Last year, we were allowed to open up the winter track program to 8th graders from Sierra. It was a smashing success, so we are going to do it again this winter. Here are the details that are pertinent to the 8th graders. (Unfortunately, we do not allow 7th graders to train with us. Mixing 7th graders with 12th graders is too big of a range for proper training.)
All athletes will do the same workout, regardless of grade or age. We base our workouts on how fast you are, not how old you are. 8th graders can potentially be in ability groups with 12th graders, if the times set up that way. 8th graders will do the same stretches, the same form drills, the same interval workouts, the same long runs, as the high schoolers. Just like in middle school, your ability dictates your exact training level.
Practice starts at 3:00 at the high school, and usually ends somewhere around 4:30 or so. Some days we will run longer, some days we will run shorter. We will have formal practice on Monday, Wednesday and every other Thursday. Tuesday, Friday and every other Thursday is "captain's practice" which the 8th graders are encouraged to attend. This schedule is not 100% set in stone, but any alterations to it will be clearly communicated to the athletes.
The club does not provide transportation to and from Chaparral track, but last years 8th graders did an awesome job of communicating and carpooling. The final bell at Sierra is a 2:45, if parents leave right form the back parking lot, they can make it to the high school in plenty of time. In the past, 8th graders have changed for practice in the car, they have their workouts clothes under their school clothes, or they have politely asked their teachers if they can get finve minutes to go to the locker room to change out during 7th period. Of course this privilege is the teachers discretion, but it worked out pretty well last year. I figure if I can change out and make it to the HS by 3:00, so can the athletes. The coaches will not leave the track after practice until every 8th graders is picked up, and we check to make sure that we know the person picking the athlete up,. If practice gets done early, the athletes usually dial the cell phone to reach their parents.
Of course, practice is always open, so if anyone wants to stop by to observe, feel free to swing by.
I encourage all 8th graders to work out with the distance kids for the first month. Then, once the sprinting specific workouts begin after Thanksgiving, they can branch off in that direction.
Everything else is the same. Please refer to the previous post, "Winter Track Details" for all the important information. And fo course, email me with any questions you might have. Having the 8th graders train with the high schoolers certainly makes the 8th graders better runners, but more importantly, it builds up the overall Chaparral/Sierra culture of running and fitness, and that is what we are striving for.
Coach SEP
Wednesday, October 17, 2012
Tuesday, October 16, 2012
Winter Track Details
Here are some early details about the Gulo Gulo Winter Track Club.
If you are playing a winter sport (basketball, wrestling, swimming, etc.), then you do not have to participate in winter track to participate in spring track & field. If you are not playing a winter sport at Chaparral, and you want to get ready for spring track & field, then this is the place for you. This club is open to all athletes who are thinking about spring track & field, so spread the word. The more kids we have training, the better team we will be overall!
Training starts with a meeting (and a mile time trial for the mid-distance and long-distance kids who did not practice the last week of cross country) on October 29th. All the other disciplines (sprinting, jumping, vaulting, hurdling), will be starting their training after Thanksgiving. These disciplines will be sprinting based, with one day a week to focus on their field disciplines.
All the coaches expect to see everyone at this first meeting on Oct. 29th, regardless of chosen discipline, down at the cube by the track.
The cost is going to be 75 dollars this winter. This will include 2-3 days/week of direct coaching, a personalized training plan, and of course, a Gulo Gulo track club dry-fit T-shirt.
Gymnastics will be available again in January, open to 8th, 9th and 10th graders. This is something the club does not pay for, but is well worth the money. Many champions have come from our gymnastics program, it makes you stronger mentally and physically.
The club will be going on a paintball excursion in November or December. The club will be able to cover 1/2 of that cost, but the remainder must be taken care of by the athlete. Also, I am trying to set up a cross country ski excursion for this winter. Ask Mackenzie H. how much fun she had four years ago, it sounds like hard work, but it really is a blast!
We are planning on attending some indoor meets this winter. This will not be the focus of the club, but we will use these meets as tune-ups to keep our brains in race shape. More details on these indoor meets as the schedule is set by USATF-Colorado. The entry fees are on a per race basis, and are paid for by the athlete.
Finally, we are in the beginning stages of planning an out-of-state trip near the beginning of the spring season. (California, Florida, Louisiana?) Athletes who want to compete in this meet will have to reach certain standards set by the meet committee to gain entry. The best way to get fast enough to meet those standards is dedication in winter track. The cost of the trip will be substantial, and while Gulu Gulo Track Club/CHS T&F will try to help out as much as we can (race entries, van rental, food), a good chunk of the costs (airfare, hotel) will have to be paid for by the individual athlete.
Coach Able is going to be starting up an "elite" wing of the Gulo Gulo track club in December. This will involve going to CU-Boulder two nights a week to train with the collegians. Invitation to this elite wing of the club will be based on attendance, attitude and aptitude. This is a fantastic opportunity to take your training to that higher level. Starting with the time trial mile, the coaches will be looking at athletes who we think can handle this intense level of training. Show us that you belong in this elite wing, and we will put you there.
Gule Gulo insurance is covered by USATF, and you must be a current member of USATF in order to participate in the club. Go to this link to sign up with USATF. Our USATF name is WOLVERINE TRACK & FIELD and our number is 32-0269. Remember, memberships expire on Dec. 31st, so make sure you are a member for the rest of this year and for next year!
On October 29th, all you need to bring with you is, the completed membership form found at the bottom of this post, a check for 75 dollars written out to:Brian Seppala - Bahamas Vacation Fund Chaparral High School Track & Field, as well as gear to workout in if you are going to run the mile time trial mentioned above. (Don't worry state qualifying XC runners, I will make sure you get that time trial in, but you will need a couple weeks rest first!)
More details coming later in the week as things get sorted out, stay tuned!
SEP
If you are playing a winter sport (basketball, wrestling, swimming, etc.), then you do not have to participate in winter track to participate in spring track & field. If you are not playing a winter sport at Chaparral, and you want to get ready for spring track & field, then this is the place for you. This club is open to all athletes who are thinking about spring track & field, so spread the word. The more kids we have training, the better team we will be overall!
Training starts with a meeting (and a mile time trial for the mid-distance and long-distance kids who did not practice the last week of cross country) on October 29th. All the other disciplines (sprinting, jumping, vaulting, hurdling), will be starting their training after Thanksgiving. These disciplines will be sprinting based, with one day a week to focus on their field disciplines.
All the coaches expect to see everyone at this first meeting on Oct. 29th, regardless of chosen discipline, down at the cube by the track.
The cost is going to be 75 dollars this winter. This will include 2-3 days/week of direct coaching, a personalized training plan, and of course, a Gulo Gulo track club dry-fit T-shirt.
Gymnastics will be available again in January, open to 8th, 9th and 10th graders. This is something the club does not pay for, but is well worth the money. Many champions have come from our gymnastics program, it makes you stronger mentally and physically.
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| Training for the Winter Olympics |
We are planning on attending some indoor meets this winter. This will not be the focus of the club, but we will use these meets as tune-ups to keep our brains in race shape. More details on these indoor meets as the schedule is set by USATF-Colorado. The entry fees are on a per race basis, and are paid for by the athlete.
Finally, we are in the beginning stages of planning an out-of-state trip near the beginning of the spring season. (California, Florida, Louisiana?) Athletes who want to compete in this meet will have to reach certain standards set by the meet committee to gain entry. The best way to get fast enough to meet those standards is dedication in winter track. The cost of the trip will be substantial, and while Gulu Gulo Track Club/CHS T&F will try to help out as much as we can (race entries, van rental, food), a good chunk of the costs (airfare, hotel) will have to be paid for by the individual athlete.
Coach Able is going to be starting up an "elite" wing of the Gulo Gulo track club in December. This will involve going to CU-Boulder two nights a week to train with the collegians. Invitation to this elite wing of the club will be based on attendance, attitude and aptitude. This is a fantastic opportunity to take your training to that higher level. Starting with the time trial mile, the coaches will be looking at athletes who we think can handle this intense level of training. Show us that you belong in this elite wing, and we will put you there.
Gule Gulo insurance is covered by USATF, and you must be a current member of USATF in order to participate in the club. Go to this link to sign up with USATF. Our USATF name is WOLVERINE TRACK & FIELD and our number is 32-0269. Remember, memberships expire on Dec. 31st, so make sure you are a member for the rest of this year and for next year!
On October 29th, all you need to bring with you is, the completed membership form found at the bottom of this post, a check for 75 dollars written out to:
More details coming later in the week as things get sorted out, stay tuned!
SEP
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Monday, October 15, 2012
Motivation
What motivates you? It is a tough question, but think about it for a second. What makes you do what you do?
Is it this?
Or maybe it is this?
Maybe it is one of those cheesy motivational posters you see in the administrators offices.
Or maybe those running quotes that are so popular on T-shirts.
Perhaps something like this motivates you.
Or this?
I know what motivates me.
What motivates you? Whatever it is, harness it and use it to your advantage. Use it every day. Every day when you wake up, find your motivation and ride it all day.
At its core, motivation is the desire to do things. It's what drives you to accomplish things you never dreamed you could accomplish. Motivation keeps you pushing, keeps you achieving keeps you alive.
You might be thinking,"What does Coach Sep want to do?" Simple, get at least one kid in each gender in each running event at State. Take the first step to doing something by dedicating yourself to winter track. We start October 29th, 3:05, at the track. All are welcome, all are expected.
More details to come later this week, stay tuned.
SEP
Thursday, September 20, 2012
Post Season Training
I have had quite a few requests for ideas about post season training. It seems like a lot of kids have caught the running bug, and we want to keep them training hard on a regular basis.
For 7th graders who ran XC for us, I strongly suggest either participating in as many Sierra sports as you can all winter long. Flag football and volleyball registration ends tomorrow, but later in the year we offer wrestling and basketball, then track in the spring. Stay involved, play after school sports!
For 8th graders, there are no immediate after school sports for them. I think the Parker Panthers is a great running club, the coaches are phenomenal, and fast kids come out of that program every year.
For high school athletes, as well as 8th graders who ran XC, we offer a winter track club through USATF. This track club starts up at the beginning of November, and we train at Chaparral HS right after school, offering training for all athletes in all track (and field) events. We do charge a fee for the training, but the money goes 100% back into the athletes and the club. No coaches trip to Jamaica for us! :) You also have to be a registered USATF member for insurance purposes.
The coaches that run the track club are having a meeting in early October to figure out the exact details of the club. Check back here on the blog in mid-October for all the details, but start getting excited now!
Coach SEP
For 7th graders who ran XC for us, I strongly suggest either participating in as many Sierra sports as you can all winter long. Flag football and volleyball registration ends tomorrow, but later in the year we offer wrestling and basketball, then track in the spring. Stay involved, play after school sports!
For 8th graders, there are no immediate after school sports for them. I think the Parker Panthers is a great running club, the coaches are phenomenal, and fast kids come out of that program every year.
For high school athletes, as well as 8th graders who ran XC, we offer a winter track club through USATF. This track club starts up at the beginning of November, and we train at Chaparral HS right after school, offering training for all athletes in all track (and field) events. We do charge a fee for the training, but the money goes 100% back into the athletes and the club. No coaches trip to Jamaica for us! :) You also have to be a registered USATF member for insurance purposes.
The coaches that run the track club are having a meeting in early October to figure out the exact details of the club. Check back here on the blog in mid-October for all the details, but start getting excited now!
Coach SEP
Monday, September 17, 2012
Devils Thumb Trail Race 2012
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| Jon, Steven and I after the race |
How fast? Well, Steven was fast enough to get the win, by a sizable margin, and Jon ran into the top 25% of finishers quite easily. I was pleased with myself, as I hung on for 9th place overall, even though I took a pretty brutal fall coming down the backside of Marker Hill. You can check out the official results here.
The race was longer than last year, which surprised almost all of us at the start line. We were expecting a 12 km race, with one major hill. At the start line, the buzz was that it was going to be a 10 km race, with one major hill. Based on that information, I changed into my lighter road race shoes last minute. (That was a mistake, as evidenced by my legs feeling like they had been punched 1,000,000 times by the time I finished.) In reality, the race followed the course map that was published, but it was 13 km long as well as having two major hills. I am not complaining, however, I loved the race. We ran through beautiful aspen tress, along creeks, down gnarly trails, it was just so much fun to be running in such beautiful country.
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| Steven crossing the finish line all alone |
Steven had a great race, ran 6:24 minutes per mile, and was cruising at the finish. He has the Denver Half Marathon next week, I think he is going to do very, very well. Steven is a product of the Sierra XC program, where he was one of our most successful runners. It was in middle school he really learned how much fun running can be, and how if you are dedicated to the sport, you can really turn yourself into a truly exceptional runner. He ran in high school, ran in college, and is now continuing to run in community races all over the state. Very cool.
I was so happy to have my family up there with me yesterday. I know how hard it is for Beth to try and juggle two kids for over an hour at a boring "go-into-the-woods-come-out-of-the-woods" trail race. I am very grateful that Beth always takes care of the family while I do all of my crazy things like running races, track coaching, cross country banquets. I am pretty lucky to have a wife who cares for me so much. Thanks, Beth. :)
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| Steven on the podium! |
The best part about these open community races, other than the joy of running, the ability to pick what races you want to do, as well as being able to focus on and dedicate yourself to a certain race; are the prizes for the winners! For all 51 minutes of his hard work yesterday, Steven won a six pack of microbrew. A better prize, I cannot think of. :)
SEP
Saturday, September 15, 2012
District Championship Analysis
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| Final Varsity Race Scores |
(You might be wondering how this is scored. At dual meets, you add points, but at the nine team district meet, you add places. For example, Mountain Ridge easily won. They got a first, a first, a first and a second, for a total of five. RanchView was second, with a total of 13. We tied with Mesa with 17, but then you go to overall points. We had 435, they had 484, we win the tiebreaker!)
While there were some quirks in the management of the race that I am sure will be worked out next year, I thought everyone had a positive experience, everyone ran their guts out for their teammates & their schools, so it was a very successful day. It was a great way to end a great season. You should all be patting yourselves on the back for racing so well today.
Personally, I am very proud of all the athletes who sacrificed all season long to be on this team, as well as sacrificing to come to this championship meet. I hope the season exceeded all of your expectations and you are all better runners and athletes because of it. I want to thank all of the parents for all of the support and kind words throughout the season, it truly is a triangle, between athlete, coach and parent. And finally, I need to throw a major shout-out to some of the best coaches I have worked with, Adam, Brent & Nicole, the success of this season is due in large part to you.
See you all at the banquet on Monday night, it is going to be a blast!!!
Thank you,
Coach SEP
Friday, September 14, 2012
Cimarron vs Sierra Analysis
Finishing the regular season undefeated is always a great thing to accomplish, and beating a tough team from Cimarron is a perfect way to do it. I thought we raced fantastically yesterday, on a tough muddy course, 19 out of 27 seven-girls improved their Sierra course times, 25 out of 40 seven-boys improved, 21 out of 28 eight-boys improved and 18 our of 20 eight-girls improved! Wow, we asked the kids to set a PR for the course yesterday, and 72% of the kids did it! That is really, really, really awesome. I am really proud of that 72% number. Great job by everyone, hopefully we can keep it rolling through one more meet.
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| 7Boys results, Sierra lost by 23 |
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| 7 Girls Results, Sierra won by 21 |
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| 8 boys results, Sierra won by 4 |
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| 8 Girls results, Sierra won by 13 |
Overall, we won by a total of 15 points. Our closest meet yet, but a win is a win! 6-0 baby! Let's trya and make it 7-0 on Saturday!
Monday Banquet
While I am excited for this weekend and the championship races, I am also super excited for Monday's banquet. In the linked post, I gave bare bones details, but in this post I want to explain the reasoning and culture behind our banquet.
At Sierra, at the end of every season, the coaches of each sport usually throw a pizza party after school for their athletes, to celebrate a memorable season. While a pizza party is a great way to celebrate, the XC team tries to do something a little more. We have a potluck banquet for the athletes and their families, and it is a fantastic time.
Attendance is not mandatory, but we usually get almost 100% attendance. We have a slide show with music so dance parties usually break out. We have tons of wonderful food that the athletes and their families prepare for us, ranging from homemade pizzas to chicken wings to 15 or so crockpots bubbling away. The coaches will be handing out awards, giving speeches, cracking jokes; all to the embarrassment of their families that are in attendance. The coveted "black shoelaces" will be bestowed upon the 8th graders, which is usually the highlight of the night. Around 7:30, everything is all cleaned up, everyone has one last hug, and we close up shop for the night.
The banquet is a great time for athletes and families to have one last fun time together before other sports pull us in different directions. Cross country season forms a strong bond between all of the kids, and the banquet is the best way to celebrate it.
I personally hope to see all of the parents and athletes there on Monday. I know the Broncos are playing, but that is what DVR is for, right? :)
Coach SEP
At Sierra, at the end of every season, the coaches of each sport usually throw a pizza party after school for their athletes, to celebrate a memorable season. While a pizza party is a great way to celebrate, the XC team tries to do something a little more. We have a potluck banquet for the athletes and their families, and it is a fantastic time.
Attendance is not mandatory, but we usually get almost 100% attendance. We have a slide show with music so dance parties usually break out. We have tons of wonderful food that the athletes and their families prepare for us, ranging from homemade pizzas to chicken wings to 15 or so crockpots bubbling away. The coaches will be handing out awards, giving speeches, cracking jokes; all to the embarrassment of their families that are in attendance. The coveted "black shoelaces" will be bestowed upon the 8th graders, which is usually the highlight of the night. Around 7:30, everything is all cleaned up, everyone has one last hug, and we close up shop for the night.
The banquet is a great time for athletes and families to have one last fun time together before other sports pull us in different directions. Cross country season forms a strong bond between all of the kids, and the banquet is the best way to celebrate it.
I personally hope to see all of the parents and athletes there on Monday. I know the Broncos are playing, but that is what DVR is for, right? :)
Coach SEP
Thursday, September 13, 2012
Varsity Line Ups
The following runners have been selected for the varsity races and need to be at Larkspur at 8:00 sharp! Look for the red tent up near the top of the hill for the coaches.
8 Boys:
Tad Trimarco
Blake Karbon
Dylan Cann
Kyle Potts
Jack Browne
Zach Berg
Connor Martin
Alternates: Noah Beinhorn & Patrick Scripter
8 Girls:
Ashley Diefenbach
Sydney Matthews
Kiera Hoff
Addy Burgess
Dani Miller
Collete Palmquist
Becca Day
Alternates: Sydney White & Jackie Closs
7 Boys:
Nick Kounkel
Christian Williams
Thomas Meurer
Grayson Arstingstall
Charlie Beller
Cooper Findlay
Riley Langerman
Alternates: Alex Hernandez & KJ Phillips
7 Girls:
Sydney Compoz
Caitlyn Ridgeway
Ally Swain
Morgan Oakes
Vanessa Castro
Abigail Cook
Katie Evans
Alternates: Cristin Brophy & Kiera Carney
All other runners need to be in Larkspur at 8:30 for course preview, warm-up and to cheer on their teammates.
Remember, we are a team! This division does not change that. We can win this meet as a TOTAL TEAM!
All District Championship information can be found at the following link;
Sept 15th Championship Meet Information
Coach Sep, Coach Thornton, Coach Vamvakas, Coach Sheffield
8 Boys:
Tad Trimarco
Blake Karbon
Dylan Cann
Kyle Potts
Jack Browne
Zach Berg
Connor Martin
Alternates: Noah Beinhorn & Patrick Scripter
8 Girls:
Ashley Diefenbach
Sydney Matthews
Kiera Hoff
Addy Burgess
Dani Miller
Collete Palmquist
Becca Day
Alternates: Sydney White & Jackie Closs
7 Boys:
Nick Kounkel
Christian Williams
Thomas Meurer
Grayson Arstingstall
Charlie Beller
Cooper Findlay
Riley Langerman
Alternates: Alex Hernandez & KJ Phillips
7 Girls:
Sydney Compoz
Caitlyn Ridgeway
Ally Swain
Morgan Oakes
Vanessa Castro
Abigail Cook
Katie Evans
Alternates: Cristin Brophy & Kiera Carney
All other runners need to be in Larkspur at 8:30 for course preview, warm-up and to cheer on their teammates.
Remember, we are a team! This division does not change that. We can win this meet as a TOTAL TEAM!
All District Championship information can be found at the following link;
Sept 15th Championship Meet Information
Coach Sep, Coach Thornton, Coach Vamvakas, Coach Sheffield
Tuesday, September 11, 2012
Sierra vs. Sagewood Analysis
What a great day for a race. Overcast, not too hot, a few raindrops falling here and there. I was telling a dad as we walked in that I have been to Sagewood to race 6 times in 12 years. This was the 6th time, and it was the first time we did not have rain, lightning, or even snow (circa 2004) delay the race! I was so glad the weather gods were smiling upon us.
But enough Al Roker for you, how about some thoughts on the performance of the kids today. First and foremost, you gotta hand it to the 7th grade girls and boys. Once again, they turned themselves inside out and showed the incredible depth and talent that Sierra has. On the boys side, the 7th graders got 18 of the top 25 places. That is unbelievable! Just mind boggling that we have that many great runners here at Sierra. Sagewood is no slouch, they have good coaches and they train hard. And to place that many guys in the top 25 is just awesome! For the 7th grade girls, Syd the kid won her 5th consecutive race, in fact, she would have been in 3rd place in the boys race! That is just fantastic. And we had a ton of girls just hammering that last hill, Abby, Kiera, Cristin, Vanessa all had wonderful races today. Both the 7th grade boys and girls won easily over Sagewood.
The 8th graders had a much tougher time with Sagewood, as the Wildcats came in first individually in each race. However, the depth of the girls, even with holding out some kids so they can get healthy, let us prevail in that race by 18 points. Becca, Dani, and Natalia all had great races and helped us seal up the victory there. The closest race we have been in all year was on the 8th grade boys side. Sagewood won that race by three points, but Tad, Blake, Kyle, Dylan, Jack and Zach all did a great job of making them work as hard as they could for it. Losing by three points means it could have gone either way on any give day, so we look forward to the re-match on Saturday.
Overall, the Eagles won by 104 points, which means that our training and our practice is paying off. Congrats Eagles, one more big race against Cimmaron at home on Thursday, then off to District Championships!
Coach SEP
Our last home meet of the season is this Thursday when Cimarron comes to ou course. Cimarron is a heated rival for us, we will need all the support you can get. Fly the grandparents in from the East Coast if you have to, the louder it is for Sierra, the better we run!!!
Coach SEP
But enough Al Roker for you, how about some thoughts on the performance of the kids today. First and foremost, you gotta hand it to the 7th grade girls and boys. Once again, they turned themselves inside out and showed the incredible depth and talent that Sierra has. On the boys side, the 7th graders got 18 of the top 25 places. That is unbelievable! Just mind boggling that we have that many great runners here at Sierra. Sagewood is no slouch, they have good coaches and they train hard. And to place that many guys in the top 25 is just awesome! For the 7th grade girls, Syd the kid won her 5th consecutive race, in fact, she would have been in 3rd place in the boys race! That is just fantastic. And we had a ton of girls just hammering that last hill, Abby, Kiera, Cristin, Vanessa all had wonderful races today. Both the 7th grade boys and girls won easily over Sagewood.
The 8th graders had a much tougher time with Sagewood, as the Wildcats came in first individually in each race. However, the depth of the girls, even with holding out some kids so they can get healthy, let us prevail in that race by 18 points. Becca, Dani, and Natalia all had great races and helped us seal up the victory there. The closest race we have been in all year was on the 8th grade boys side. Sagewood won that race by three points, but Tad, Blake, Kyle, Dylan, Jack and Zach all did a great job of making them work as hard as they could for it. Losing by three points means it could have gone either way on any give day, so we look forward to the re-match on Saturday.
Overall, the Eagles won by 104 points, which means that our training and our practice is paying off. Congrats Eagles, one more big race against Cimmaron at home on Thursday, then off to District Championships!
Coach SEP
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| Bailey and Ethan sprinting home |
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| Kiera and Collete lunging for the finish line |
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| Sydney winning her 5th in a row |
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| Kellen and Caleb passing a Wildcat |
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| Abby finishing off the best race of her career, Kyle is close behind |
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| Connor, Ashley and Patrick gapping a Wildcat in the distance |
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| Coach Sep bringing the 8th graders out to help the 7th graders kick it home. |
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| 7Boys Results |
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| 7Girls Results |
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| 8Boys Results |
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| 8Girls Results |
Our last home meet of the season is this Thursday when Cimarron comes to ou course. Cimarron is a heated rival for us, we will need all the support you can get. Fly the grandparents in from the East Coast if you have to, the louder it is for Sierra, the better we run!!!
Coach SEP
Monday, September 10, 2012
Post Season Banquet
The coaches have been emailing back and forth about the post season banquet. Due to parent-teacher conferences, we cannot have it on the Wednesday after the district meet. Instead, the SMS XC Banquet will be on Monday the 17th, at 5:30 pm in the Sierra cafeteria. We will start eating around 6:00, and we will be finished up everything by 7:30.
This banquet is potluck, so we ask all that attend to bring something for 10-12 people to eat.
8 Girls - bring appetizers
8 Boys - bring desserts
7 Girls & 7 Boys - bring main dishes
Everything will just be laid out on tables in the hallway, we will have power if you need to keep things warm, and don't forget serving spoons!
Please label anything you bring, so people with allergies can know what is in what. We don't need full ingredient lists, but if you have peanuts buried in your meatballs, we need to know. :)
Coaches will supply the silverware, the plates & napkins, as well as the beverages.
Parents, siblings, grandparents, the whole family is welcome. There is no fee, we want as many people coming by as possible to celebrate a successful season.
After everyone has gotten fed, the coaches will have a short presentation, then the participation awards will be handed out and all athletes will be honored, then we will send off the 8th graders. It is a great time, we really hope we can see all the athletes and their families.
Coach SEP
P.S. 8th grade parents need to contact Mrs. Diefenbach regarding the banquet as soon as they can. Email her at: Kirk_Shelley@msn.com It is mucho importante!!
Last Week of XC :(
Good morning everybody,
I am sad to report that this is the final week of cross country, but that means one thing...CHAMPIONSHIP WEEK! Our district championships are this Saturday morning down in Larkspur. I am really excited, because I think, with our team depth in all categories, we have an excellent chance of winning the overall team title. In order to achieve that goal, however, we need the following:
An excellent week of practice: We have meets on Tuesday (@ Sagewood) and Thursday (@ Sierra), so Monday, Wednesday and Friday will be full days for us, but easy days. These last few days of practice are critical, as it the last chance for us to work out any kinks the runners might have. For Tuesday, we hope to see a lot of people down at Sagewood, and Thursday is our final home meet, against our rivals from Cimarron. We will be hoping to run the fastest we have ever run on the Sierra course that day!
Excellent H.N. R. at home: H.N.R. stands for Hydration, Nutrition and Relaxation. Please make sure your athlete is drinking plenty of water, eating really good nutritious foods, and getting lots of sleep this week. Saturday is a fun, but stressful day in a lot of ways, and the athletes need to be prepared going into it. Don’t do anything radically different, just keep your child eating well, drinking lots, and going to bed at a good time.
Positive reinforcement always: This week at practice, we won’t do much running, but we will do a lot of building the athletes up and making sure they KNOW how great they are. They have survived the four hardest, grueling, back-breaking weeks of middle school athletics, and they have all come out stronger, tougher, faster and gutsier because of it. They need to know that, they need to know that they are amazing athletes, that they are fantastic runners, and they need to bring that self-confidence to the meet on Saturday. We will be giving them that confidence at practice, help us out by continuing it at home!
I have already posted the Saturday schedule, check it out if you need more details. Can’t wait for a great last week!
Coach SEP
Friday, September 7, 2012
Mega Updates
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| Coach Seppala's college ski team |
Good morning,
Lots of updates on the blog this morning. I would've gotten to them last night, but I was invited to a meeting for www.skidenver.org, a grassroots campaign to try and bring cross country skiing to the city Denver. Hopefully, by grooming some trails on golf courses and in parks, we can get more people out there kicking and gliding! The truth be told, I was not really a runner in high school and college, I was a nordic skier, so this is something that is near and dear to me. Check out the website, hopefully we can get this thing off the ground!
Remember, early dismissaal from practice today, and I hope everyone has a great weekend!
SEP
Week 4 Pics
A few pics from our meets this week.
Many thanks to all the parents who have sent me so many great pics. I want to save most of them for the year end banquet slide show, we got a lot of fast looking kids!!
Coach SEP
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| Start of the 8th grade race at Rocky Heights |
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| Start of the 7th grade race |
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| Warming up at Rocky Heights |
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| Caitlin finishing strong |
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| I wonder what advice Coach Thornton is giving? |
Many thanks to all the parents who have sent me so many great pics. I want to save most of them for the year end banquet slide show, we got a lot of fast looking kids!!
Coach SEP
Message from Mrs. Diefenbach
Attention: Sierra Cross Country Parents of 8th Grade Athletes
Please contact Shelley Diefenbach (Ashley's mom) at the the email address,
Kirk_Shelley [at] msn [dot] com
regarding the year end banquet as soon as you can.
Thanks!
Shelley D.
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