have our first bonfire of the season to round out the week. I think it has been especially beneficial to the girls to hear the perspectives of Jessica Richards (North) and Chance Edwards (Montgomery) in the discussions ... kinda neat.

After the Mountain Challenge tomorrow morning I will send out those results and then that will cap off the Summer of 2018 for Lovejoy. McKinney North's boys and a mixture from Denton Guyer will be here next week. I hope to bring the cooler weather back with me. 😉

I'm looking forward to being back and seeing how the work from this summer in action ...

19-Jul-2018:   We had a fantastic day on the Ski Valley Road this morning ... as you'll see when you look at the results, they absolutely crushed what the team did last summer ... this is testament to how much improvement we have had in the girls team over the past year, especially in our depth (which is crucial in XC) and what we have to look forward to in the future ...

Click here for the results.

From here they are going to ice bath/hot springs/swim/spaghetti/clean the house/last meeting and interviews.

It has been an excellent week and I'm very proud of these girls, and all the others who have attended the camps and continued the work back home.

22-Jul-2018:   All Lovejoy XC Taos Camps are concluded and all Lovejoy runners are safely back at home (or on vacations). I am extremely pleased with how all the camps went and I'm really looking forward to getting back home. The Denton Guyer team and McKinney North Boys are due in this evening to finish out the summer. I think the things that stand out to me over the camps were how seriously the teams took the discussions and interviews. To me those are the 2 most important things we do as a team, and I think the team really took what Carley, Logan, and I had to say to heart. Here are a few points that we made that I want to continue to drive home this season:

Lineup:

Click here for the Region II lineups.

Additional Runners Attending:

The "additional" runners on the lineups sheet signed up on the board to come support their team for the region meet and will be excused on Monday to do so. If your name is not on the list and you plan to attend I need to know ASAP

Please note that additional runners or parents can not run along side our team while competing. That is a UIL rules violation.

All students missing school on Monday need to let their teachers know they will be out and are responsible for any missed assignments.

Let me know if you need anything.

Logan Kelly
903-821-8399 Cell

Importance of Training/Rest and the Track Season:

I talked to the runners on Friday about our team and season goals for the year and how to become the best runner possible they need to do the following:

• Consistently work hard — have the mindset of wanting to be better.
• Really wanting to be better with each workout, week, season, and race.

Our distance runners are probably the most dedicated and hard working athletes in the school. In comparison to the state of Texas there are few programs that can compare to the dedication level of our runners. They are committed to their running 6-7 days each week and take a total of 4 weeks off in the year (2 weeks after XC and 2 weeks after track).

Because our runners are so dedicated it is important to take a least some time off from training after a season to either take a mental break or heal up some from the physical demand of running each day. I feel overall the majority of our runners on the JV team improved this XC season and that is what it is all about.

Once the two week break is over the JV runners will start to build their base mileage for the track season. You will find that the best runners and best programs will have runners train for XC and track. Becoming a great distance runner is a cyclical process and the track season is one of the pieces to that circle. I can elaborate further but don't want to bore you. If you have any questions please let me know.

Schedule this Week:

Runners who are off this week will report for team meeting in the meeting room each day and will stay to do study hall in the meeting room. They can be picked up at the school at 4:15 PM.

Let me know if you need anything.

Logan Kelly
903-821-8399 Cell

Let me know if you have any questions. Tomorrow and Saturday will be a busy day for me but feel free to contact me if needed. I expect our boys team to run very well at our home meet. The game plan is to run hard and be competitive. Times will be fast if each runner is competitive. This will be one of the most talented fields our team will face this year besides the regional and state meet. Grapevine, Hebron, Plano West, and Flower Mound Marcus are the teams we will want to beat. State Runner up Donna North will also be in attendance. They are down this year from the looks of it so far, but I am sure they are coming to our meet with one goal in mind — to try and beat us. We want the boys to race hard and prove that our number 1 ranking is justified.

Looking forward to it,

Logan Kelly
903-821-8399 Cell

• Katie Ruhala (2013), did not run with the team during its Texas Invitational held last Thursday night in Austin. We'll try and get an update on her status.
• Abby Tedford (2014) a senior at Arkansas is still on the Razorbacks' roster, but has not yet run this season. She was at the Gerald Richey last Saturday along with parents Kim and Chris, all supporting the Leopard harriers. The photographer forgot to get a photo!
• Baylee Webb (2014) ran last Saturday at the Rhodes Invitational In Memphis finishing #6 for Mississippi College running the 5K in 20:20.3. [story] [results]
• Chloe Tedder (2015) did not run last Friday at the Rebel Invite hosted by Ole Miss in Oxfors, MS.
• Rachel Tedder (2015) did not run last Friday at the Rebel Invite hosted by Ole Miss in Oxfors, MS.
• Ariaan Cnossen (2016), did not run last Saturday at the SLC Pre-Conference Meet hosted by Abilene Christian.
• Will Wise (2016) finished #3 for Presby College at the Winthrop Invitational last Saturday in Rock Hill, SC. Will ran the 8K course in 29:31.32. [story] [results]
• Grant Tiff (2017), did not run last Saturday at the SLC Pre-Conference Meet hosted by Abilene Christian.

Friday Practice:

NO PRACTICE FRIDAY — REPORT TO 1st PERIOD. 1st period athletes will report to the cafeteria with Coach Coonrod.

Race Day Info:

You will need to provide transportation to and from Myers Park for your athlete; we will not bus them to this meet. (We WILL bus them to all other meets in November/December.)

**PLEASE NOTE EARLIER ANTICIPATED START TIMES AND EARLIER ARRIVAL TIME. Arrive at 10:00 to allow plenty of time to park.

Click here for a map of the tent area. Disregard the date, as it is last year's date, but the same instructions/location.

Coach Coonrod and I will meet the kids at the designated location. I would like them there by 10:15-10:20. The middle school girls race will be approximately 11:15, and the boys will follow.

PARKING will be a challenge, so please have athletes at the tent area by the requested time ... if you show up at 10:30 and still need to park, your child could miss the race. Cross Country has what is called a rolling schedule ... so when one race ends, the next race immediately begins. All times are estimates, so it is better to be early so athletes can be well warmed-up and prepared.

This is the only race they will run this year where 7th and 8th grade are combined. Our regular season will be separated by grade. They are welcome to come earlier to watch Varsity and JV races. Our Varsity kids will race in the Elite division starting at 7:30.

Location:

Myers Park — McKinney, TX
7117 Co Rd. 116 McKinney, TX 75071

Meet Info:

http://lovejoyathletics.com/hq/lovejoy-xc-fall-festival/

Rolling Schedule:

Race Times are projected start times — not actual start times due to a Rolling Schedule.

• 7:30 AM VG Elite Division 5K
• 7:55 AM VB Elite Division 5K
• 8:15 AM VG Division1 (Large School 6A-5A) 5k
• 8:45 AM VB Division 1 (Large School 6A-5A) 5k
• 9:10 AM VG Division 2 (Small School 4A and Under) 5k
• 9:40 AM VB Division 2 (Small School 4A and Under) 5k
• 10:10 AM JV Girls (All Divisions) 5k
• 10:45 AM JV Boys (All Divisions) 5k
• 11:15 AM MS Girls 3200m
• 11:40 AM MS Boys 3200m

IT WILL BE HOT SO PLEASE MAKE SURE TO BRING PLENTY OF WATER/SNACKS FOR YOUR ATHLETE.

Carly Littlefield

Forms

All forms should be completed as quickly as possible. All forms will be turned into our athletic training staff and I will get a report for missing forms this week. Please click the links below to access the online forms.

• Drug-Alcohol Policy Agreement
• Track and Field Agreement / Contact Information
• LISD Athletic/UIL online forms
• Physical and Medical History (orange form) — the trainers prefer you use the pre-printed form on colored card stock available at the athletics offices and trainers rooms

Please contact me by call, text, or email if you have any questions.

Go Leopards!

Coach Tim Denton
214-212-4846
tim_denton@lovejoyisd.net

• Katie Ruhala (2013), is still running as a collegian in this her final XC season as a redshirt senior with the UT Austin Longhorns. Katie and the 'Horns competed at the Aggie Opener in College Station last Friday night, 01-Sep where she placed 20th out of 53 runners and #8 for UT (the entire team ran) with a time of 15:32.1 for the 4100 meter course (not a misprint). Katie appears several times in the video below (she is sporting bib #1635, also recognizable as the blondest ponytail on the team — we're just talkin' hair color here). The video is much clearer in full-screen mode (hint, hint). UT runs next at its Texas Invitational next Thursday night, 15-Sep. [story] [results]
• Abby Tedford (2014) a senior at Arkansas is still on the Razorbacks' roster, but has not yet run this season.
• Baylee Webb (2014) is in her senior year at Mississippi College, and making a splash thus far. She was featured in a pre-meet video (see below). Last Friday night, 01-Sep, Baylee and the Choctaws competed at their Choctaw Open where Baylee finished #7 for the team and 27th overall in 16:59.97 for the 4K course. The team competes next at the Rhodes Invitational in Memphis on 16-Sep. [story] [results]
• Chloe Tedder (2015) is a junior Computer Science major at Southern Mississippi University. She has not yet run for the Golden Eagles this fall.
• Rachel Tedder (2015) is also a junior Computer Science major at Southern Mississippi University, and has not yet seen her first action of the season.
• Ariaan Cnossen (2016), a sophomore at Stephen F Austin, is in recovery mode and probably won't run XC this fall.
• Will Wise (2016) is a sophomore at Presbyterian College in South Carolina. He and the Blue Hose got off to a great start last Friday night, 01-Sep, at the Eye Opener in Spartanburg where Will finished #1 for the team and 30th overall out of 80 runners finishing the 8K course with a PR of 28:16.6. The team competes next at the Winthrop Adidas Invitational on 16-Sep. [story] [results]
• Grant Tiff (2017), a freshman at Stephen F Austin, is recovering from an injury and won't run XC until later in the season.

The majority of teams across the state of Texas raced their first or second 5K for the season. Not all results are in as of yet but I enjoy looking at results. I feel our boys team is in good shape so far and we want to keep them rolling along the way we are progressing. The main thing is to keep the runners healthy, injury free, and feeling fresh. Grapevine boys had a good showing at the Marcus I Invitational. They are a team to keep an eye on, but I feel that we have a deeper and stronger team overall. Grapevine always has a strong showing at Marcus and teams typically have fast times there. We have one more week to train and get better this week before we race again on September 16th. Looking forward to another successful week of training.

Please let me know if you have any questions or concerns.

Thank you,

Logan Kelly
903-821-8399 Cell

Please let me know if you have any questions or concerns.

Thank you,

Logan Kelly
903-821-8399 Cell

A few points to note:

• All of the meet photo albums can be accessed from the Photos page of this website.
• The password for each of the photos albums is the same as the password for this website.
• The SmugMug 'purchase' functionality is disabled (or should be) for all of the photo albums. I think you can get much better pricing from Costco or Target, etc., if you want a physical print of a photo. So just download the photo you want, and then use whatever service you want to print the photo.
• There are no watermarks on any of the photos sizes. But I still find it more flexible to download the original size.
• If you need a larger size, let me know.
• As a reminder, all photos are free for use by boosters, coaches, athletes, LISD publications, etc.
• On this website we refer to 'photo albums', but on the SmugMug website and in the video they use the term 'galleries'. They mean the same thing.

Please contact me if you have any questions: Jim McGuinness (e: dador92@yahoo.com, m: 214-649-8263).

Click here for the race day line up. For this meet we are allowed to enter 10 runners for the varsity team. I know our boys team is VERY deep this year and if I could enter a few more in Varsity I would have total confidence in doing so. Entries for this race were decided from main workout results and our two mile time trial results. Entries will change throughout the season based on race results and workout results.

Please let me know if you have any questions or concerns.

Thank you,

Logan Kelly
903-821-8399 Cell

PLEASE CLICK BELOW FOR KEY DOCUMENTS:

1. WSMS XC HANDBOOK (contains schedule)
2. Booster Club membership form (highly recommend getting involved in our AMAZING booster club!)
3. Spiritwear ordering information: NOTHING is required. These are optional items that are also offered to our high school athletes, and you may purchase as you like. (please note due date of 01-Sep)
4. Yard sign form (also not required)

We will get going with our Cross Country practices tomorrow morning at 7:30 AM. Please read through this email for some important information.

• MORNING PRACTICE DROP OFF — Please drop your child in the back of the school and tell them to enter through the cafeteria door. I usually get to the middle school between 7:00-7:05. We will start at 7:30 sharp at the trophy case in front of the gyms.
• SCHEDULES — There was some confusion regarding schedules. If your child is only in Track/XC, they will be in 1st period athletics. (regardless of grade or gender) If you have questions, please let me know.
• LOCKERS — 1st period athletes received lockers this morning. 8th period athletes will get lockers tomorrow during 7:30 practice time.
• WSMS Trainer Coach Taylor (Spencer)
• PAPERWORK — PLEASE read below regarding paperwork. Your child MAY NOT participate in any practices until all paperwork and athletic physical is complete. They can bring their physical to Coach Taylor (or myself) tomorrow or anytime this week. All other paperwork is online.

THANK YOU, and let me know if you have questions! I can't wait to see our kids and get the season going!!!

Carly Littlefield

• Carson Hockersmith: 2:25 Split on the 4x8/5:31 mile/1:02 split on 4x4. That is a big day and there was very little recovery time between her races
• Ryan Brands: 4:31 mile/9:08 3k
• Brady Laboret: 4:43 indoor mile for a freshman
• Will Muirhead: 4:53 indoor mile for first time under 5:00 after a competitive leg on 4x8
• Emily Gueller: 11:55 3k which would translate to a 12:35-40 2 mile ... great place to start her season out.
• Brad Davis: Taking over the lead in his heat and running aggressively in early season ... I like it
• Preston Tiff: Huge late race surge nearly got him under 5:00
• Whitson Bedell: 5:05 for a huge PR ... will soon be dipping under 5:00 barrier ... for a freshman

We had 9 guys go under 5:00 for the mile yesterday. A private coach from the Austin area came up to me afterwards remarking on our team depth and commenting that that is how dynasties are built ... yep

The rest of the team all ran great as well ... it's always so fun to take athletes up to that meet who are put in uncomfortable, scary situations, and the come through huge. Meets like this go a long way in setting us up for better racing down the line.

Thank you to all the parents who transported our athletes up safely and took care of the meals ... we couldn't do trips like this without you

Run Happy Run Long, Follow Your Arrow

Greg

For Lovejoy we had 7 athletes compete in the meet.

• Colin Engbrock placed 2nd in the Silver Division with a new school record and personal best of 13'6"!
• Grace Ridgeway placed 4th in the Silver Division opening her Junior year with a vault of 10'9". Not a bad start at all!
• Freshman, Michael DesJardins placed 9th in the Bronze division with a personal best vault of 9'9"!
• 8th Grader and distance standout Alex Pedersen placed 10th in the Bronze Division with a personal best vault of 8'9"!
• 8th Grader and Jr Olympic All America, Audrey Bensmiller, placed 6th overall in the Bronze Division with a vault of 9'3"
• Freshman, Carson McFadden, placed 15th in the Bronze division vaulting 7'9". Not bad considering she was not able to practice for 4 weeks prior due to a knee injury in Basketball.
• Freshman, Kylie Harris, placed 16th in the Bronze division vaulting 7'3"! This was her first pole vault competition ever and she did outstanding for her first competition.

Full Results can be found here: http://tx.milesplit.com/meets/259124/results/491679/raw#.WFg1rVMrLIU

We are very fortunate to have the situation we have at Lovejoy for our pole vault program. There are some top notch Division I programs that do not have the resources or coaching that Lovejoy has to offer in this area. It is very exciting to have the opportunity to host unique events such as this one for our kids and program. If you ever have an idea for a new event or to make your athlete's experience better, please let me know. I know that Track and Field is not the most glamorous sport in terms of recognition but creating events like the one this past weekend help our athletes feel that their work is important and is recognized to the fullest. Looking forward to the awesome events we have planned to host the rest of this track season!

Logan Kelly
903-821-8399 Cell

On my run this morning with Emily, I was thinking that in all my years of coaching I haven't felt any better about where a program is currently and where it is headed. Over the years I have been so lucky to have such great asst. coaches who have bought in to get us where we are now ... Amanda Douglas, Josh Allen, Mike Motsney, Stefani Langehennig ... and now Logan and Carly. We wouldn't be here without the work done and, and its going to be a lot of fun to watch the progress of the team over the the years to come ... !! Amanda, Josh, Mike, and Stefani made an impact on the athletes they worked with, and on the program as a whole ... I'm thankful for the work they did ... and the work Carly and Logan are doing currently.

This week we have had at least 2 families looking to move into the district with younger runners, and one thing they mentioned to Stacy Dillon was they were excited to have the chance to be involved in our program ... and with former runner and State Champion Jenna Locklear's wedding this coming weekend, it hits home how fast the time goes by ...

This coming Sunday is the Dallas White Rock Marathon. Carson Hockersmith told me on Friday, that she was again selected by the committee to represent the HS All Star Relay team ... where each member runs 1-2 miles in hopes of beating the overall winner of the Marathon. Coverage I'm guessing will be provided by Channel 8 on Sunday ... When she knows which leg she'll be running I will let you know.

With exams coming up, if an athlete needs the afternoon's workout time to get home and study/prepare for the week to come, that's fine. They just have to make sure to communicate that to their coaches and get their work in at some point ... either before school or during a study break in the evening. This is a crucial time for preparing for the spring track season, and like I said last week, a lot of training gains can be made during the winter build- up phase ...

I hope everyone has a great week to come,

Run Happy Run Long

Greg

... and finally to the athletes: Much like Hallie last night ... words are hard to find to express to you how much you all mean to me and the appreciation I have for all that you do day in and day out to make my dream of a program like this possible. Championships are great and winning seasons are a lot of fun, but to me the most important aspect of this team are the relationships you all have with each other and with your coaching staff ... it is a very special thing and something not every team has. Keep that and hold it close as you move through the program.

Over the Thanksgiving break is when I usually take some time for some deep reflection over the season and look to see where we can make changes to keep this program ever evolving and improving. Change is necessary and inevitable to keep a program on top!!! I'm excited to see the path this program takes over the years to come.

We leave this morning for Houston and the Nike South Region meet. This will be the first time we have taken a team down. Logan, Carly and I feel like this year is a good time as we feel the boys have a legitimate chance to make some noise, and our girls will greatly benefit from the experience to bring back and get our girls team ready for a charge at the podium next fall.

If you haven't seen the Milesplit Workout Wednesday filmed August 31, here is a link:
http://tx.milesplit.com/videos/159878

We talked to the teams about making good choices in what is tweeted and retweeted, comments in social media, and relationships at school and home. I feel like this team and the program from our administration ----> athletes is a good example of feeding the good wolf.
http://www.firstpeople.us/FP-Html-Legends/TwoWolves-Cherokee.html

I hope everyone has a great Thanksgiving week and if traveling please do so safely.

Run Happy Run Long,

Greg

Practice resumes at 7:30 on November 28th.

Middle school meet at Willow Springs on November 29th. (Info to come).

Grades:

Please remind your child to show me their grades Thursday or Monday. I need to see them before they can attend the meet on Tuesday in Rockwall. They can pull up Powerschool on their phone to show me, or they can print a hard copy and bring that to me.

Pictures:

Pictures are November 15th at 7:30 AM in the Gym. We will take team and individual pictures. Click here for the picture order form.

XC Meet in Rockwall:

We will race in Rockwall at Harry Meyers Park next Tuesday, November 15th. The first race should start at 4:15 PM.

We will depart from Willow Springs at 2:30 PM. Students will be released after 6th period; they will miss 7th and 8th periods. Please remind your student to be proactive in getting their work ahead of time so they do not fall behind.

All athletes will ride the bus to Rockwall. Attached is the travel release form. Please fill this form out and return to me via email or student if you plan to take your student home from the meet. This should be done in advance — not at the meet. Thank you for your cooperation with this.

Basketball/Cross Country Kids:

If your child has made the basketball team, please shoot me an email so that I can give you the practice plan for those students. I have already spoken with several students and parents, but I want to make sure all athletes are on the same page. Thank you for your help with this!

Have a great day!

Carly Littlefield

State Meet Info:

State athletes will have team breakfast at the Tiff's home at 7:30 AM on Friday morning. Athletes will expect to depart around 9:00 AM from the Tiff's home (possibly earlier).

Race day on Saturday: Carson will race at 9:40 AM and the boys will race at 10:20 AM.

All state meet info can be found here including parking fees and spectator ticket fees: https://www.uiltexas.org/cross-country/state

Please let me know if you have any questions.

Logan Kelly
903-821-8399 Cell

Kids who have 8th period athletics will report to the cafeteria rather than the gym.

Students have been given all of this information, but I wanted to let you all know in case they have questions, didn't understand, or missed practice.

Click here for the meet info for tomorrow. Please disregard the registration part... that is for coaches only. We register all athletes for all meets.

Thank you for your support, and please let me know if you have any questions.

Have a great Monday!

Carly Littlefield

NO PRACTICE NEXT Friday, November 11th as coaches will be gone to the State Meet with the high school athletes. (The boys team has advanced to State after dominating at REGION!! Carson Hockersmith will represent the girls team by qualifying as a top 10 individual at the Region Championships!!)

Meet Info:

We are having our HS XC athletes helping out during our meet on Tuesday, but we would love to have parents involved if you would like to do so!

Here are some examples of jobs you can do, if you so desire! As I said, we do have athletes to help, but I have had a few people ask if they can help out as well ... which is great!

• 1 - Back Up timer — operates the stopwatch with print out
• 1-2 - Tag Collectors — Collects tear off tags to bring to me in order
• 1 - Clock Starter — Starts the finish clock for each race
• 1 - Race Packet Collector — Someone to sit at the table and collect the race packets with score cards from coaches
• 3-4 - Race Tag collectors —Make sure the kids tear off tags from bib and they are placed on the string in order
• 2 - Hand out Place Cards — Hand out place cards to each finisher in the order they finish - runners turn cards into their coach
• 2 - Hand out Ribbons — Hand out ribbons to top 10 finishers in each division at finish
• 4 - Shoot workers — Making sure all runners that finish stay in order of finish through finish shoot
• 11 - Course Monitors

Pictures:

Friday, November 18th at 7:30 AM

Carly Littlefield

On a side note: A good omen for us going into the State meet. The team from my home town, Hugoton, KS. won both the boys/girls state of Kansas XC titles this past weekend. Go Eagles ... !!!

Greg

We use the winter season to make a lot of progress in our program. This is a time when the younger runners, fresh off the success of a fall season, are often very motivated to run and improve. Best done by an increase in weekly mileage over what we did with them in the summer because of the cooler running temperatures. We seldom have a problem with an unmotivated athlete here. They either get on the bus or get left behind and find their way to another sport or activity. But like I said, that has rarely happened here because for the most part, our athletes come to us from other programs and for a lot of them this is the end of the road athletically. Then they see the value of the work we do and their successes soon follow. Our program isn't perfect and we are continually tweaking it from season to season, and we try to accommodate the athlete's strengths and weaknesses, while keeping the integrity of the team intact.

Tomorrow I will send out a Region outlook/schedule.

Greg

The race time for the team has been moved back to allow for easier facilitation for parking. That will also make it easier for those not racing Saturday to get registered for Bradley's race early Saturday, and make it out to Lynn Creek Park to support the team at 12:00/12:30.

The weather is again this week a little warmer than I would like for this time of year, so we will be stressing staying hydrated through the week. Not overdoing anything, but keeping up with all the little things. Sleep is a big one ... so please reinforce that this week at home. I feel like both teams are right where we expected them to be early this summer ... we have to be able to finish out races from here on out and rely on our training and believe in what we have done up to this point.

Let me know if there is anything I can do this week for your athlete.

Run Happy Run Long

Greg

Physicals — Paperwork:

Any athlete wanting to participate in track must have current physical, LISD athletic paperwork, drug policy agreement form, and IMPACT test completed. If you need help with this please let me know.

Track Schedule:

Click here for the Tentative track schedule. Outdoor competition will begin on 2/25/17. We will have a total of 5 outdoor meets (Varsity & JV) this year not including District, Area, Region, and State.

For those who like to plan ahead, Note that the Arkansas Indoor Meet is the expected meet date. It has not been officially posted on the Arkansas athletic website. I have 10 athlete rooms reserved at the Staybridge Suites directly across the street from the indoor facility (1577 W 15th St, Fayetteville, AR 72701). Rooms are reserved for 1/13/17 & 1/14/17. Parents will need to reserve their own rooms if you plan to attend. This meet is typically for our varsity level athletes due to the level of competition there. I will send out more info in the near future regarding this meet.

The meet on March 9th — Argyle Relays — may change. I am currently looking for another option for our sprinters and field event athletes on this date.

Please let me know if you have any questions.

Thank you,

Logan Kelly
903-821-8399 Cell

We are expecting to have Carson go out and battle for the District individual title. She is healthy and running fast right now. I don't think there is anyone in the District who can hang with her. Team-wise, we will need to match up with HP and go head to head. They have 3 girls who will be up close to the front ... and their next 3 won't be far back. It will be a huge task for us to take them down, but not undoable. If we can run close to them on the hills, I feel like we will have a shot. Their depth is their strength. We just might surprise them though.

Varsity Boys:

Our boys are the best team I have ever coached ... !! We are not only deep, but very fast and healthy now. They have never lost their top ranking for the season. On the line will be 9 years of undefeated titles for Varsity and JV.

Grant has the nod to go for the individual win. He will have a tussle with the Royce City runner, but Grant's experience and fitness should serve him well. We have talked to the team about running as a pack and demoralizing the rest of the teams. Nothing is scarier than to look around and see 6 guys from the same school running comfortably as a pack. We have Ryan Spruell back healthy and Logan and I expect to see all 7 in the top 10.

JV Girls:

Highland Park will have close to 160 girls in the race. I feel that the talent level of our JV girls will be a tough foe. We feel like we can bring home the JV girls title as both individual and team. Avery Silliman who has been racing Varsity will be racing her way back to the mix and she will be a tough girl to handle Friday.

JV Boys:

We will field our best JV boys squad ever. We could probably give the Varsity group the day off and the top JV boys could win the Varsity division ... that's how deep and fast they are. You will see some very talented guys in the JV division ... Will Muirhead, William Godfrey, Trevor Joiner and Christian Sutter have will lead the way on Friday to extend our streak ...

Schedule for the Day:

[see time schedule above]

We are in charge of tearing down the course so we will be back to LHS around 1:00 or before.

For the top 10, they will continue to prepare for Regionals next Saturday. The remainder will have the option to continue training and take their break with Varsity, or begin next week.

If you have any questions, please let me know ...

Greg

Here is how we approach the racing at the District meet:

• The most important thing is to qualify out to the next round of racing at Regionals.
• At District the top 3 teams, and top 10 individuals qualify to Regionals
• Our boys have NEVER been defeated at the District level ... Varsity or JV. We will want to keep that string intact since 2007 when we first fielded full Varsity/JV teams ...
• We have a strong chance to have the individual girl and boy champion ...
• The main thing however is to qualify through to the Regional meet on the 29th.

Next week mid week I will send out a District 15-5A outlook and what to look out for.

Workout Tomorrow:

Tomorrow is an early release day so if weather allows (thunderstorms expected) we will have an early morning Threshold starting at 7:00am. The athletes should be at the park/warmed up and ready to start the Threshold at 7:00am. We will bus those who need the transportation back to the HS after the workout.

Everything else is going exceptionally well ... and I want to mention a few athletes:

• Alaina Pierce: She is new to the sport having left volleyball and has only been running for 3 weeks, and has impressed me very much in her willingness to work and effort in the workouts
• Avery Silliman: Probably pound for pound our most improved runner from last year to this year. She has been battling a few nicks and dings, but if healthy will make a huge impact for our Varsity girls
• Brady Laboret: One of the top freshmen in the State. He gains confidence every workout and race. He will be someone to watch over the next few years as he continues the Lovejoy Legacy
• William Muirhead: Another Freshman who is just learning the sport. Just on the cusp of breaking 17:00.
• ... and of course Carson Hockersmith and Grant Tiff have been the lead runners for the teams all year ...

Leopard Friday:

We will have a tent in the courtyard tomorrow for the festivities. I'm not sure how the weather will impact the plan, but if you have a chance, please stop by and say hello ...

Let me know if there is anything I can do/or not doing enough of to better your athlete's XC experience,

Greg

Dinner:

Athletes have some favorite places they like to go out to in Fayetteville, but there is also a restaurant or two within walking distance of the hotel for them. In the past, the parents have gotten together for a dinner out as well.

Race Day:

We will need to leave the hotel around 6:00 am to get to the Agra Park and get set for the first race at 7:30 am. We will stay at the meet until the University races are complete. Abby Tedford (Lovejoy alum 2014) will be racing for Arkansas so we'll want to be there to support her!!! When we leave, most might want to go back to hotel for shower ... etc. before leaving. We typically get back around 6:00 or so ...

parking link: http://www.chilepepperfestival.org/race/race-day-parking/

race schedule: http://www.chilepepperfestival.org/race/schedule/

Cost:

The athletes are responsible for their share of the hotel ... ($41.00). Race registration/race gear is totally up to them. I think though if they pack items for snacks/lunch that will help defray some of the costs.

Non Peppers:

We will have a threshold workout Friday am at 7:00. We will have the bus at the park to take athletes back to the hs. We should be done by 7:45 or so. Please let me know if you have any questions or if you need anything. I'm looking forward to not only this weekend, but for the race at Southlake as well ... it's going to be a lot of fun. Milesplit will be back with us next week as well for another Workout Wednesday. They have shown one from The Woodlands on flotrack and one from Cedar Park on Milesplit, so our program has evolved quickly over the years to be regarded so highly with those teams.

Have a great rest of your week,

Greg

I want to give my appreciation and gratitude to so many of you for the help and support that you gave to make the Lovejoy Fall Festival such a massive success. Being new to Lovejoy, I have been overwhelmed by the unbelievable support and hard work from the Booster Club and parents. It is truly amazing to see how many of you give your time, efforts, monetary support, and so much more to make Lovejoy XC what it is. If you go to any other Cross Country meet ... simply look around ... You will NOT find the amount of support that we have here. It is tremendous, and I am so thankful and grateful to be a part of a school with the leadership and support from the administration that we have, working with amazing coaches like Greg and Logan, and all of the kids and parents who go above and beyond to make this such a great place to be. We have had numerous coaches, kids, administrators, and parents commenting on how great the meet went ... and it simply could not be done without the help you all provided. THANK YOU!

Official race results can be found here:
http://mychiptime.com/searchevent.php?id=9983

GRADES !!!

The majority of our kids are fine on grades but just a reminder that runners must be passing ALL classes by this FRIDAY in order to remain eligible with UIL rules. Athletes will also need to continue to pass ALL classes by the end of Lovejoy’s grading period to remain eligible with UIL. Those not eligible will not be able to race. Reminder AP classes and Pre Cal are the only exempt courses. Let me know if you have any questions about this.

Remind 101:

If you have not signed up for Remind101, please do that as soon as you can. This allows me to get information out quickly to you.

• Enter this number: 81010
• Text this message @clittlefie

Practice:

We will resume practice at 7:30 AM tomorrow through Thursday. There will be NO MORNING PRACTICE ON Friday this week, as we 3 coaches will be out with the Varsity runners competing in Fayetteville, Arkansas. First period athletes will go with the off season group as they did last Friday. 8th period athletes will go straight to their first period.

Uniforms:

Please send washed uniforms back tomorrow with your child.

Meet T-Shirts Available:

If you would still like a meet t-shirt for $15 we still have some Larges and XL's available. Let me know!

LLI Golf Tournament:

LLI golf tournament is on October 7th at Heritage Ranch. They are looking for players, sponsors, and raffle items. If you can help with any of these, please check out the flyer at www.lovejoyfootball.com/paypal.html or email Chad Broussard at ccb17@phoenjx-tx.com.

Have a great week!

Carly Littlefield

Stanford XC Video:

I'm not a real big Stanford XC fan, but I think this video sends a good message and has a lot of implications where our program is ... Definitely worth a look-see:

Chile Pepper:

For those attending Chile Pepper go to this link and register in the open 5k/10k ... Registration prices will go up as the date nears. If you want an official time.
http://www.chilepepperfestival.org

Race Results:

There wasn't too much across the state this week that flipped my switch. I think you see that every year this time of year from teams who race most every weekend. It's hard to gear up for a 5k effort weekly, and with the warm temps we're seeing, it's easy to get mentally broken. Our kids are handling the work well and I'm excited to see where we are when it counts!!!

This is the time of year where we need to really focus on sleep/diet/grades ... please be vigilant at home. They should be in bed by 10:30 with the cell phone turned off. A good breakfast and they'll be prepped for a good day at LHS ...

Please let me know if there is anything I can do to enhance your son/daughters XC experience ...

Greg

Help Needed — Parking:

We still need a lot of help with parking especially early in the morning. I will have some of our off season track kids assisting with parking the entire time frame of the event but I am still needing more adults to help with Bus and Spectator parking early in the morning — preferably 6:00 AM – 8:30 AM. After 8:30 AM our off season track kids can handle parking. If you are available to help please sign up here:
http://www.signupgenius.com/go/20f094fa8af23a31-lovejoy/

Please note we will possibly have close to 3,000 runners participating — Over 80 High Schools and close to 30 Middle Schools participating. It will be one of the largest meets in the State of TX. We have two teams from El Paso, one team from Alabama, and one team from Oklahoma. We need your help to make this event a success!

Entries for the Meet:

Click here for the LHS Boys entries for the Meet.

We will depart from Lovejoy High School at 5:00 AM — Please be on time! Coach C, Coach Littlefield, and I will need to be there early to help make sure things are going according to plan.

Please let me know if you have any questions.

Thank you,

Logan Kelly
903-821-8399 Cell

Pole Vault Athletes:

Pole Vault athletes will practice during 8th period on Tuesdays with Coach Buzz. Please plan to stay until around 5:00 – 5:30 to get in the full session with Coach Buzz.

Coach Buzz will also have club practices on Wednesday evenings and Sundays. In order to participate in those sessions athletes should register on his club website: https://sites.google.com/site/dallasvaultclub/home

AND must become a USATF member: sign up at www.usatf.org
When signing up remember to sign up for Texas Express TC 0013 – Southwestern Association 0026.

There will be no charge for Lovejoy athletes to attend his club sessions — just do the following above.

Please let me know if you have any questions.

Thank you,

Logan Kelly
903-821-8399 Cell

Athletes should arrive to the camp at 10:00 AM.

We are guessing they will run around 11:00 (can't know exactly due to the rolling schedule in XC).

Athletes need to check in with me - Coach Littlefield - when they arrive and before they leave the meet. I would prefer that their parent/guardian is there when they leave as confirmation they are safe and accounted for.

We will provide you with a map of the course/site and mark the location where the team will set up camp. There will be older runners (JV/Varsity) to help the middle school kiddos settle in and show them the ropes at the camp site.

Uniforms will be passed out to those competing next week prior to the meet.

Here is the link to the website that contains meet information. You can find course maps, t-shirt information, schedule info, and much more at this link.
http://lovejoyathletics.com/hq/lovejoy-xc-fall-festival/

Spectator Parking:

From Lake Forest Drive please instruct your parents and fans to proceed to FM 1461 and turn right onto CR 165. From 165 turn right on CR 168. Spectator parking will be at the top of the park. By doing this we will alleviate the congestion for the buses. Signs will be present to direct traffic. There will be a horse show at the Show Barns so all spectator parking will be up top. We will try as best we can to shuttle those needing assistance to the start finish area before the racing starts.

Meet T-Shirts will be available for $15 at the park pavilion. Kona Ice snow cones and concessions will be located in this area as well.

Help Needed!

We have a lot of you helping out already ... THANK YOU!!

We will need everyone to take a role. There are 100 teams signed up which equates to 3200 plus athletes plus spectators!

We will have a meeting prior to the festival. Watch for an email with a date and time. Below are some of our needs:

• Course setup on Friday — need approx. 12 people See Greg & Bob B.
• Course Monitors — 30 people — Still need 13 people
• Hospitality/Concessions — Need donations — See Camille J. and Colleen G.
• Parking Assistance — 10 people — Still need 7 people
• Portables Monitor — 1 person needed

Sign up to volunteer at ...
http://www.signupgenius.com/go/20f094fa8af23a31-lovejoy

If you would like to volunteer another service please email Flora Brands — florabrands@gmail.com

Thanks again for all that you do to support our program and athletes! Have a great weekend!

Carly Littlefield

• Katie Ruhala (2013), and UT Austin's XC team were inactive this past weekend. They will next run competitively this coming weekend at UT's home meet, the Texas Invitational (16-Sep).
• Abby Tedford (2014) and Arkansas did not run this past weekend.
• Baylee Webb (2014) and the Lady Choctaws were off last weekend.
• Chloe Tedder (2015) was at it again this weekend as the Southern Miss Golden Eagles competed at the Ole Miss Rebel Yell Invitational. Chloe finished #1 for the team running the 5K course in 19:12.02 as the team took 3rd place. [story]
• Rachel Tedder (2015) also ran at the Rebel Yell Invite finishing #5 for the team in 20:04.00. [story]
• Ariaan Cnossen (2016) got to run at the Justin Cooper Rice Invitational as predicted, but the coaches are still having her run unattached. But she's getting to run and doing well, which as an incoming freshman is what it's all about. She was SFA's 8th woman finisher running the 4.163K course in 16:01.79. [story] [results]
• Will Wise (2016) and the Blue Hose of Presbyterian College went up to Greenville SC this past weekend to compete in the Furman XC Classic. The 8K course was a little long for so early in the season. Will finished #3 for the team in 31:49.70. [story] [results]

Noah Landguth (2016) has withdrawn from Kansas Wesleyan. The decision was mostly for academic reasons, and made without regret. Certainly not an easy choice, but as you'd expect from Noah, it's not something he was going to hem and haw about for 18 months. Better to make the decision and move on quickly. He plans to enroll in Collin College in January while choosing another four-year university.

From a Lovejoy XC perspective, we will get to see Noah around meets more often this fall, and that's always a good thing.

In the wedding bells department, Madi Mitchell (2012) got married to Tim Rendell in Denver CO on Saturday, September 4th. She is the first of three 2012 grads from the XC girls squad who will get married this year. Oh and Conner Day (2010) has announced his engagement to college sweetheart, Natalie Becker, who was also a Kansas Jayhawk harrier, and roomed with Coach C's niece Cori. The wedding is schedule to take place next April in Arizona.

Madison Sutter (2016) came to the Gerald Richey to cheer on the team last Saturday. She's currently attending Collin College and working.

We have rooms set aside for the athletes at the Staybridge Suites in Fayetteville. Athletes will be responsible for race registration, hotel, meals, etc. However we will speak to the Booster Club to see if some of the costs can be offset. We want all the boys to register for the "OPEN 10K" and the girls to register for the "OPEN 5K" unless we have spoken to them about the 10K. We will leave at 9:00am on Friday the 30th, and return Saturday evening. We will have a team meeting on Friday night to revisit our Taos sessions to evaluate where we are progress-wise this season. For those not attending we will want them off this weekend so to get rested up for their race at the Southlake meet, which will be the last opportunity before entries are due to the District Chairman.

Leopards Getting Attention:

A lot of attention has come the team's way recently as a result of their successful season so far. Milesplit was out a few weeks ago to video a workout, and will return on October 5th to do another Workout Wednesday with the team. The boys were also featured on Milesplit's Monday Minute about their Region Preview race. Most recently Freshman Brady Laboret is now listed as the #5 Freshman in the State. To top it all off, Dyestat.com lists the Boys team as the #33 team in the Nation. We are very pleased with how the girls are progressing as well, and it looks to be a very competitive District meet when they line up against HP on Oct 21st.

Volunteers Needed:

We still can use all the help we can get next weekend for our home meet. We currently have 80 High Schools and 25 Middle School teams. We have shut down accepting any more. One of the reasons our meet is so popular is because of how efficient and well organized it has been over the years. Please chip in and help us keep this meet as one of the State's top "go to" meets.

Thank you for all you do to support your son/daughter,

Greg

Lovejoy XC Fall Festival:

[see article about Fall Festival on this page]

Reading with the Leopards:

These are the tentative dates for Reading with the Leopards:

• October 7: Hart Elem.
• November 4: Puster Elem.

XC/Track&Field Booster Membership

Open House Tonight:

Greg and Logan will be available in the commons area at 7:54 PM tonight.

Have a super week!

Carly Littlefield

Future Tentative Track Dates:

So that you can start planning ahead ...

• Jan 14 — I believe this will be the date for Arkansas HS indoor — but it is not officially posted yet
• Feb 10-11 — Frisco Indoor Meet at the Star in Frisco. Nothing is official yet, but the TTFCA sent an email to all members about this date. So I am almost certain it will take place!
• Feb 25 — McKinney Boyd Track Meet
• March 4 — Lovejoy Track & Field Invitational — home meet
• March 11th — Lovejoy Spring Distance Festival (we will run 800-3200 and steeple) — Meet for sprinters and field event athletes is still TBD
• March 29-April 1 — Texas Relays in Austin — Not sure on official dates for HS races but most likely on the 31st and 1st. We were unable to go last year because it was the week before district - this year it will work so that we can as long as the athlete qualifies.
• April 5th — JV District Track Meet in Mesquite
• April 11-12 — District Track Meet in Mesquite
• April 20 — Area Track Meet — Lovejoy Hosts
• April 28-29 — Regional Meet at UTA
• May 11-13 — State Track Meet in Austin

I have not added any other track meets as of yet — most coaches won't post meet dates until November or December.

Thank you,

Logan Kelly
903-821-8399 Cell

Lovejoy XC Fall Festival:

Lovejoy XC Fall Festival We can use any parent support as possible for this event! This is the biggest fund-raiser that our booster club hosts to support both the Cross Country and Track teams. We currently have over 80 high schools and 24 middle school teams signed up! One area of need right now is help with parking. We will need help for bus parking and spectator parking directors. If you are interested in helping please let me know or sign up here:
http://www.signupgenius.com/go/20f094fa8af23a31-lovejoy

Reading with the Leopards:

These are the tentative dates for Reading with the Leopards:

• October 7: Hart Elem.
• November 4: Puster Elem.

Booster Membership:

Booster Membership Please consider joiner the booster club if you have not already done so. We strive to have 100% membership so that you are informed and help make our program stronger. At last week’s booster meeting we had 41 High School families signed up. That is about 50% of our high school XC team.

Open House Tonight:

Greg and I will be available in the commons area at 7:54 PM tonight.

Let me know if you have any questions.

Thank you,

Logan Kelly
903-821-8399 Cell

We are continuing to see good work from the team as they settle into this phase of work to be done until early October. The guys have found a solid 8-10 guys who are in a lead pack every workout. The girls are improving as well as their confidence grows each week. Carson Hockersmith has her first chance to toe the line in her first race back from her stress fracture. I still stand by my prediction that they will be a force at the Conference and Region meets ... then on to State!!

We have talked to the teams about staying together through the 2 mile mark and racing as a pack. Grant will be cut loose to race Adamson's Armendariz, but we want to see the guys/girls packs grouped up as long as we can (without sacrificing performance — but I think we'll see them gain confidence seeing everyone around them and have good days.)

Some Sad News/Good News:

Bryan Diebel with Milesplit emailed today that his car was broken into and the vandals took all his equipment including the flashdrives with our workout on it he recorded. He said the footage was awesome, so he wants to come back for another shoot later this month ... (so that's good news as the kids will be geeked up for another good workout :)

Region Preview Race:

With a round of ACT testing this weekend, we will have a few of our Srs out. Thankfully on both sides we are deep enough to fill in and have a productive meet. The University divisions are first up at 8:00 am and its a rolling schedule from there. I would allow a little over an hour for travel and parking. Also be prepared to pay $10 for parking ...

Coaches Kelly and Littlefield will be sending out their respective rosters. This is a bit of a smaller meet and we will expect a good race from Coppell and The Colony teams. Travel safely to the meet if you go.

Greg

Booster Club Meeting:

[see article on this page about First Booster Club Meeting]

Lovejoy XC Fall Festival – Help Needed!

[see article on this page about Lovejoy XC Fall Festival]

Please let me know if you have any questions.

Thank you,

Logan Kelly
903-821-8399 Cell

Practice this Week:

Tonight will be our last 7 PM practice of the season. Starting tomorrow (Tuesday) athletes will practice during 8th period. Athletes will come down to field house, change and meet for team meeting. Once the team meeting is completed we will ride the bus over to Celebration Park for our workout. Athletes will need to picked up at Celebration Park. Most practices should end around 5 PM.

UTA Gerald Richey Meet — Saturday 9/10/16:

Here is a link to the meet info:

http://grfx.cstv.com/photos/schools/txar/sports/c-xc/auto_pdf/2016-17/misc_non_event/RicheyBlazing2016.pdf

This meet does offer a 5K for parents if you are interested – read through the meet info for details.

We will email out entries and departure times for this meet on by Wednesday this week.

Booster Club Meeting — Tuesday 9/6/16

The next booster meeting will be Tuesday September 6th at 7 PM in the LHS Lecture Hall. We will be planning the details of our XC Fall Festival. All are welcome.

(September 12th Planning meeting for the Lovejoy XC Fall Festival — CANCELED — this is the same night as open house as the high school. We will re-schedule and let you know the date.)

Lovejoy XC Fall Festival — Help Needed!

[see article on this page about Lovejoy XC Fall Festival]

XC Team Social for Parents and Runners — Saturday 9/10/16

[see article on this page about LHS XC Team Social]

Only 10 weeks away from the State XC Meet!!!

Please let me know if you have any questions.

Thank you,

Logan Kelly
903-821-8399 Cell

Some ideas of what to bring ...

Please RSVP to Camille by Thursday to let her know how many are coming and what you can bring.

Booster Club Meeting:

The next booster meeting will be Tuesday September 6th at 7 PM in the LHS Lecture Hall. We will be planning the details of our XC Fall Festival. All are welcome.

(September 12th Planning meeting for the Lovejoy XC Fall Festival — CANCELED — this is the same night as open house as the high school. We will re-schedule and let you know the date.)

Lovejoy XC Fall Festival – Help Needed!

[see article on this page about volunteering for the Fall Festival]

Team/Parents Get Together

[see article on this page about 10-Sep evening get together at the Joiners]

We will get the race roster and all meet information on the Gerald Richey Invitational out to you by Wednesday.

I hope everyone is having a great Labor Day weekend.

Greg

• Katie Ruhala (2013), now a redshirt junior at UT Austin, is looking forward to a healthy XC season this fall. The Lady Longhorns ran 5 freshmen and 2 sophomores this weekend at the Stephen F Austin SLC Preview in Nacogdoches. Alas, Katie Bell and UT's seasoned runners stayed home and and will not run competitively until UT's home meet, the Texas Invitational (16-Sep).
• Abby Tedford (2014) is academically a junior at Arkansas, and fully recovered from her freshman year foot injury. The Lady Hawgs competed at Oklahoma State's Cowboy Duals this weekend in Stillwater OK, and handily defeated the OSU Cowgirls, but alas Abby did not run with the team.
• Baylee Webb (2014) is a junior Physics major at Mississippi College, which is now fully transitioned to the NCAA Divion II level, and will compete in the Gulf South Conference. The Lady Choctaws hosted their season opening MC Season Opener meet this weekend. Baylee finished #4 for the team and 11th overall with a time of 16:56.00 for the 4K as the Choctaws took 2nd place. [story] [results]
• Chloe Tedder (2015) had a quiet season last fall for the Southern Mississippi Golden Eagles. Her sophomore campaign is expected to be much more active. USM competed at the Warhawk XC Invitational in Monroe LA this weekend. Chloe finished 10th overall in 21:17 as Southern Miss won the women's 5K race with a perfect score of 15. [story]
• Rachel Tedder (2015) saw even less action than sister Chloe last fall, but competed with the team at this weekend's Warhawk XC Invitational. Rachel ran a strong 22:02 finishing 14th overall. From a booster perspective, it is great to hear that Rachel is back out on the course competing with the team. [story]
• Ariaan Cnossen (2016) is an incoming freshman at Stephen F Austin University in Nacogdoches TX. The Lumberjacks hosted the SFA SLC Preview meet this weekend. As is typical for a home meet, SFA ran everyone, but only its 7 most seasoned runners were registered as running for the team. This meant that Ariaan and several of the other Lady Jacks ran as "unattached". But Ariaan was SFA's #5 finishers — unattached or otherwise — and should therefore get to travel with and start for the team at its next meet (Rice on 09-Sep). She ran the 2-mile course in 12:07.16 finishing 17th overall in a field of 42 runners. [story] [results]
• Noah Landguth (2016) is an incoming freshman at Kansas Wesleyan University in Selina KS. The KWU Coyotes compete in the NAIA's Kansas Collegiate Athletic Conference. The Coyotes ran in the Bob Timmons Dual Classic this past weekend in Lawrence Kansas, former stomping grounds of both 2010 LHS grad Conner Day, and Coach C's niece Cori Christensen Todd. But the coaches only ran 7, so incoming freshmen like Noah sat this one out.
• Will Wise (2016) is an incoming freshman at Presbyterian College in Clinton SC. The "Blue Hose" compete in the NCAA Division I Big South Conference. The team opened its season this weekend running at the University of South Carolina's Challenge meet in Columbia SC. Will got off to a fast start this season finishing #4 for the Blue Hose with a time of 18:20.48 and helping his team to a 3rd place finish. [story] [results]

In the wedding bells department, Michael Jones (2013) married his very long-time sweetheart (since 8th grade), Megan Baranski, at the First Baptist Church of Allen on May 21st. The Wedding party included Lovejoy XC/Track alums Kyle Davis, Austin Kruzich and Patrick Jones and current team member Collin Jones. The couple is living in Fayetteville AR while finishing their senior years at Univ of Arkansas, anticipating graduation in May 2017.

From the DESK OF MR. MESSER: Athletic Drop Off Before School:

I know that mornings can be hectic, please help us with athletic drop-off in the morning by pulling forward as far as you can to keep the flow of traffic moving. Our goal is to unload 6-8 cars at a time in the courtyard, rather than just one. As you approach the courtyard, please continue to pull forward to the end of the metal awning to unload. This will allow cars behind you to move forward and unload 6-8 at time. Also, please remember that there are two drop off lanes in the morning to enable a steady flow of traffic. Thank you for your assistance with this to ensure everyone has a safe and smooth drop off.

PRACTICE:

Practice will remain the same — every day M-F with a 7:30 start time.

Please remember that 1st/8th period athletes will do supplemental work during the athletic period. This helps them to get extra work on overall athleticism — strength, core, agility, running mechanics, etc. Kids have been doing a great job of following procedures and improving!

REMIND101:

If you have not already, please sign up for the remind101 in case of quick cancellations due to weather. If you ever have questions or notifications - please shoot me an email rather than using remind101.

• Enter this number: 81010
• Text this message: @clittlefie

As always, please let me know if you have any questions! Thank you for your support!

HAVE AN AWESOME LABOR DAY WEEKEND!

Carly Littlefield

Booster Club Meeting:

The next booster meeting will be Tuesday September 6th at 7 PM in the LHS Lecture Hall.

If you have not joined the booster club please consider joining! We strive to have 100% participation. Click here for form.

Lovejoy XC Fall Festival — Help Needed!

We currently have 81 high school teams and 19 middle school teams signed up for Cross Country meet at Myers Park in McKinney, TX on 9/24/16. This is the biggest fundraiser/event that our booster club will host all year. Regardless if you are a track or a track/xc parent all funds made from the meet go back to support both the track and xc teams. We will need your help to make this meet a success! Click here to sign up to help with the meet — there are lots of volunteer positions available!

If you would like to volunteer even if a spot fills up or volunteer another service please email me and Flora Brands — florabrands@gmail.com

Please let me know if you have any questions.

Thank you,

Logan Kelly
903-821-8399 Cell

Girls Race:

Former District rival Prosper who is a preseason #3 will be at the meet tomorrow along with McKinney North and a couple Frisco schools (Liberty/Wakeland). As far as XC experience go we fall short with these teams. However, what we see daily in workouts and especially in our top 7-10 girls, as the season progresses and their confidence grows, I believe we will be a team to watch out for late season. Our talent level in the girls is higher than it has ever been. We are just young and green, but that all changes when the gun goes off tomorrow. I will want the girls to go out conservatively for the first 800m or so to get the feel of the race. From there on it will be up to instinct and desire to finish out the race. Here are a few of the many girls who have impressed me in workouts over the past few weeks.

• Noelle Franz: Coming from basically a hurdler in track to XC. What we like about her is her competitiveness. Now that she is safe in knowing anything over 400m won't kill her, I expect her to have a great season.
• Olivia Bullock: former VB player/current team trainer. Her weeks are jam packed with football workouts and XC workouts. She has managed her strength well to be consistently in the top of our workouts.
• Shaelyn Ballard: our most experienced racer. We will rely on her leadership to keep everyone calm on race day.
• Emily Gueller: Our fastest returning 2 miler from the spring. She has the talent to be one of our top racers for a 5k.
• Avery Silliman: She has had the biggest improvement of anyone from last year to this year!!! She has worked so hard to get where she is and I'm excited to see her scoot tomorrow.
• Freshmen: Reagan Matacle, Sofia Estes, Lily McCutcheon, Lacy Pelkowski, and Heidi Fischer have been up in our lead group consistently every workout. I'm excited to see what they do tomorrow in handling race day jitters.
• Zoe Bessa and Paula Delfin: 2 new comers to the team: Paula, a freshman from California, Zoe incoming freshman new to running have also shown steady improvement all summer and are making big leaps in their training.

Boys Race:

As pre-season #1 we will be on everyone's radar (which is no different than any other year). I'm hoping Wakeland's boys will be there. We will see Prosper, Allen, Plano's ... and North. It will be a good early season test for us. The course will be pancake flat with a lot of turns. The State course has been revamped as well with hairpin turns so this will be good for us to work on through the season. Grant is on everyone's radar as an athlete to watch ... but I feel like we are far from a one-trick pony.

• Ryan Brands: A 4:24 miler from this past spring, I'm hoping he can make that same jump to the longer distances. If he can — we will be very good.
• Brett Pedersen: Sophomore who is always fun to watch on the course.
• Ryan Spruell: I feel he has made a big mental jump in the workouts this summer. Always talented, I feel his confidence has grown.
• Nathan Hartter: A Senior looking to have the season he has wanted the past 3 years. Always a hard worker and most solid "Character" on the team. His leadership will take this team far.
• Brady Laboret: Incoming freshman who has shown to be a huuuge addition to the team. I'm anxious to see him show what he can do tomorrow.
• Bradley Davis: Rarely has an off day. He's one of those guys who if I were racing, I would be keeping an eye on ... very dangerous closing out races
• Zane Edwards: A new move-in from Missouri. His 8th grade times put him right with Brady, and in just a few workouts has positioned himself in our top 10.

Before each race I will try to highlight athletes who are doing well and impressing the coaches (if your son/daughter isn't mentioned this week, don't worry. If they aren't doing as we ask we will have spoken to them by now :) Simply for the sake of space I will try to limit it to 5-8 athletes each time).

Our workouts are going very well and we just want to see the same type of results on the race course tomorrow. Remember: Be loud and supportive of all Leopard racers on the course ... !! We will talk more specifically today about how we want the teams to race tomorrow.

Pre-race Dinner/Breakfast:

For those new to racing, I would advise not doing anything different. There is no real benefit to a huge pasta dinner for a 5k. I would recommend whatever they are most comfortable with. For tomorrow morning, have them eat a little something: oatmeal, bagel, fruit, toast. Just a little something to take the edge off, but not so much to where they're full. You might want to send a post-race snack with them ... but we should be back around 11:30 if not earlier ...

See you all in the morning,

Greg

What to Look for Race Day:

Girls Race: We will have several girls experiencing their first HS race running in the Varsity division. So we will be relying on our more experienced team captains to help them out on the course making sure they don't go out too fast too early. We hope to have all of our top 7 in the 20:00-22:00 range. This race will give us a good indication of what we will have for racers going forward. On the boys side we feel we could have a good day. We would like to see our top finishers in the top 10 and all the rest of the pack not far behind.

Race Directions:

The Plano meet is held at Jasper High School ...

6800 Archgate
Plano, TX 75024

... it should take about 30 min travel time.

Thursday Weights:

We will be lifting tomorrow morning. If your son/daughter needs to be dropped off, they can shower in the fieldhouse locker rooms after. We will make sure all needing access to the locker rooms have a locker and lock today.

Team Pictures:

We will take the team and individual pictures tomorrow at 6:00pm ... these usually take about 45 min to an hour to complete ... then we will workout after.

Friday Workout:

We will workout Friday during 8th period. This will allow them to get home/do dinner/and bed early.

Spirit Wear Forms:

Order forms [with payment] are due on Monday. Try to get them to us earlier if possible so we can circumvent any issues before they are due on Monday.

I think that's about it for now ... it's been a long time since I've been more excited for a racing season to start than I am for this season ... I think you'll be pleased with our results.

Greg

Athletic Paperwork:

If you do not have the LISD Athletic Packet with Physical completed and turned in — it needs to be turned in ASAP. You can not workout until it is turned in.

Other Items:

[see articles on this page related to Kroger Cards, booster club memberships]

Let me know if you have any questions.

Thank you,

Logan Kelly
903-821-8399 Cell

Race Results:

Several schools pertinent to us opened up their seasons yesterday. HP and McKinney North (both boys/girls) raced at Hebron Friday nite:
http://tx.milesplit.com/meets/244484/results/459657/formatted#.V7nKSvkrLcs

Prosper raced at Birdville:
http://tx.milesplit.com/meets/241734/results#.V7nKyvkrLct

If you look at these results, and compare them to our time trial results, we match up very favorably ... Frisco's meet was weathered out yesterday, so I would expect them to be entrants next weekend at Plano ...

Coming Up This Week:

omorrow with the start of school, we will not have weights on Monday/Fridays. We will now shift to Tues/Thurs 7:00-8:15 to provide the additional rest day before racing on Saturday. 8th period this week athletes will report to the fieldhouse where we will meet in the meeting room. After the meeting athletes are free to go and then assemble at the park at 7:00pm.

Thursday are team pictures. We will get a uniform to anyone still needing one this week.

Saturday is the Plano Invitational held at Jasper HS. Thursday I will send out meet information/race times/directions etc.

Managing Back to School:

• Sleep: Athletes should be in bed no later than 10:30 with computers, cell phones off
• Nutrition: A breakfast is important to refuel after 10-11 hours of no food. Fruit/bagels/oatmeal/eggs ... all good options. Do not go to school w/o eating a breakfast !!! Bring a simple snack for mid morning and afternoon too. When we shift back to workouts 8th period after Labor Day, it will be important to not eat large lunches.
• Hydration: Bring a water bottle and drink at least one in the am and one in the pm.

The first week back is a bit of an adjustment, which is one reason why we keep the evening workouts in the rotation. With this being also a race week, we want to emphasize sleep and nutrition for good performances.

Refer to Carly and Logan's emails for Boys/Girls specific information ... Have a great week and let me know if there is anything I can do to help out ...

Run Happy Run Long

Greg

Where to go the first day during 8th period?

XC/Track athletes will report to the Field House Meeting Room. Athletes will walk to the field house next to the stadium. This is the same building where the trainers are located. The meeting room is located on the east side (right side of building).

Team Pictures on Thursday:

Team pictures for XC will be this Thursday (8/25/16) at 6:00 PM @ Celebration Park. If you need an order form please see me this week. If you do not have your uniform – BOYS see Coach Kelly. GIRLS see coach Littlefield.

We will do a recovery run after we take team pictures.

Practice this Week:

We will continue to practice at Celebration at 7 PM until after Labor Day. Greg will email details for workouts this week.

Plano ISD Meet — Saturday:

We will race on Saturday 8/27/16 in Plano at Jasper High School for the Plano ISD invitational. Racing will begin at 8 AM — VG, VB, JVG, & JVB. We will send a separate email with all the details (bus departure, entries etc.) for this meet mid week.

Spirit Wear:

Reminder that Spirit Wear order forms will be due on Monday 8/29/16. Athletes can turn them in throughout the week. Orders after the 8/29/16 date will NOT be accepted. If you need an order form please see me this week.

Racing results from the North Texas Area:

Highland Park and McKinney North both competed last night at the Hebron Friday Night Hawk Invite. You can find results to here:
http://mychiptime.com/searchevent.php?id=9948

Prosper competed at the Birdville Meet. Results can be found here:
http://www.txrunning.com/archives/8135

Other meet results throughout the state can be found here:
http://tx.milesplit.com/calendar

The Frisco Invitational that was scheduled for this morning was canceled to the rain that we have received this week. We will wait another week to see what Frisco Wakeland and The Colony are looking like.

Long Run:

Team captains will be getting in contact with runners on when group runs will take place on Saturday or Sunday for their Long Runs. Please make sure that your runner is getting this workout in. It is essential to each runner's progression and one of the best ways you can improve in your running. We have runners do this on their own without the coaches so that they can take ownership in their own training and also build a sense of responsibility for their running success.

Lovejoy XC Fall Festival Meeting:

We will have a planning meeting on Monday September 12th at 7 PM for our Lovejoy XC Fall Festival. We currently have 77 high schools and 15 middle schools signed up. We will need your help so please consider attending this meeting!

Other Items:

[see articles on this page related to Kroger Cards, booster club memberships, and the website updates]

Only 12 Weeks away from the State Meet!

Please let me know if you need anything

Thank you,

Logan Kelly
903-821-8399 Cell

Reminders This Week:

• Thursday 11th: Season Opening Meeting @ 7:00 pm in the LHS Lecture Hall — we will distribute uniforms at this meeting so make sure you are there if you would like the size that you prefer. We will also handout our Fan Cloth order forms for you to purchase your team spirit wear. Click here for a sneak peek of the Spirit Wear items.
• Monday 8th – Sunday 14th: Spike Week at Luke's Lockers. 20% discount on all XC spikes. All runners need to have XC spikes for races. There is a difference between Track and XC spikes. I recommend the Nike Zoom Rival XC Spike. Let me know if you have any questions about this. This can be a bit confusing to those new to the sport.
• Saturday 13th: Team 2-Mile Time Trial 7:00 am @ Celebration Park — All runners are expected to be there for the time trial. This will give us the best indication where each athlete is in terms of running fitness and will help us going forward in determining workout paces etc.

Let me know if you need anything.

Thank you,

Logan Kelly
903-821-8399 Cell

I'm sure there are also just as many studies that will debunk these studies, but over the years I have definitely seen a mental benefit as well on race day. A lot of times we might be racing at 9:00-10:00 in the mornings, long after the cool temps have burned off for early trainers, but it can feel like a cool day for us — boosting our race day performances because of the cooler temps. The State meet is a prime example. Some years it can be relatively warm in Austin mid November ... we usually have an advantage.

It will be warm this evening, and we will get our first session of mile repeats in this evening. We will have a great workout, and this first big workout of the summer will set us apart from almost every other program. Again its important to stress coming to the workout ready to go mentally, and ready to go by being hydrated enough for the conditions (there are also studies showing the benefits of working out dehydrated, but we don't want to go there with this age group.) We will do 3-4 mile repeats on a 3 minute recovery, which will increase to 5 by early October on a 4:30-5:00min recovery. The shorter recovery keeps them from overdoing their repeats, and as we get more fit and are ready to go anaerobic, the recovery becomes longer and the repeats faster ... setting us up for some exciting racing in late October/early November.

Thanks for all you're doing at home (nutrition, sleep habits) to support our training,

Greg

We will offer the 2000M Steeplechase! We encourage you to enter more than 3 runners in this event if you would like so that we can boost participation. Only the top 3 will be scored. Points are scored as varsity only but JV runners may enter this event. We are looking forward to hosting this event and hope to build some excitement for this event in the years to come.

Teams Attending: Bridville, Colleyville Heritage, Dallas Jesuit (Boys), Forney, Hampton Prep (Girls), Hockaday (Girls), HSAA, Lovejoy, Prosper, St. Marks (Boys).

Individual entries: Nick Butts (Whitesboro) - 3200M and 1600M

Registration: Athletic.net by 8:00 PM on 3/2/16

Scratch Meeting at 7:30 AM - We will provide donuts and bagels in team meeting room of field house

Coaches/Worker Lunch 11:00 AM -1:00 PM - Firehouse Subs and our booster parents will provide lunch in the team meeting room of the field house.

Please make checks payable to the Lovejoy Track & XC Booster Club NOT Lovejoy ISD. Click here for our booster club’s W-9 form if that is needed.

Meet T-Shirts will be for sale at the meet for $15. Shirts will be grey with meet logo. Please let your athletes know in case they would like to purchase a meet shirt. Click here for a sample.

Athlete/Coach Entrance: Visitor gate entrance (east side of field house).

Team Camps: Teams may camp in the visitor bleachers. Tents can be set up in the grass area south of the visitor bleachers. No camps on infield. Note that there is not a lot of room to camp under the bleachers because fencing blocks off the majority of this area.

Field Event Areas: Field event areas will be roped off and we ask that parents/spectators stay outside the roped off areas.

Pole Vault: this will be held in our indoor facility. Absolutely no food or colored drinks allowed in indoor facility! Athletes and spectators can enter through doors indicated on the attached map.

Please let me know if you have any questions (903-821-8399 Cell).

Logan Kelly

Good Morning WSMS XC Parents/Athletes,

Our next meet is tomorrow Tuesday, Nov 17th at Harry Myers Park in Rockwall. The address is: 815 E. Washington Street, Rockwall 75087. There are two different entrances to the park and we will be at the 2nd entrance, by the frisbee golf course. Look for the 3 Lovejoy buses.

We will leave WS around 2:30 and drive through Wylie.

Order of races:

• 4:15 7th boys
• 4:30 7th girls
• 4:45 8th boys
• 5:00 8th girls

As soon as the 8th girls cool down, we will clean up and head for WS. Estimated arrival time back to WS: 6:30. Please be waiting on the bus. I will send a Remind text when we leave Rockwall and I will ask the kids to call/text a parent to let them know we are on the road. If you plan on taking your child after the meet, please fill out the travel release form and send it back to me today.

Weather:

There is a small chance that Rockwall will cancel due to rain or the park being too muddy. If they cancel, we will still run.

If Rockwall cancels:

• I will send a Remind text as soon as I hear
• I will send an email as soon as I am finished teaching
• We will go with Plan B so our kids can have an opportunity to run
  Plan B:
  Run at Celebration Park. 4:00 All boys and 4:15 All girls

I'll send more detailed information about our Plan B, if Rockwall cancels.

Remind App:

If you haven't signed up, please send a text to 81010 with the message: @wsxc, This is a one way form of communication. I can send a text about last minute changes or information from anywhere.

Workouts this week:

• Tuesday-NO practice because it's meet day. 1st period athletes will have study hall with Coach Kelly in the cafeteria. 8th period athletes not attending the race will workout with off season.
• Weds-7:30 practice is optional for our 8th graders. Weds is Service Learning for all 8th grade and groups will leave WS at various times. Some 8th graders will not have time to workout, shower/get ready, and leave for their day of service.
• Thurs-Fri- 7:30 practice and workout during the period.

Upcoming Meets:

• Dec 1st @ Celebration Park
• Dec 8th @ Harry Myers Park in Rockwall

Please let me know if you have any questions.

Thanks,

Coach Jungmann

Monday:

• 10X200M – Finish around 5:00 PM (weather permitting)

Tuesday:

• Pole Vault – Finish around 5:00 PM
• Sprinters - 2 miles +Strides – Finish at 4:15 PM
• Mid Distance – Recovery Mileage
• I will be out for the Middle School Cross Country meet this day.

Wednesday:

• Pole Vault – finish around 5:00 PM
• Sprinters - Speed Maker Workout – Finish at 4:15 PM
• Mid Distance – Speed Maker Workout + 3 Miles Easy

Thursday:

• Hurdles – Bring Spikes
• Sprinters – Intro to Block Starts – Finish by 5:00 PM
• Mid Distance – Recovery Mileage

Friday:

• Hurdles – Bring Spikes
• Sprinters – 2X800M
• Mid Distance – Fartlek Workout

Please let me know if you have any questions 903-821-8399

Thank you,

Logan Kelly

Ideas for Santa:

If you're wondering what to have Santa bring your runner there are several ideas:

• running watch. Doesn't have to have GPS but they need a watch to get splits
• Tights/warm weather gear. We have cotton sweats we can check out but beanies/gloves/tights are good to have.
• New shoes. If their trainers are in good shape, a lightweight flat they can use for speedwork would be great. Typically racing flats are less expensive than trainers and give the runner a "fast feel" on the track.

Workouts this week:

• Mon - Fri: Mileage
• Sat: off/Recover
• Sun: Long uptempo

Let me know if you have any questions ...

Run Happy Run Long

Greg

Distance Runners:

You all will still train with Coach C. and he will continue to email out about those specific workouts for the week.

Spikes:

If you already have a pair of spikes great! If you do not it might be a good idea to go ahead and purchase a pair. We will begin workouts using block starts, relay handoffs etc. soon so spikes will benefit those athletes.

You can purchase spikes online on East Bay, First To The Finish, or Runningwarehouse.com. The best option is to go to Luke's Locker, Dick's Sporting Goods, or Academy to try on the spikes and know that they fit you correctly.

Athletes in 100M-400M events will want to purchase a sprinters spike. These spikes will be labled with an S - meaning sprint spike. - A popular spike is the Nike Zoom Rival S.

Athletes in the 400-800M events can purchase a Middle Distance (MD) or Long Distance (LD) spike. - A popular spike is the Nike Zoom Rival MD

Distance Runners (800M - 3200M) will want to purchase a Long Distance (LD) spike. - A popular spike is the Nike Zoom Rival LD. Nike also makes several other light weight distance spikes that you might prefer but they will be more expensive.

Schedule for the Week:

• Monday
• 11X200M – should be completed around 4:45 – 5:00 PM
• Tuesday
• Pole Vault OR Speed Maker Workout - Sprinters will finish at 4:15 – Vaulters will finish as normal.
• Wednesday
• Off due to Early Release day – Pole Vault may attend afternoon session with Coach Buzz. I will let you know the time with I confirm with Coach Buzz.
• Thursday
• Completed by 4:15 PM.
• Hurdlers – workout with Coach Ella
• Sprinters – Intro to block starts – Bring Spikes if you already have them
• Friday
• Completed by 4:15 PM
• Shakeout Run + Strides

Please let me know if you have any questions or concerns 903-821-8399.

Thank you,

Logan Kelly

• Marissa Pekarek (2011) did not race with the Longshorns on Saturday, October 31st at the Big 12 Championships held on OSU's course in Stillwater OK. The women finished 6th as a team, and will compete next at the NCAA South Central Regionals.
• Matt Markert (2012) finished #1 for the UT Tyler Patriots and 1st overall at the American Southwest Conference Cross Country Championships, which was hosted by UT Tyler. Matt ran the 8K course in 27:36.00. UT Tyler took 1st for both the men and women. [results] [story]
• Katie Ruhala (2013) has officially been red-shirted for this season. This gives her two more years of XC eligibility.
• Abby Tedford (2014) did not race with the Razorbacks on October 30th who won the SEC Championship held on Texas A&M's course in College Station. This is the 3rd consecutive SEC women's championship for Arkansas. They will return to College Station for the NCAA South Central Regional.
• Baylee Webb (2014) and the Mississippi College Choctaws will not race again until the NCCAA championships on November 14th.
• Chloe Tedder (2015) did not race with the Southern Miss Golden Eagles at the Conference USA Championships held in Bowling Green KY. The team placed 4th and will compete next at the NCAA South Regionals. We did finally get a team bio photo of Chloe.
• Rachel Tedder (2015) did not race with the USM women's team at the Conference USA Championships. But we finally got a team bio photo of Rachel.

Elizabeth Gienger and her mother Nancy were at Region to cheer on the team. Elizabeth (LHS class of 2010) was the first girls XC captain at Lovejoy, and the first girl to win a Varsity letter in any sport. Elizabeth doesn't compete in many races, but says she still runs almost daily. She is enjoying the working world in New Orleans and has no plans for graduate school.

Kensey Berry also checked in. Now a junior at Brigham Young University, she has been named one of the track team's captains. She is also represents the track team on BYU's Cougar Council, which works with the school to develop and administer athletic rules, regulations, and policies.

Click here for this year's alumni photo album.

• Friday:
• 7:30 - 9:00am : Breakfast at Joiners (might leave earlier if all are ready)
• 11:00am : Stop at Nike Outlet in Hillsboro to stretch legs
• 11:30am: Leave for Waco
• 12:15pm: Lunch at Schlotzky's in Waco
• 1:00pm: Leave for Austin
• 3:00pm: Arrive at Sleep Inn Round Rock
  1980 South IH-35
  Round Rock
  (512) 246-6000
• 3:30pm: Leave for course for course study/shakeout
• 4:30pm: Load up to go back to hotel
• 6:00pm: Leave for dinner @ Buca di peppo
• 9:00pm: Arrive back at Hotel
• 9:15-9:45pm: Team meeting in my room
• 10:00pm: Lights out
• Saturday:
• 7:00am: Wakeup/breakfast at Hotel
• 8:45am: Leave for course
• 9:15am: Arrive at course/unload
• 10:50am: 5A State Girls Championship
• 11:30am: 5A State Boys Championship
• 12:15pm: Awards
• 1:00pm: Pack up and leave course
• 1:30pm: Post race meal at Rudy's
• 6:00-7:00pm: Arrival back at LHS

Athletes will want to bring extra money for anything they want at Nike Outlet/race shirts etc. Meal money will be provided.

Link to UIL website: www.uiltexas.org/cross-country/state
race schedules
course maps
spectator parking/meet information

What to Watch For:

Girls Race: We are hoping to get Ariaan in the top 20. At the region meet she beat a girl from The Colony by over :20 who placed 28th at last year's State meet. She has improved week to week as her confidence has grown along with understanding how to train/race. It should be a great race for her.

Boys Race: To be a podium team, we feel like we will have to have several of our guys up in the top section, but the real importance will be to keep our 1-7 split back down to under :45. If we can do that and have our times in the 15:45-16:25 range, which is totally possible with this group, we should be in the hunt. Of course, the course conditions will be interesting and can affect how some teams race as well ...

If you're driving down, please be careful and once at the course be loud !!!

Greg

Meet tomorrow at Celebration Park:

The athletes will be dismissed from class at 3:00 and we will head to the park by 3:20. Rockwall and Royse City will be joining us.

• 4:15 7th boys
• 4:30 7th girls
• 4:45 8th boys
• 5:00 8th girls

Please pick up your son/daughter after the meet at Celebration Park. The buses will not be coming back to WSMS. Please encourage your son/daughter to pack: water, gatorade, healthy snacks, and sweats. We will "camp" as a team, please respect the athlete camp and allow them to prepare for their race.

Parking:

We will park at the tennis courts (across the street from Curtis MS). Please look for our 2 Lovejoy buses and you will find us close by.

Meet Results:

I'll send meet results out around lunch time on Wednesday.

Workouts this week:

• Tues-NO 7:30 practice
• Tues-1st period will meet in the cafeteria at 8:55 for study hall
• Tues-8th period not attending the meet will workout with off season
• Weds-Fri 7:30 practice and core/stretching during the period
• Mon-7:30 practice

Please sign up for our one way communication text:

• Send a text to 81010 with the message: @wsxc

This will allow me to send last minute instructions/information.

WSMS XC Handbook:

Click here the handbook because we have many new members to our team for this winter season.

Upcoming Meets:

• Nov 17th @ Harry Myers Park in Rockwall
• Dec 1st @ Celebration Park
• Dec 8th @ Harry Myers Park in Rockwall

Thanks for your support,

Coach Jungmann

If a runner does not have a watch please make sure you are bringing a watch to each workout. We had several athletes without watches last week - this is very important on our main workout days. A $10-$20 watch from Wal Mart or Target will work great. No need for a fancy GPS watch unless you really want that.

• Monday: 2 X 800M @ Celebration Park
• Tuesday: Pole Vault @ LHS OR 2 Mile Run + Strides @ Celebration Park
• Wednesday: Pole Vault @ LHS OR Speed Maker Workout @ Celebration Park
• Thursday: 12 X 200M @ Celebration Park - Will keep you posted on the weather. Possible change in schedule if weather is bad.
• Friday: Easy Run at LHS - done by 4:15 PM

If there are changes in the above schedule regarding Pole Vault practices and weather - I will keep you posted.

Please let me know if you have any questions. 903-821-8399

Thank you,

Logan Kelly

I will be sending out a detailed itinerary on Wednesday ...

Workouts This Week:

• Monday: recovery/buildups
• Tuesday: 800's
• Wednesday: recovery
• Thursday: Spirited recovery/buildups
• Friday: travel day/course study
• Saturday: Texas State Cross Country Championships

Notes for the week:

• Tuesday: booster club meeting

Run Happy Run Long

Greg

• Marissa Pekarek (2011) did not race with the Longshorns on Saturday, October 17th at the DI Pre-Nationals on the EP Tom Sawyer Park course in Louisville KY course where the DI National Championship races will be held. This Pre-Nat features brutal competition including 9 of the NCAA DI top 30 ranked women's teams. The Longhorns only ran 6, and finished 40th out of 45 teams.
• Matt Markert (2012) finished #1 for the UT Tyler Patriots and 8th overall at the South/Southeast NCAA Regional Preview hosted by Shenandoah University in Winchester VA. Matt ran the 8K course in 27:10.4. [results] [story]
• Katie Ruhala (2013) did not run at the Pre-Nat in Louisville on October 17th. Since the Longhorns only ran 6, they may be holding the 7th spot for Katie hoping she'll be healthy once the championship races start.
• Abby Tedford (2014) has not raced since the Chile pepper, but did make an appearance at the UIL District 10-5A Championships last Monday. The Arkansas women (currently ranked 4th) competed at Wisconsin Adidas Invitational on October 17th in Madison WI and finished 2nd to New Mexico (currently ranked 1st).
• Baylee Webb (2014) and the Mississippi College Choctaws have been busy, so much so that they probably deserve their own alumni report covering the past 3 weekends. First, Mississippi College hosted the Watson Ford Invitation on October 9th. Baylee finished #4 for the Choctaws running the 6K course in 25:23.08. [results] [story]
  Second, the team hosted the Choctaw Open, and Baylee ran the 5K course in 20:36.1. If you're thinking that Mississippi College competes in a lot of meets, they do. [results] [story]
  Third, the team competed at the Gulf South Conference Championships in Danville AL where Baylee again finished #4 in a time of 20:11.44 for the 5K course. The Choctaws will join the GSC next fall, so for them this year's GSC Championships were simply preparation for the NCCCA championship season. [results] [story]
  
• Chloe Tedder (2015) did not race with the Southern Miss Golden Eagles at the Crimson Tide Classic in Tuscaloosa AL on October 16th.
• Rachel Tedder (2015) did not race with the USM women's team at the Crimson Tide Classic.

Despite the fact that Baylee Webb ran in 3 races the past 3 weekends, we weren't able to get a single photo of her in action. There is a post-race group shot of her and the Choctaw team which can be found in this year's alumni photo album.

We did get sideline photos of Abby Tedford, Kendall Joiner ('14), and Mike Jones ('13) at the District Championships. And Natalie Malliet ('11) again popped up, this time running a half marathon at the annual IMT Des Moines Marathon in Iowa on October 18th. Natalie ran the 13.1 miles in 1:41.7 finishing 85th out of 2,994 women runners.

Women's Outlook:

We have impressed on the girls that they have a very good chance of qualifying out, if they will all get out and race a full race. There are I would say 6 schools with legitimate claims for the 4 positions to go to state. Forney/Prosper/Liberty/The Colony/North/Lovejoy ... With our 3 heavy hitters up front, the 4 girls behind them have to do a great job of reducing the split. I feel they are ready to do it.

The top 4 teams, and the top 10 individuals who are not on a qualifying team, will make the trip to Round Rock.

Men's Outlook:

I feel we are in a very comfortable position, but we will not be taking anything for granted. With the anticipated conditions, we will have to get out faster and better position early then what we did at District. Monday, I thought the ran a very heady race in not going out too fast and then moving through the hills. At Regionals, with the mud it will be difficult to pass late so we will want to get established up front and let the mileage base work for us.

I see Wakeland/North/Hallsville/Wylie/The Colony as contenders....but there will be others who will be dealt with as well.

The most important thing is to qualify out ... but winning the Regional title will give us a boost going into the 12 days before State.

Race Day Schedule:

• Depart: 7:00am
• Girls race start: 11:00am
• Boys race start: 11:30am
• Awards: 12:15pm
• Anticipated arrival back at LHS: 2:00pm

If I hear anything from UTA about the course or race updates, I will have Logan tweet them out and I will keep you updated via email ...

Greg

Schedule for this week:

• Monday - 12-13 X200M at LHS Track
• Tuesday - 2 Mile Run + 4 Buildups @ Celebration Park OR Pole Vault at LHS
• Wednesday - Speed Maker Workout @ Celebration Park OR Pole Vault at LHS
• Thursday - 2 X 800M @ Celebration Park
• Friday - Hurdles @ LHS Track OR 2 Mile Run @ Celebration + 4 Buildups

Please let me know if you have any questions or concerns 903-821-8399.

Thank you,

Logan Kelly

I hope you're ready for our winter season! We begin our 7:30 team meeting/practice in the morning and know the kids are ready! Please remember to drop them off in time to meet at 7:30.

• 1st period athletes: 7:30 practice and their core/stretching workout will begin at 8:40.
• 8th period athletes: 7:30 practice and their core/stretching workout will be during 8th period.

We will continue our 7:30 practices every morning from October 20th until December 7th. I will let you know the schedule each week, in case there's a day when we don't run at 7:30.

Winter Season Meets:

• Nov 10th @ Celebration Park
• Nov 17th @ Harry Myers Park in Rockwall
• Dec 1st @ Celebration Park
• Dec 8th @ Harry Myers Park in Rockwall

Running Order:

• 7th boys 4:15
• 8th boys 4:30
• 7th girls 4:45
• 8th girls 5:00

(except the Dec 8th meet, all races will be pushed back 15 minutes, so 4:00, 4:15, 4:30, and 4:45)

From Jim McGuinness:

Jim is our website/photographer for WS and LHS XC ...

Pictures from the Lovejoy XC Fall Festival have been uploaded to the online photo gallery (link below, password "trecho").
dador.smugmug.com/galleries/52304141_NMQg9x
Thanks, Jim!

Winter Season Transition Meeting:

This meeting will take place Friday, November 6th during athletics (1st and 8th period). Athletes will meet in the main gym and we will not have workout this day.

Please let me know if you have any questions.

Thanks for your support,

Coach Jungmann

Pole Vault workouts have been going well and those athletes are making good progress according to Coach Andrews. This week we will start hurdle workouts for our hurdlers. We will work on hurdles for those athletes once per week until Cross Country season is over then we will do two hurdle workouts per week.

Grades:

Friday will mark the end of the grading period for 1st 9 weeks of the school year. Please make sure that you are passing all classes. Please do not miss a workout in the afternoon for tutoring unless it is absolutely necessary. Tutoring should be scheduled in the morning so that a workout is not missed.

Schedule for the Week of 10/13/15

• Tuesday – Pole Vault @LHS OR
• Wednesday – Pole Vault @ LHS OR 2 Mile Run + Buildups @ Celebration
• Thursday – 13-14X200M @ Celebration
• Friday - 2 Mile Run @ Celebration OR Hurdles with Coach Ella @ LHS (Will not be released at 4:15 PM)

Dates to Mark on your Calendars

• February 15th – 16th – Arkansas Indoor Track Meet - will send our more details this week hopefully
• February 23rd – Lovejoy Texas Express Indoor Pole Vault Meet – this will be in our indoor Facility
• February 20th – Chris Givens Relays – Wylie HS – First track meet of the year
• February 27th – McKinney Boyd Bronco Relay – Ron Poe Stadium in McKinney, TX
• March 5th – Lovejoy Invitational – Home Track Meet (Will need parent help!)
• April 6th & 7th – District Track Meet in Wylie
• April 21st – Area Track Meet in Little Elm
• April 29th & 30th – Region II 5A Meet – Arlington UTA
• May 12th – 14th – State Track Meet – Austin, TX

We will run 2-3 more track meets in the season. Still waiting for more meets to get posted to lock in those dates.

Please let me know if you have any questions 903-821-8399

Thank you,

Logan Kelly

Workout Schedule:

• Today: banger
• Tues: am weights/recovery/buildups
• Wed: Milers
• Thurs: am weights/recovery/buildups
• Fri:4's n 2's
• Sat: recovery
• Sun: shakeout

The weather looks to be great for good racing next Monday.

Run Happy Run Long

Greg

• Marissa Pekarek (2011) and UT Texas hosted the Longhorn Invitational at Balcones Country Club in Austin. Marissa finished the 5K course in 20:23.20 as the Longhorns took 1st place in both the men's and women's races. [results] [story]
• Matt Markert (2012) did not compete at the East Texas Invitational — UT Tyler sent its "younger runners" to the meet. Matt's father Bill did race, however, at the Chile Pepper. No slacker, Bill passed on the Open 5K and instead ran the longer Open 10K. He mentioned that Matt's goal again this year is to qualify for Nationals — he was 6 seconds short last fall. Matt graduates next May and is looking to pursue a graduate degree in Economics, perhaps at SMU.
• Katie Ruhala (2013) did not race at the Longhorn Invitational this past weekend.
• Abby Tedford (2014) made her debut on the Arkansas XC course in Fayetteville at the Chile Pepper. Abby has been recovering from a foot injury suffered early in her freshman year, and has finally stepped back onto the racing stage. She is being red-shirted again this year as she works back from the inury. Her performance in the Open 5K (19:39.54) looked strong. In particular, her form was exceptional — better than when she ran for Lovejoy, which is saying a lot. Her parents, Kim and Chris, were on hand. The Arkansas women easily won the Collegiate Women's 5K (and the Razorback men won the Men's Collegiate 8K).
• Baylee Webb (2014) and the Mississippi College Choctaws did not race last weekend.
• Chloe Tedder (2015) did not race with the Southern Miss Golden Eagles at the ... wait for it ... Chile Pepper. Freshman don't get to travel to Arkansas apparently.
• Rachel Tedder (2015) did not race with the USM women's team last weekend.

Kendall Joiner ('14) again joined the Lovejoy travel crowd at the Chile Pepper and competed alongside the experienced Leopards in the Open 10K. As always his form looked impeccable as he ran the course in 35:33.08.

Click here for the 2015 alumni gallery. A lot of alumni photos were added this past week.

I wanted to provide you with 3 articles which I feel do a great job of explaining what we are doing right now and why.

1. Lactate Threshold Training: This article is a little bit "sciency", but explains why we did so much work through the summer and what our tempo/threshold runs to to enhance what we are doing now.
2. How much rest between intervals: This article explains why during intervals at this time of year we want to keep the rest periods short as we're running fast. This changes from workout to workout during different times of our training Macrocycle.
3. How to race fast on Race Day: Muscle Tension: This is a great article by Steve Magness which explains the importance of doing something a little bit uptempo the day before an important race. And since we race so infrequently - all of them are important. : )

In looking at the race schedules of most of the schools we will be facing, by the time they get to the Championship rounds of racing will have raced up to 7 or 8 races. We will be on our 4th XC race. I think this is explained very well by Wisconsin's coach Mick Byrne who has raised a bit of a stink in the NCAA. His team went to a "preview" race on the NCAA course and he instructed his runners to basically tempo the race to get a feel for the course and not to "race" it. Here is a link to his explanation. I agree with him in principle in that you don't need to race a lot of races during the season if you want to have enough bullets in the chamber at the end of the season.

Saturday workout:

We will be meeting at Celebration at 7:00am Saturday for an important workout. We will do 2x2miles w/4 min interval, followed by 4x200m w/:30 interval. This will be a good primer for the squads to simulate a race situation.

Monday workout:

We will meet at Celebration at 7:00am Monday for the last Banger of the season. The teams will be doing up to 5 miles at a "threshold" pace. It will be a good workout before they go home for the traditional Columbus Day Dinner and to open Columbus Day presents.

have a great weekend,

Greg

We had a great week of training last week. We completed our toughest workout of the year so far on Friday with the Hill workout. We are gearing up to do more track specific workouts with each week of training. Coach Andrews reports that the athletes practicing with pole vault are really starting to come along as well.

This week we will begin our repeat 200’s workout. This will be high in quantity but low in intensity. As the year progresses we will lower the amount of 200’s we run but increase intensity. Typically we do this work out on Monday, but cross country has a main workout on Monday so I moved the 200 workout to Thursday so that I can focus more on Off Season Track group that day.

Plan for This Week:

• Monday: 2-3 Mile Run + 4 Build Ups @ Celebration
• Tuesday: Fartlek Workout @Celebration OR Pole Vault @ LHS
• Wednesday: 2-3 Mile Run + 4 Build Ups @ Celebration OR Pole Vault @ LHS
• Thursday: Repeat 200’s X 15 – Plan to be at practice until 5 PM
• Friday: Rake Sand Pits @ LHS – released at 4:15 PM

Booster Club Meeting

Tuesday – 10/6/15 @ 7:00 PM in the LHS Library.

Please let me know if you have any questions or concerns 903-821-8399.

Thank you,

Logan Kelly

• Marissa Pekarek (2011) did not race with UT Texas at the Texas A&M Invitational, although the Lady Longhorns did finish 1st.
• Matt Markert (2012) and the UT Tyler Patriots headed to the Northeast last weekend to compete in the Purple Valley Classic in Williamstown MA hosted by Williams College. The meet is considered an elite event for DIII schools. Matt finished #1 for his team completing the 8K course in 27:20.6. [results] [story]
• Katie Ruhala (2013) did not race with UT Texas this past weekend.
• Abby Tedford (2014) and the Arkansas Razorbacks did not race last weekend. They are gearing up for this weekend's Chili Pepper XC Festival.
• Baylee Webb (2014) and the Mississippi College Choctaws competed at the Rhodes Invitational near Memphis TN. Baylee completed the 6K course in 26:59.36. [results] [story]
• Chloe Tedder (2015) and the Southern Mississippi Golden Eagles did not race last weekend.
• Rachel Tedder (2015) and USM did not race last weekend.

A number of alumni popped up at the XC Fall Festival. Austin Gallaway ('11), Kendall Joiner ('14), Sam Ruhala ('15), and Mike Jones ('13) all pitched in to help with the event. Austin graduated from Oklahoma State last December with his engineer degree, and has stayed on to complete his Masters. Mike — now a junior at Arkansas — continues to major in business. He is planning a lengthy mission trip for after graduation and then wants to go on to divinity school for graduate work. Armed with a fire extinguisher and calculator, Kendall is pushing through college calculus in pursuit of an engineering degree from Oklahoma State. Sam is enjoying his first semester at Western State Colorado University, and continues to run for recreation.

Katie Ruhala ('13) and Phi Pham ('14) also made an appearance at the Fall Festival and chatted with Coach C.

In the where-are-they-now category, Natalie Malliet ('11) reports that she graduated in May from Iowa State University, and now teaches 4th grade at Rolling Green Elementary School near Des Moines IA.

Click here for the 2015 alumni gallery (photos to be added throughout the season).

RWTL Friday:

Our inaugural Reading With The Leopards is this Friday at Puster Elementary. Athletes should sign up before workouts on Thursday and plan on being at Puster by 7:15 Friday morning. After reading they will then carpool back to LHS in plenty of time for class.

Races this Weekend:

Saturday we will be running a split group at Jesuit which as I said earlier, gives a lot of our athletes the chance to run at the varsity level ... where they most likely would be if on another team. The weather looks to be perfect for some fast racing ...

Jesuit Meet Schedule:

• 8:00 H.S. 5A - 6A Varsity Boys - 5000m
• 
8:25 H.S. 5A - 6A Varsity Girls - 5000m

• 9:00 JV Boys - 5000m

• 9:30 JV Girls - 5000m
• 10:05 H.S. 4A & Under Varsity. Boys - 5000m
• 10: 30 H.S. 4A & Under Varsity Girls - 3200m

• 11:00 Middle School Boys - 3200m
• 11:25 Middle School Girls - 3200m
• Bus Should arrive back at LHS around 1:00pm

Chile Pepper Schedule:

• Departure: We will leave from the fieldhouse as soon as we all arrive back from RWTL@Puster ... should be no later than 9:00am.
• Lunch will be at Chilis in McAlester, OK
• Once we get to the Hotel around 2:30, we will change and go to the course for a shakeout. Then back to the Hotel, dinner, team meeting and lights out by 10:00pm.
• We will leave after the University races, shower up, eat, and leave Fayetteville by around 1:30 putting us back at LHS by 6-7:00pm.

This is a fun weekend and we always reap huge benefits from it going forward into our Championship rounds of racing.

Tutorials:

We will have our tutorial sessions this evening in the Fieldhouse meeting room from 7-9:00pm.

Greg

This past weekend our booster club hosted the largest Cross Country meet in the state for that weekend. It was a huge success and we hosted over 2,200 runners. Thank you to any parents and athletes who volunteered their time to help with this event! This event helped generate a significant amount of funds that will benefit our track and xc programs.

This week we will continue to building a strong base for track. Next week we will transition more into track specific workouts.

Schedule for this week:

• Monday – 2 Mile Run + Strides @ Celebration
• Tuesday – Speed Makers @ Celebration OR Pole Vault at LHS
• Wednesday – 2 Mile Run + Strides @ Celebration OR Pole Vault at LHS
• Thursday – 1.5 Mile Run + Buildups @ Celebration
• Friday – Speed Maker Workout at LHS – finish by 4:15

I will be out of town on Friday for the Arkansas Chili Pepper Cross Country meet with our varsity Cross Country athletes. Off season track will report to the field house, change and complete the workout on the track. Athletes will be released at 4:15 PM. Coach Baker and Coach Todd (Girls Soccer) will help supervise off season track on Friday.

Please let me know if you have any questions 903-821-8399

Thank you,

Logan Kelly

Although there were some timing glitches which have made me scratch my head on results ... I felt like our kids had great days on the course. The guys ran great and I thought had won. The var girls had a much better day racing and improved alot from last week ... our JV boys once again dominate the field, and there were some performances in JV girls that will give us a boost going forward. But again ... Thank you so much to all of the parents who were walking funny today due to shoveling for 7 hrs yesterday. And to all who got up at 4:00 am to get things rolling at the park today. I am so appreciative as is our Administration. Special thanks to Logan who headed up the banners/getting Txmilesplit on site/registration .. Well done!!

Have great rest of your weekend

Results are on twitter/txMilesplit/lovejoyxctf/lovejoyathletics ...

• www.racechiptiming.com/files/ljff2015r.htm

Greg

Girls Race Focus:

This week I'm hoping to see the girls get off the line quicker and race more competitively from the back of our group. Carson/Ariaan should be out with the lead group and then we will attack from there. But getting out in better position is the key. Several of our District rivals will be there so we want to see how we stack up at the end of our 2nd training phase.

Boys Race Focus:

I want to see complete races from all the guys. No one should have an off day !!!! They are all healthy and they are having tremendous workouts.

Schedule for the day is found at Lovejoyathletics.com. Look for our race banner to click on.

The buses will once again depart at 6:00am ... because we are the host team, we will need to stick around post race and clean up the park ... so I think we'll be back by 1:00 - 1:30.

If you are interested in helping with course set up ... we'll be at the fieldhouse around 9:00am tomorrow.

Greg

• Marissa Pekarek (2011) and UT Texas did not race last weekend.
• Matt Markert (2012) did not compete at the East Texas Invitational — UT Tyler sent its men's B team to the meet.
• Katie Ruhala (2013) and UT Texas did not race this past weekend.
• Abby Tedford (2014) did not race with the Arkansas women's XC squads that competed at the Missouri Southern Stampede last weekend. Arkansas took 1st in the women's 5K with its B team.
• Baylee Webb (2014) and the Mississippi College Choctaws did not race last weekend.
• Chloe Tedder (2015) did not race with the Southern Miss Golden Eagles at the LSU XC Invitational last weekend. The team only took its top 7 women to the meet. USM won 1st.
• Rachel Tedder (2015) did not race with the USM women's team last weekend.

Click here for the 2015 alumni gallery (photos to be added throughout the season).

Spirit Wear:

If you ordered spirit wear from our booster club: Please go to the booster club booth at the meet to pick up your order. Any orders left over will be brought back to WS and I will distribute on Monday.

Workouts the remainder of the week:

• Thurs - normal workout times
• Fri - NO 7:30 practice
• Fri - 1st period athletes: Report to the AUX gym at 8:55. They will not be working out, so dress in school clothes.
• Fri - 8th period athletes: Leadership, so dress in school clothes all day.

Please take all athletic clothes home on Friday. We will not have access to the locker room on Saturday morning.

Upcoming Events:

• XC team pictures by Buzz Photos will be on Thursday, Oct 1st at 7:30 am in the cafeteria
  (click here for order form)
• Jesuit XC Classic Meet will be at Norbuck Park will be on Sat, Oct 3rd

Congrats to Coach C:

Coach C was named LISD Coach of the Week. Please click on the link to learn more about him. We are proud of you!

• lovejoyathletics.com/2015/09/23/coach-of-the-week-greg-christensen-head-cross-country/

Please let me know if you have any questions.

Thanks,

Coach Jungmann

If you have questions please let me know ... Athletes will be responsible for entry fees/share of hotel rooms/meals/incidentals ... $123.99 is the room rate. Room share to be paid to Libby Hartter by next Wednesday.

Thank you,

Greg

Coach Andrews will also have after school club workouts at 5:30 PM on Tuesday and Wednesdays for athletes not in 8th period. Sunday club workouts are at 1:00 PM.

Around Thanksgiving break indoor pole vault workouts will begin and I will send our more info at that time. If interested please let me know.

Official Track Workouts:

Official track workouts will start up when we return from Thanksgiving break. If you are not planing to participate in track please let me know.

Athletes that are in Basketball or any other sport during that time will not start track workouts until their season is concluded.

Volleyball athletes - we will make things work with your schedule like last year.

Softball athletes - we will work around your schedules as well.

Please feel free to contact me with any questions or concerns you might have. 903-821-8399 Cell

Thank you,

Logan Kelly

Please pack:

• Healthy snacks
• Water
• Gatorade
• Please remind your child to wear a t shirt over their uniform.

Estimated start time:

• 7th/8th boys 10:30
• 7th/8th girls 11:00

Please respect the athlete camp site before the races. The LHS runners will give our runners pointers about the race course, they will have time to relax and get mentally ready to run.

The bus will leave the front of WS at 7:00 am and we should return by noon. I'll send a Remind text when we leave Myers Park.

Please click on the link below for any additional information.

• http://lovejoyathletics.com/hq/lovejoy-xc-fall-festival/

Please arrive early because parking will be crowded and the walk is about 5 minutes from the start/finish line.

Click here for the alternate travel release form. Please fill this in if you are taking your child from the meet. Please scan and email to me before Friday.

Workouts this week:

• Tues/Weds/Thurs-7:30 team meeting/morning run/1st and 8th core workout
• Fri-NO 7:30 team meeting or morning run. 1st period athletes will need to report to the AUX for 1st period. They will sit in the bleachers, so come dressed for the school day.

Please let me know if you have any questions about the meet.

The athletes have been working so hard, it will be great to see their hard work pay off on Saturday.

Thanks,

Coach Jungmann

Lovejoy XC Fall Festival Final Planning Meeting:

Tuesday @ 7:00 PM – LHS Lecture Hall. We will conduct a final planning meeting for the Lovejoy XC Fall Festival. If you are available to help for a couple of hours in the morning prior to racing let me know. We need more help with bus parking. Our meet is this Saturday at Myers Park in McKinney, TX.

Pole Vault Workouts:

Any athletes interested in trying Pole Vault or continuing Pole Vault will begin Pole Vault Workouts THIS TUESDAY! Athletes will meet for the team meeting as normal and then go do the pole vault workout with Coach Andrews. These workouts will be conducted at the LHS Stadium. Workouts will typically end around 5:15 PM.

Pole Vault workouts will be on Tuesday and Wednesday of every week from now until Thanksgiving break.

Coach Andrews will also have after school club workouts at 5:30 PM on Tuesday and Wednesdays. Sunday club workouts are at 1:00pm and 3:00 pm.

Grading Policy:

Please click here for the grading policy explanation provided by Coach Puckett. Our grading periods have changed this year so this information is very important for our student athletes.

Hazing Policy:

Please click here for a letter from Coach Puckett regarding Hazing. I have addressed this with the team and there is zero tolerance for hazing. This is not an issue on our team but is something that we want all parents and athletes to understand – will not be tolerated.

Let me know if you have any questions. 903-821-8399 Cell

Thank you,

Logan Kelly

• Marissa Pekarek (2011) and UT Texas did not race last weekend. The Lady Longhorns did, however, step into the national rankings for the first time since 2013: Texas comes in at No. 27 in this week's USTFCCCA Coaches Poll.
• Matt Markert (2012) and UT Tyler hosted their second race in as many weeks. This time the team held the King Campbell Spectacular where Matt finished 2nd for his team and 2nd overall with a time of 9:30.0 for the 2-mile course as the Patriots took 1st place ahead of the other 4 teams. [results] [story]
• Katie Ruhala (2013) and UT Texas did not race this past weekend.
• Abby Tedford (2014) did not race with the Arkansas women's XC squads that competed at the UC Riverside Invitational last weekend. Arkansas took 1st in a nationally prominent race.
• Baylee Webb (2014) ran in Denton last weekend (witnessed by Coach C) as the Mississippi College Choctaws competed in the Ken Garland Invitational hosted by UNT. In here first action since sustaining a concussion, Baylee ran the 5K course in 21:35.27. [results] [story]
• Chloe Tedder (2015) and the Southern Miss Golden Eagles did not race last weekend.
• Rachel Tedder (2015) and the University of Southern Mississippi did not race last weekend.

Click here for the 2015 alumni gallery (photos to be added throughout the season).

The meet is held on the same course as the Region meet at Lynn Creek Park in Grand Prairie. The course is very flat, which we feel will give us a clear indication of how we are progressing. As a spectator, I would advise getting to the course fairly early as there is only 1 road in/out and it gets pretty full.

Our workouts have really been going well...Here are some meet goals we have established for the squads:

Schedule for Saturday:

• 5:45 am: Arrive at Fieldhouse
• 6:00am: Depart
• 7:00am : Arrive at Park
• 7:30am: JV II "race"
• Schedule Rolling Time Schedule (8 a.m. start) 8 a.m. College Women followed by Men High School Division I girls H.S. Division 1 boys H.S. Division 2 girls H.S. Division 2 boys H.S. Division 3 girls (JV) H.S. Division 3 boys (JV)
• We typically get back from this meet around 12:30 - 1:00pm

Fall Festival Planning:

Thank you to all who attended the meeting last night. I feel really good about where we are in our planning. We will have another meeting next Tuesday to double check on all areas to make sure we are covered. More about the Fall Festival will be coming next week.

See you at the races,

Greg

Workouts this week:

• Tues-7:30 meeting/running on the track. 1st/8th period core workout
• Weds-7:30 meeting/neighborhood run. 1st/8th period core workout
• Thurs-7:30 meeting/running on the track. 1st/8th period core workout
• Fri-7:30 meeting/neighborhood run and 2 mile time trial for those needing to get their time under 18:00. 1st/8th period leadership in the classroom.

Grades:

Grades are due to me this Thursday. Please ask your child to print their grades from Power School and bring to practice. I will accept grades Tuesday, Wednesday, and Thursday before our 7:30 meeting or before 8th period athletics. Please don't send me an email attachment with your son/daughter's grades. We want them to become independent and learn about deadlines.

Any student with a grade lower than 80 will need to attend tutorials. Tutorials will need to be scheduled by the student and the teacher. Please don't schedule this during our workout time. 7:30-8:15 and during the athletic period is not a time to schedule tutorials.

LHS XC will run Saturday at UTA:

Our high school runners will run at the Gerald Richey Invitational beginning at 8 am. Good Luck to Coach C, Coach Kelly and the LHS XC team!

Saturday, Sept 26th:

Lovejoy XC Fall Festival at Myers Park in McKinney is our next meet. All WSMS XC runners will be invited to compete in this meet. Please join the booster club and return the volunteer form to me if you haven't already. The booster club members play a huge part in the success of this meet. We need volunteers to set up the course on Friday, and we need many volunteers the day of the race to ensure everything runs smoothly.

Thank you to all that have sent in their membership forms and volunteer forms.

Booster Club membership/volunteer forms/Kroger card:

Below are links to the documents for the above items. Please print, fill out, and mail to Bob Brands or send to school with your athlete and I'll mail them to Bob.

• XC/Track Booster Club membership application
• XC/Track volunteer form
• Kroger Card registration process

Please let me know if you have any questions.

Thanks,

Coach Jungmann

Plan for this week 9/14/15

• Monday: Core/1.5 Mile Run/Strides @ Celebration Park
• Tuesday: Core/Speedmaker Workout @ Celebration Park
• Wednesday: Core/1.5 Mile Run/Strides @ Celebration Park
• Thursday: Core/Speedmaker Workout @ Celebration Park
• Friday: Move Equipment/Bleacher Workout @LHS

Open House:

Open House will be tonight at the High School. For 8th period Track we will meet in the auxiliary gym for anyone wanting to stop by and say hello.

Meeting at 7 PM Tuesday 9/15/16:

Tuesday we will meet in the Lecture Hall at 7 PM for any parents wanting to help with our Cross Country meet that we will be hosting on 9/26/15. We needs LOTS of volunteers and this will be a huge fund-raiser for both TRACK and XC. Please consider helping with this event as we have over 60 High Schools and 20 middle schools attending.

Your help would only be needed for the morning and possibly up until noon that day. If you would like to only help with parking in the morning and then leave that would be great as well!

Thank you,

Logan Kelly

Fall Festival Preparations:

Tuesday evening at 7:00 we will meet in the Lecture Hall to begin planning on organizing Volunteer groups for the XC Fall Fest ... We have close to 62 High Schools and 15 Middle Schools attending, so please come and volunteer for an area to work.

• parking
• course monitors
• concessions
• registration
• tshirt sales
• awards
• chute pushers ...

Lots to do.

Workouts This Week:

• Mon: banger
• Tues: am weights/recovery/buildups
• Wed: Cruise intervals
• Thu: am weights/recovery/buildups
• Fri: shakeout
• Sat: RACE
• Sun: Long

Wednesday I will send out a meet itinerary/roster/schedule ...

Team Posters:

Team posters are in and they look great. Orders for posters are due Friday. This is shaping up to be a very memorable season, so consider a poster to keep as a souvenir.

Competitor Race Results:

As the season is progressing, some teams are not going to races with full squads. But yesterday at the Denton meet I saw Grapevine and Wakeland's boys go head to head ... Grapevine won handily. But I think later down the season we will match up well with both squads ... We will see Wakeland at our meet. McKinney Boyd hosted at Myers where North and Wylie raced in less competitive divisions. There were some surprisingly fast times turned in which makes me wonder how they laid out the course ... But we will also see them at the Fall Fest.

Spirits at the workouts are definitely high now that the heat has abated. I hope everyone has a great upcoming week.

Run Long, Run Happy,

Greg

• Marissa Pekarek (2011) should have finished her collegiate running career last year, but there has never been any quit in Marissa. Since she red-shirted her freshman year, she still has a year of eligibility left, and so she is continuing her education at UT Austin and still running Cross Country for the Longhorns. The team hosted the Texas Invitational last Friday night, and Marissa finished 10th overall running the 3K course in 11:55.36 as the Lady Longhorns took 1st place. [results] [story]
• Matt Markert (2012) is a senior finance major at UT Tyler and a mainstay for the Patriots Cross Country program. The team hosted its annual Braveheart Invitational last Friday night, and UT Tyler narrowly took 1st place out of 10 teams. Matt finished #2 for the team and 6th overall with a time of 17:02.90 for the 5K. Matt's coach, Bob Hepler, gave another one of his pre-race motivational speeches a la Mel Gibson (you can watch the video off the story write-up page). [results] [story]
• Katie Ruhala (2013) sustained a stress fracture, and is not yet competing with the team this fall. She has been working hard to maintain her conditioning with such alternative methods as "aqua jogging". We wish her a speedy recovery.
• Riley Goodell (2014) has transferred from SUNY New Paltz to New York University. Alas she says she is no longer running Cross Country. But she is running for the US Army — she has joined NYU's ROTC program. For those unfamiliar with NYU, it is located on the southern end of Manhattan Island in New York City. It is also highly ranked academically. Sadly this marks our last inclusion of Riley in the alumni report. We wish Riley the best with her new school and with ROTC.
• Abby Tedford (2014) did not race for the University of Arkansas Razorbacks last week as they competed at the Cowboy Preview in Stillwater OK. The team finished 2nd to OSU. Abby wins the tweet-of-the-week award: "i'd rather be in taos".
• Baylee Webb (2014) did not run for Mississippi College this past Friday as the team hosted it MC Season Opener in Jackson MS. The team finished 1st.
• Chloe Tedder (2015) is now enrolled at the University of Southern Mississippi in Hattiesburg MS. The Golden Eagles compete in NCAA Division I as a member of Conference USA. Chloe ran with the team this past weekend in their Southern Mississippi Invitational. She finished 7th for her team, 8th overall with a time of 21:03.72 for the 5K course. The USM women won their race with a perfect score over the other three teams. A great start for the freshman. [results] [story]
• Rachel Tedder (2015) is also enrolled at the University of Southern Mississippi. She did not get to run with the team this past weekend in the Southern Mississippi Invitational.

Click here for the 2015 alumni gallery (photos to be added throughout the season).

Status Update:

Our workouts continue to go very well ... I can't wait for next Saturday to get on the Region course and let the horses go ... it's going to be a fun race. The team is working hard, and they are really seeming to be enjoying the work and each other. Below is a picture from last night's tutoring session. If your son/daughter is needing some additional course help, this is a great option for them ... last night Sr. Captain Brock Bittner was doing a great job of providing Spanish help to several of the younger team members.

Please let me know if there is anything i can do for your son/daughter to make their XC experience the best it can possibly be ...

Greg

Track Sprinting Program at Lovejoy:

Our sprint training at Lovejoy is geared to mainly the 200M/400M type runner. We will have a few train for the 100/200M and some for the 400/800M - but most will train for the 200/400M. We do our best to evaluate each athlete's abilities and then train them to their strengths - what events they will find most success in at the high school level. Our training program is based largely on the principles of legendary 200/400M coach at Baylor, Clyde Hart. We do not follow his training exactly, but we follow the basic principals of his program and gear it to the needs of each of our athletes here at Lovejoy. We implemented this training method this past track season and it payed off a great deal. Many of our athletes broke school records and we had one of the most successful years in Lovejoy Track's history. Below are links to PDF documents from Clyde Hart that describe the principles behind our training program. In addition is a power point slide that Clyde Hart Created as well. In the PDF doc are some sample workouts. We do not follow this exactly but it gives you an idea of they type of training that we do. The main reason I am emailing this out is not the workout examples but because of the philosophy behind the training. I feel that if our runners and parents understand why we do what we do - then they will be more educated on the sport and all can help each other reach their excellence.

• Clyde Hart 200M Training Plan
• Clyde Hart 400M Training Plan
• Clyde Hart Training Program presentation

Plan for the week of 9/8/15

We do not have school today, so enjoy one extra day for the weekend before we really get to work!

As a reminder on Tuesday our workouts will be held at Celebration Park in Allen, TX. Workouts will end around 4:45-5:00PM. Athletes will report to the field house to change into workout clothes (quickly) and then report for the team meeting. We will then travel to Celebration Park. We will have a bus for athletes needing a ride. It is advised that athletes be picked up from Celebration park when the workout is completed.

All athletes should bring a water bottle and running watch to each practice. Also please make sure that all athletes have a good pair of running shoes to train in. This is essential to preventing injuries. If your shoes are from last track season, have holes in them, or are not running shoes - then new shoes are needed ASAP!

Once we arrive at Celebration Park - off season track will complete the core workout with Cross Country. Then Track will warm up and do a separate workout from Cross Country. Once the workout is completed - athletes will warm down and stretch.

• Tuesday - Strength Day + Speedmaker Workout
• Wednesday - 1-2 Mile Run + Strides
• Thursday - Strength Day + Speedmaker Workout
• Friday - 1-2 Mile Run + Stride

Lovejoy XC Fall Festival:

We will be hosting the Lovejoy XC Fall Festival on Saturday, September 26th at Myers Park in McKinney, TX. We will have a parent volunteer meeting on Tuesday, September 15th at 7PM in the LHS Lecture hall. Please help with this event if possible!!! This will be the largest event any sport program hosts this year at Lovejoy and currently have around 50-60 teams coming. This will benefit both TRACK and XC athletes with raising funds for uniforms, equipment, etc. Let me know if you would like to help and feel free to attend the meeting.

Please let me know if you have any questions. 903-821-8399

Thank you,

Logan Kelly

If you would like to bring a side dish, that would be great. Some ideas are ...

Please RSVP to Camille by Thursday to let her know if you want to bring something.

Bring a suit and towel for the pool too.

We will continue to develop our cardiovascular strength by long repeats/hills/Long Sunday runs. In early October we'll begin our speed phase which should then be a lot of fun to see how they respond. Getting greedy with speedwork early is very enticing, but the body can only hold that level of training for 6 weeks or so before it goes stale.

Spirit Sale:

Thank you for your orders of XC gear ... Marlo Ballard tells us we have met our goal, which will generate funds for the growing team.

New Athletic Website:

Lovejoy has a new website promoting Lovejoy athletics. Lovejoyathletics.com. Logan has been hard at work putting together the XC pages. Have a look-see and let us know what you think.

Update Shoes:

we are starting to see some nicks and dings in our athletes that updating shoes will cure. Running shoes should be replaced every 300 miles or so depending on the athlete. At our level of training, that's about every 6-8 weeks. Best case scenario is to have a couple different pair for workouts.

Team Get Together:

Next Saturday the Joiners are hosting a team gathering for parents and athletes. I will send out specifics (time/address/what to bring) by Wednesday. Please an on attending because as the team is increasing in size, this gives everyone a chance to meet each other and put faces together with runners on the course.

Labor Day Workout:

We will be Laboring at 7:00 am tomorrow at Celebration for the Banger workout. If in town, please make every effort to have your athlete present.

Workouts for the Week:

• Monday: banger
• Tuesday: AM weights/recovery
• Wednesday; fartlek
• Thursday: AM weights/recovery
• Friday: threshold
• Saturday: rest/recovery
• Sunday: long

I hope everyone is having a safe/restful weekend ...

Run Long Run Happy

Greg

We go through this each year when we make the shift from evening to afternoon workouts. Believe it or not, I was actually "smarter" this year in that we didn't make the change the week of our first meet. Last year we made the shift the week after labor day ... With our first meet being so much earlier this year, it made sense to make the switch this week - last year we had to suspend the mile repeat workout on Wednesday of the meet week because the temp was 101.

It will take a few days for them to adjust diets and energy levels, but they should be fine by late this week. Coach Kelly and I will watch them closely ... Again ... If done correctly, I feel the physiological and psychological benefits of working out this time of day, outweigh the early morning workouts where the temperatures may be optimum, but safety can be an issue late in the season with the darker morning light. We'll get through it fine ... and now they have all evening for homework/early bedtime ...

Greg

We go through this each year when we make the shift from evening to afternoon workouts. Believe it or not, I was actually "smarter" this year in that we didn't make the change the week of our first meet. Last year we made the shift the week after labor day ... With our first meet being so much earlier this year, it made sense to make the switch this week - last year we had to suspend the mile repeat workout on Wednesday of the meet week because the temp was 101.

It will take a few days for them to adjust diets and energy levels, but they should be fine by late this week. Coach Kelly and I will watch them closely ... Again ... If done correctly, I feel the physiological and psychological benefits of working out this time of day, outweigh the early morning workouts where the temperatures may be optimum, but safety can be an issue late in the season with the darker morning light. We'll get through it fine ... and now they have all evening for homework/early bedtime ...

Greg

Social Media Ban:

Like some of the University programs across the nation, we are instituting a Social Media ban for the team from commenting on Facebook/Twitter/Snapchat/Smoke signals ... about our team races/workouts. I love the fact they are passionate about the team and its accomplishments. But what they put out might not be the view of Logan or I or the rest of the team. And since what is posted is permanently out there, even if erased, for the rest of the State to see. We want our program/school/athletes/parents/coaches represented with pride, and what is posted is a representation on all of us.

Workouts for the week:

• Monday: Banger
• Tuesday: Am weights (small weightroom by gym) Recovery /buildups
• Wednesday; Hills (nondrivers will be bused to Hill area and can be picked up at CVS.)
• Thursday: Am weights/Recovery /Buildups
• Friday: Threshold
• Saturday: Rest/Recovery
• Sunday: Long

The focus for the next few weeks will be an increase in our Banger/Long run distances ... This is where we can make the biggest training gains ...

Greg

Spirit Wear:

Please don't forget to check out the website for all the spirit wear gear. We are providing the athletes copies of the order forms and spirit wear packets. All orders are due this Friday, Sept 4th. Please make checks out to: Lovejoy XC/Track Booster Club. Checks/order forms may be mailed to Mrs. Ballard or turned in to Coach Jungmann.

Booster Club Membership/Volunteer Form:

Please don't forget to fill in the booster club membership form/volunteer form. Our booster club does so much for our program and they need your help. They are gearing up for the Lovejoy XC Fall Festival Meet on Sept 26th. We will be asking for volunteers to help before, during, and after the meet.

Athletic Paperwork:

Thank you for staying on top of the athletic paperwork that allows your son/daughter to workout/compete. There is just a handful of athletes that are missing pieces of their paperwork and I'll send individual messages to those involved.

Website:

• www.lovejoyxctf.org
• username = harrier
• password = trecho

Thanks to Jim McGuinness for all he does for this booster club website. He gives race analysis, commentary, and he takes pictures of all our runners.

We have a new district wide website for all things athletics and I'll get the WS cross country page up to date this week.

www.lovejoyathletics.com

Follow Lovejoy XC on Twitter: @lovejoyxctf

Coach Kelly does an outstanding job of giving up to date information during a meet. If you are not on Twitter, don't worry ...

Send a text to 40404 with the message
follow @lovejoyxctf

This will allow you to get live information in the form a text message.

Please let me know if you have any questions about the week ahead. Looking forward to a productive week of training and work in the classroom.

Thanks,

Coach Jungmann

What to look for in the girls races:

Varsity: I haven't seen the venue before but the race description calls for mowed grass, hilly, challenging. If that is the case the times might be a little slow, but I feel like we have 3 girls who should be in contention for the overall win or at least top 10 finishes. Then I would like to see some of our girls really step up and have great races. I would like to see our girls all score in the top 20-30 places. I feel like we are running that well and we have the kind of depth to do it.

JV: Because our Varsity squad is very deep, so is also our JV ... and I feel like we should win this division as well ... I would like for the girls on the JV to post some times to make the Varsity girls uncomfortable ... competition for the spots makes for a healthy team ...

What to look for in the boys races:

Varsity: I fully expect our guys to race like the team they are showing in workouts ... if we do, we should walk away both individual and team champions. Justin Northwest will be at the meet and they are currently ranked #7 in the State (all classifications) Lovejoy is #10. It will be a fun race to watch two early season heavyweights go at it. We should have 3 guys up near the front, and our remaining squad shouldn't be far behind. I would like to see less than a 1:00 split from our 1-7 runners.

JV: Most of our JV guys would be running varsity at other schools, so I feel like we should dominate the JV division as well ...

Race Day Reminders for Athletes:

• Come to the bus dressed to race. A Lovejoy tshirt over your singlet, and some cover shorts will be good, since it will be warm ... no sweats needed. Remember to bring spikes ... replacement spikes will be provided if needed.
• Bring enough water for your own personal needs.
• If racing in the JV division, a snack of fruit/energy bar is advised.
• Warm up/cool down with team mates.
• Bring a picnic style lunch for after the racing.

Race Day Reminders for Parents:

• Please do not approach the team tent until all races are over and Coach Kelly and I have had a chance to talk to the teams.
• Encourage all LHS athletes, not just your own
• DO NOT run along side your runner to encourage them, or call out official race times to them.
• Booster Club will have a tent on the course serving as a meeting spot for parents with coffee and other early morning goodies.
• You are welcome to join us in the picnic if you wish ...
• Your athlete must ride the bus to the meet ... if you have to take them home with you, provide the alternate travel form 24 hrs in advance. You MAY NOT provide a ride for another athlete, only your own even if parents agree.

Its going to be a great day and I can't wait to see the teams perform on the course.

Let me know if you have any questions/concerns,

Greg

• Click here for an image of the clothing and gear catalog
• Click here for an extra order form

Some important notes about placing both types of orders:

• Payment is due when your order is placed. Make your checks payable to Lovejoy XC/Track Booster Club.
• Your completed order with payment must be received by Friday, 04-Sep-2015.
• Mail or deliver your order to ...

  Marlo Ballard
  130 Horseshoe Bend
  Fairview, TX 75069

If you have any questions, please contact ...

• Marlo → m: 469-955-9956, e: 4theballards@sbcglobal.net,
• Betsy → m: 214-674-1254, e: bittmom@sbcglobal.net, or
• Paige → m: 972-832-3125, e: dgmpdm@gmail.com.

Workouts the Remainder of the Week:

**Please note that Friday workout has changed since my last email.**

• Weds-7:30 team meeting/running practice. 1st period athletes will meet with Coach Kelly and 8th period kids will meet with Coach Jungmann.
• Thurs-7:30 team meeting/running practice. 1st period athletes will meet with Coach Kelly and 8th period kids will meet with Coach Jungmann.
• Fri-NO 7:30 meeting. 1st period athletes will meet in the AUX gym with the off season kids and workout. 8th period athletes-will dress out and meet with Coach Jungmann

**Please note that Friday workout has changed since my last email.**

1st Meet-Haltom City Friday, August 28th: The Cowtown Challenge

Our 1st high school meet is this Friday. Coach Christensen, Coach Kelly, and I have invited 15 of our runners to join us for this meet. The runners listed below will need to meet at the Lovejoy High School field house on Friday morning. The bus will leave at 4:45 am, please arrive a few minutes earlier. Please pack healthy snacks, water, Gatorade, and a sack lunch. After the meet, we will have a picnic lunch with the high school team and then head back to WS. Arrival time back to school is around 12:30.

We have a record number of cross country runners this year! Thanks for your support!

Have a great day,

Coach Jungmann

Boys Team:

We are very healthy coming into the season, and Coach Kelly and I are excited to see the guys race. We are very deep in talent, and over the last year, I feel like we've had some guys really improve to the point to where I feel like we have close to 7-10 guys who can go under 17:00. That is by far the deepest, fastest team we have ever had ...

In looking at race results from the first weekend of racing across the state, I was impressed by Prosper's girls, and Wakeland's boys. Both squads are improved over last season (as far as depth) and look to be early on running well.

• Prosper results
• Wakeland results

At the Relays (4 person team each runs 1.5 miles) Wylie improved over last year by 1:38 so they will also be a team we will be on the watch for.

By Wednesday, I will send out meet information and course maps ... Again, the most important thing for the first week of school is sleep ...

This year will be my 30th year teaching/coaching, and there have only been a few that I have been as excited to get rolling to the racing schedule. We are going to be very solid on both teams, and what is fun to see is that we have a lot of kids working hard to get up to the Varsity level and compete for spots ... that only makes the team better. If your son/daughter is registered for XC and has not been attending the summer workouts on a regular basis, I will have them start working out with our off season track squad and then Coach Kelly and I will confer with them as to when we feel they are ready to make the transition. The last thing we want is someone who hasn't been working to come out and try to do the workouts now and then get discouraged/injured. We will be patient with them and bring them along carefully.

Am weights will begin at 6:30 and I will lock the meeting room doors at 7:50. I have to be at the MS by 8:00 so please have your athlete at the meeting room by then. They can shower and then go to the cafeteria for breakfast/tutorials afterward.

We will continue with our workouts in the evenings through this week. If the weather looks as though we are done with the 100's then we might look at moving the workouts to the afternoons by next week.

Please let me know if you have any questions regarding this first week of classes/workouts.

Run Long Run Happy

Greg

• Master of Science in Kinesiology and Health – Texas A&M University-Commerce
• Bachelor of Science in Kinesiology – Texas A&M University-Commerce
• USA Track and Field Level I Coaching Certification
• USA Track and Field/NFHS Pole Vault Coaching Certification
• 2014-Present – Head Girls Track and Assistant XC Coach at Lovejoy High School (2nd Year)
• Cross Country Coaches Association of Texas Board of Directors Region II Representative – Present
• 2011-2014 – Head XC Coach and Assistant Track Coach at Irving Nimitz (6A)
• 2010-2011 – Assistant Track and XC Coach at Texas A&M University-Commerce (Division II)
• 2010-2011 – Graduate Assistant of Exercise Physiology and Biomechanics at Texas A&M University-Commerce
• 2007-2010 – XC and Track athlete at Texas A&M University-Commerce (Division II)
• 2005 Graduate of Anna High School – Ran track and XC for 4 years

New Boys Coach

Our new boys coach will be Tim Denton and we are super excited to have him join Lovejoy! Tim will be able to start working with our Boys program once football season is completed.

For the off-season track program I will be overseeing both the boys and girls teams for off-season workouts.

Where do I go for 8th period Track the first day? Will we workout the first day of school?

We will NOT work out on the first day. When 8th period begins athletes will need to walk to the Athletic Field house down by the track. This is the same building where the athletic training room is located (Not the Indoor Athletic Complex). Athletes will meet next to the field house meeting room on the east side of the field house. We will cover rules and guidelines for Off Season Track the First Day.

Click here for the tentative guidelines and plan for Off-Season Track.

Athletes will need to Dress out starting on Wednesday.

Schedule for Off-Season Track this week

• Monday – Rules and Procedures
• Tuesday – Locker Assignments and Locker Combinations
• Wednesday – Move Track Equipment/Clean Up Track & Field Areas
• Thursday – Move Track Equipment/Clean Up Track & Field Areas
• Friday – Intro to Warm Up, Warm Down, & Stretching Routines

Physicals and Athletic Paperwork

If you did not complete a physical or turn in the Blue Athletic Packet you will need to do this ASAP in order to start any workouts. If you are needing an IMPACT Test we will make sure this is completed during the first week of school before you begin any workouts with the team. If you had a physical or have your Blue athletic packet completed and have yet to turn it in, please turn this in to me tomorrow during 8th period. This is a priority and all paperwork must be turned in before an athlete is allowed to workout.

Booster Club Membership

Please consider joining our Track and Cross Country Booster Club! This is the best way that you can get involved with our program and help it be successful! Membership has a great impact on our program. Membership fees alone provide a great deal for our athletes uniforms, gear, and travel experiences. Click here for the membership form to join!!!

Booster Club Volunteer Form

Click here for the volunteer form for our booster club. This form will help our booster club narrow down which aspects of the program that you can help serve for our athletes.

Kroger Card Program

Click here for instructions on registering your Kroger Card to benefit our Track/XC booster club. This is an easy way for our booster club raise money that will benefit your athlete!

LLI Golf Tournament

The 7th Annual LLI Golf Tournament will be held Friday, September 18th, at Heritage Ranch. The LLI golf tournament is a fund raiser that benefits all of the Lovejoy Sports Programs. Click here for the registration form. [Note: it's important that your registration form indicate that you are supporting the XC/Track programs so that 90% of your entry fee goes towards XCTF.] You can sign up as a foursome or individually. Any sponsorship questions or raffle items to be donated for the Golf Tournament can be sent to Doug Pfaff (pfaff5@sbclobal.net) or Chad Broussard (ccb17@phoenix-tx.com)

Logan Kelly

Schedule for August 24th-August 28th:

• Monday, August 24th
• Students will come to school at regular time and in school clothes.
• 1st period athletes will meet in the gym during 1st period and coaches will go over locker room procedures.
• 8th period athletes will meet in the gym during 8th period and coaches will go over locker room procedures.
• Tuesday, August 25th
• 7:30 workouts will begin for ALL cross country athletes.
• We will meet at the trophy case for a team meeting and then begin our running workout.
• 1st period athletes will begin their core training workout with Coach Kelly during the period.
• 8th period athletes will begin their core training workout with Coach Jungmann during the period.
• Wednesday, August 26th
• 7:30 workout and core training during the athletic period
• Thursday, August 27th
• 7:30 workout and core training during the athletic period
• Friday, August 28th
• Students will come to school at regular time and in school clothes. Coach C, Coach Kelly, and I will be at a meet, so we will not have workout.
• Students will need to report to the cafeteria during their athletic period. They will need to check in for attendance and remain in the cafeteria during this time.

Athletic Periods:

• 1st period athletic period = 7th grade boys and 8th grade girls
• 8th period athletic period = 7th grade girls and 8th grade boys

Students are responsible for all practice gear (clothes, shoes, sweats in the cold weather, shower essentials/towel). The school will provide a top and bottom uniform for races. We will also "check out" sweats for races during the winter. The check out for sweats will be on a rotation.

Athletic Paperwork:

All athletic paperwork must be turned in before an athlete can participate in athletics. If you son/daughter has not completed their online concussion baseline test ... they will need to meet me in the B108 immediately after dismissal from Walk the Spring. This test will take about 45 minutes to complete.

Spirit Wear, Kroger cards, and Booster Club:

Marlo Ballard introduced our new spirit wear line last night. The deadline for orders is September 4th and I will have packets for students to take home on Monday. [Below are instructions] for you to register your Kroger card to help our booster club. If you shop at Kroger, please register. Last year our booster club received around $1000 from this program. Our booster club does an amazing job to support our athletes.

Booster club membership forms and volunteer forms will be sent in my next email. Please take the time to join and to sign up to help during the year. Our booster club officers and members work so hard for all kids and we can't make it without their support.

Thanks for your support and let's get this year started!

Have a great day,

Coach Jungmann

How do we need to pay for hotel and entry fee?

The document will list what each athlete will owe for attending the meet – hotel fee and entry fee. If your son or daughter has not paid for hotel or entry please bring this to Coach Kelly, Coach C., or Coach Purcell on Monday of next week – 1/12/15 Please bring cash only - No checks please.

Will my child be excused from school?

Parents will need to write a note to the office excusing your son or daughter from school on Friday 1/16/15 if they will be missing school time. If you are one of the few leaving on Thursday, you will need to make the note for both days.

Hotel Info

Staybridge Suites
1577 West 15th Street
Fayetteville, AR 72701

Additional Info

Make sure that your runner brings enough money on the trip for meals! Breakfast is free at our hotel.

Here are some additional helpful documents:

• High School Indoor Meet info
• Arkansas vs. Texas Collegiate Indoor Meet info
• Direction to Chili’s and Hotel

This is technically not a school sponsored event but as a coaching staff hopefully we have helped make arrangements satisfactory to your needs of this trip.

Itinerary for Arkansas Trip

• Friday 1/16/15
• 9:00 AM: Leave from the field house by the track
• 11:45 AM: Lunch at Chili’s in McAllister, OK.
  Address: 617 South George Nigh Expressway, McAlester OK 74501
• 3:15 PM: Arrive at Staybridge Suites Fayetteville/Univ of Arkansas to Check In
  1577 West 15th Street Fayetteville, AR 72701
• 4:15 PM – Shake out run/Pre Meet Workout (Meet at hotel)
• 4:45 PM – Shower and dinner on your own with parent, roommates, or ride
  *** Once you have dinner feel free to join us at the Arkansas vs. Texas Dual Collegiate meet at the Randal Tyson Track Center. Once the meet is completed we will meet in the bleachers for a quick team meeting/race bib distribution and then head back to the hotel for bed***
• Saturday 1/17/14
• 10:00 AM – 400M, 60M Hurdles, 60M Dash, and 400M prelims
• 4:20 PM – Finals and rest of the running events
  *** We will communicate with athletes about what time they need to start warming up and arrive for their event. Please make sure you arrive 1-1/2 hours before your event so that you can have an adequate warm up and smooth check in process. Please check in with your coach when you arrive. ***
• Breakfast, Lunch, and Dinner are on your own.
• Return to hotel for bed after meet is concluded
• Sunday 1/18/14
• Check out of hotel and drive back with ride

If you have questions or concerns please call my cell at 903-821-8399.

Thank you,

Logan Kelly

It is vital that each runner train over the break. I understand there might be a day that it is not possible to train due to traveling. Stick to the schedule as closely as possible. If you need to make slight adjustments do so that you complete the main workout for that week. Reminder- I will be here for voluntary practice the second week of the holiday break. Voluntary practices will be on the LHS Track at 9AM – Dec 29th – Jan 2nd. If a practice time is changed or canceled, I will email out the change as well as post to our team twitter and Facebook pages.

• Deadline to Order Nike Team Gear
• Sun, 21-Dec-2015 @ 11:59 pm
• jerrys.itemorder.com
• sale code = LJOYTRACK15
• Parent meeting
• Thursday Jan 8th at 7 PM in LHS Lecture Hall
• Ice Cream Social to follow
• Next Booster Meeting
• Tuesday Jan 6th at 7 PM in LHS Lecture Hall

Please let me know if you have any questions 903-821-8399 (Cell). Enjoy the time off from school and time with family - Have a blessed Christmas!

Logan Kelly

• SPRINTERS
• Monday: 2-3X150M @ ½ & ¾ & Full Speed in 50M increments. Focus on Form and Technique
• Tuesday: No Athletics. 20 Min Run + 4X100M Buildups On Your Own
• Wednesday: 2X700M @ 75% at 400M – 10 Min Rest
• Thursday: Weights during 8th Period/Possible Equipment Room Organization Day
• Friday: 1Hr 35Min Period – 9X200M @200M Repeat Pace with 2 Min Walking Recovery
• Saturday: 20 Min Run
• Sunday: Off
• 400-800M
• Monday: Same as Sprinters
• Tuesday: 4-5 Miles on your own
• Wednesday: 2-3 X800M With 3 Min Rest
• Thursday: 4-5 Miles with Coach C.
• Friday: Same as Sprinters
• Saturday: Easy 20 Min Run
• Sunday: Long Run – 6-8 Miles
• DISTANCE
Monday: Banger/Up-tempo Run
• Tuesday: Easy Effort Mileage
• Wednesday: Medium Effort Mileage
• Thursday: Easy Effort Mileage
• Friday: Timed 400M @ the LHS Track
• Saturday: Medium Effort Mileage
• Sunday: Easy Effort Long Run
• (Coach C. Will email more details for Distance Runners)
• POLE VAULT
• Monday – Thursday @ 7:15 AM in Indoor Facility

Donation Squares

This week is the last week to turn in your donation square fundraiser! Please turn this in if you have not already done so!

THSCA Award Winners

The Texas High School Coaches Association and the United States Marine Corps have named Chloe Tedder, Rachel Tedder, Grant Ballard, and Sam Ruhala to the 2014-2015 THSCA Academic All-State Teams! The THSCA Academic All-State Teams recognize high school athletes who excel in the following categories: GPA, class rank and ACT/SAT score.

• Chloe Tedder – 1st Team Girls Cross Country
• Rachel Tedder – 1st Team Girls Cross Country
• Grant Ballard – 2nd Team Boys Cross Country
• Sam Ruhala – Honorable Mention Boys Cross County

Parent Meeting

Reminder that our parent/athlete meeting for track will be on January 8th @ 7PM in the LHS Lecture Hall.

Nike Team Store Order

Reminder that if you would like to purchase team gear from NIKE go to the following link below. The online store will close on Dec. 21st at Midnight.

• www.jerrys.itemorder.com
• sale code: LJOYTRACK15

Updated Schedule

The Argyle Meet date has been changed from a Thursday to Friday. Click here for the most up to date meet schedule.

Volleyball Players

If you are a volleyball player and participating in track, please send me your Club Volleyball practice and game schedule when you have that information. This will help with coordinating your needs for club volleyball and participating in track.

Christmas Break & Training

I will have a workout plan for Christmas Break. I will send this out in my email for next week and athletes will also receive a paper copy before we leave for Christmas Break. It is imperative that each athlete follow the plan over the break. I understand that there might be a couple of days that athletes may not be able to get a workout in due to traveling and family gatherings. Taking a full week or two weeks off will be detrimental to the athletes training and progression. Be ready to continue training over the break and pursuing excellence!

To help motivate our athletes and keep everyone accountable – I will host voluntary practices the second week during Christmas break (Dec 29th – Jan 2nd). Times for these practices are not yet determined but I will have those details next week. These practices will be voluntary - so therefore if you can not make these practices or will not be in town that is okay. This will help our athletes that are staying in town for the holidays to continue training as a group. It is hard to stay motivated when trying to train on your own. It is my hope that we will have athletes take advantage of this training opportunity.

Please let me know if you have any questions or concerns. 903-821-8399 (Cell)

Thank you,

Logan Kelly

Race Times:

• 7th boys 4:00
• 7th girls 4:15
• 8th boys 4:30
• 8th girls 4:45

Please remind your child to dress in layers, pack water/Gatorade/healthy snacks.

We will leave from WS at 2:45 and return to WS around 6:00. If you are planning on taking your child from the meet, please fill out the alternate travel form.

Breakfast on Wednesday morning:

Misty Guellar is organizing a breakfast on Wednesday morning to celebrate our season. All cross country athletes are invited to eat and enjoy each others company. This will take place in the WS cafeteria.

If you are interested in helping, please click on the link below.

• www.SignUpGenius.com/go/20F0945A4A92EAB9-wsms2/

Donation Square Envelopes:

Please continue to turn these in to the office. This is a very important fund-raiser for track/xc sweats for our athletes. Thank you to the many of you that have returned your envelopes!

Upcoming Schedule:

• Tues, Dec 9th-1st period will meet Coach Kelly in the cafeteria at 8:55 for study hall. 8th period athletes not attending the meet will meet Coach Durow and Coach Fuller in the AUX for workout.
• Weds, Dec 10th-7:30 Team breakfast. 1st period athletes will stay in the cafe for study hall. 8th period will workout at 8th period.
• Thurs, Dec 11th-1st period will workout at 8:55 and 8th period will workout at 8th period.
• Fri, Dec 12th-Transition meeting in the AUX gym. All athletes will report during their athletic period.
  -Late winter sports: basketball, wrestling, tennis, swimming, or off season-
• Mon, Dec 15th-1st period will workout at 8:55. 8th period exam 2:10-4:00 Girls-cafe for study hall and boys TBD (please see locker room door for details about location and activity).
• Tues, Dec 16th-1st period exam 8:55-10:45 all 1st period athletes will have study hall in the cafe. 8th period will have study hall in the cafe during 8th period.
• Fri, Dec 19th-1st period 10:38-12:20 girls will meet in the AUX gym and boys in the Main gym.

***Current basketball players will continue to workout. Please refer to the basketball coaches schedule for specific workout days/times.***

Thank you for all your support during our cross country season.

Coach Jungmann

As I mentioned before the girls worked hard this past week. Their bodies experienced more than normal because of the extended practice time and increased volume of work. If you are feeling sore or more tired than usual, that is normal. It will take a couple of weeks to get acclimated to the new training load. I am confident that the training we have planned will help each runner achieve their potential when the Championship races approach. The philosophy behind our training is to move from Quantity to Quality. Most of our work right now includes building a strong base/foundation with higher volume and lower intensity – Quantity. As we move through the season our volume will decrease and intensity will increase – more Quality based.

Practices this week will typically end around 5PM. Friday’s practice will end at 4:15 PM. I will be out on Tuesday's practice for the Middle School District Cross Country Championships. Athletes will be with Coach Purcell on Tuesday. Next week, Dec. 15-19th, we will not practice after school – only in the athletic period. We will not practice after school during finals week so that athletes can study appropriately.

Please read the following important information regarding the team and this week’s training:

Training for This Week:

• Sprinters (100M-400M), Hurdlers, Jumpers & Throwers:
• Monday: 10X200M with 2 Minute walking recovery @ 200M Repeat pace (Repeat 200 Day)
• Tuesday: Weights during 8th period/ 3X350M @ 70% effort - Hit time at 200M mark (Event Day)
• Wednesday : 2X800M @70% effort with 10 Minute Recovery – Hit time at 400M mark (Over Distance Day)
• Thursday: Weights during 8th period/ Intro to Block work/Acceleration (Speed Day)
• Friday: 20Min Run + 4X100M Buildups
• Saturday: OFF
• Sunday: OFF
• 400/800M Runners:
• Monday – Same as Sprinters
• Tuesday – 8th Period Weights/ Easy 5 Miles with Coach C.
• Wednesday – Same as Sprinters
• Thursday – 8th Period Weights/Same as Sprinters
• Friday – Easy 5 Miles with Coach C.
• Saturday – OFF
• Sunday – 6-8 Mile Easy Run
• Distance Runners:
• Monday: Banger/Up-tempo Run
• Tuesday: Easy Effort Mileage
• Wednesday: Medium Effort Mileage
• Thursday: Easy Effort Mileage
• Friday: Easy Effort Mileage
• Saturday: Medium Effort Mileage
• Sunday: Easy Effort Mileage
  (Coach C. Will email more details for Distance Runners)
• Pole Vault:
• Tuesday, Wednesday, Thursday in Indoor Facility with Coach Murray – 7:30AM-8:30AM
• High Jump:
• Any athletes interested in High Jump can workout at 5 PM in the Indoor Facility. On Friday we moved the High Jump pit inside the indoor facility. This will allow athletes to practice in case the weather is not ideal outside.

Arkansas Indoor High School Meet:

The email I sent out in regards to the Arkansas indoor meet is on our team website in case you missed my last email about. Attached is the meet information. There are some hotel rooms available where we are staying but they are filling up fast. Rooms that are still available are a bit pricey. Some parents have informed me that they are reserving rooms at other hotels nearby.

On Monday and Tuesday we will have a spread sheet for athletes to sign up. This will help us coordinate rooms/rides etc. All athletes planning to attend need to let us know by this Friday. Information we will need to know are the following:

• Athlete Name (Last, First)
• Events Entered
• Needs Ride?
• Has Ride?
• Parent willing to Transport Athletes? /How Many
• Needs Hotel Room (One of the 8 Reserved)
• Has Hotel Room or is staying with Parent

Click here for a link to last year’s meet results in case you are wondering what the competition level.

We have two weeks left to complete this fundraiser!!! We would appreciate everyone’s participation with this fundraiser. If all high school athletes and middle school athletes do their part we can raise up to $13,000! This will help us purchase team sweats and gear for the season. The plan is to first purchase new sweats for the high school and middle school.

Carey Tiff, our booster club fundraising coordinator, will be in the team meeting room on Friday to collect your envelopes.

Nike Team Orders Online:

If you would like to order any Nike team warm-ups, bags, etc. to personally purchase and keep please visit the following website and use the password to purchase items.

• jerrys.itemorder.com
• sale code: LJOYTRACK15

The online store will close on Sunday, December 21st at 11:59 PM. This order should be delivered on January 8th. If you want to purchase items later we can open the store again after Dec. 20th but those items will be delivered at a later date.

Shoes