Midterms Week and SECTIONALS!!

This week will be a busy one for all of you with midterms starting up tomorrow.  Please keep in close communication with your events coaches and with me about schedule conflicts and to know when your practices are being held.  Distance will stay at 3 pm, but other groups may go at different times.  

This Friday is a big meet called the NJ State Sectional meet, specifically the Central Jersey Group 2 Sectional.  If we are healthy enough (which is a big question right now) we have a chance to score and place very well in this meet.  To score points, you must finish in the Top 6 in an event.  We stand a very good chance to place in (and maybe win!) several events:  high jump, shot put, pole vault, 800, 1600, and 55 hurdles for sure and maybe others.  

Also, Sectionals is a "qualifying" meet.  Any of those athletes who place in the Top 6 for their event automatically qualify for the State Group 2 meet on February 15.  Those that do not qualify still have one more meet, called the "Last Chance Meet," on February 12.  Below is our lineup for Friday:

Bus Time:  2:00 pm

Meet Time:  3:45 pm

Location:  The Bubble

High Jump:  Megan, Dakota, Hope

Pole Vault:  Liz, Cammie

Shot Put:  Brianna, Bella

55 Dash:  Shannon, Kacia, Kylie

55 Hurdles:  Dakota

400:  Jamie, Bella, Courtney

800:  Katie, Emily

1600:  Katie

4x400:  Shannon, Hope, Alexis, Jamie ... alt: Dakota, Bella

Snow Day and Meet Information!

I hope everyone got home safely today and I hope you enjoy the day off tomorrow!  I am sure there are plenty of questions so I will outline some info here, now, but definitely contact me directly if I miss something...

First off, the throwers meets for Tuesday and Wednesday ... I know today's was postponed until Thursday so we will likely not compete in that one.  As for Wednesday, and details about today's meet, throwers should check in with Coach Colonna - in fact he probably already reached out to you all.

WEDNESDAY, JANUARY 22

No school - no practice.

Bubble practice cancelled, too.

Try to be active in some way on your own - lift, pushups, core, abs, treadmill, etc.

THURSDAY, JANUARY 23

Meet:  Frosh-Novice Meet

Location: the Bubble

Bus Time:  2:45 pm

First Events: 4:30 pm

Girls Attending/Competing:  Katie, Kacia, Alexis, Bella, Shannon, Kylie, Hope, Synne (if healthy), Emily (if healthy), Courtney, Megan

*** We will work out the lineup of events together, on the bus to the meet.  There are not a lot of events to pick from so it'll pretty easy to figure out.  In a couple of cases, coaches want/need to get certain athletes into certain events, but otherwise there will be more input from your end.

FRIDAY, JANUARY 24

Meet:  Shore Conference Championship Meet

Location:  the Bubble

Bus Time:  2:00 pm (you will be dismissed at 1:45, start of last period of day)

First Events:  4:00 pm

Meet Lineup:

Shot Put:  Taylor, Brianna

High Jump:  Megan

Pole Vault:  Liz, Cammie

400:  Jamie, Shannon

3200:  not competing

55H:  Dakota

55: Shannon

1600:  Katie

4x400:  not competing

Lineup for State Relays, Sunday 1/19

Here is the info for Sunday's meet.

What meet:  NJ Group 2 State Relays
Where:  The Bubble, Toms River
Bus Time:  7:15 am
Meet Time:  9:00 am
Expected Finish Time:  2:00 pm

Here is the order of events and who is doing what...

TRACK
1.  Distance Medley - not competing
2.  Shuttle Hurdles - not competing
3.  4x200 - Jamie, Shannon, Hope, Alexis
4.  4x800 - not competing
5.  Sprint Medley - 400 Jamie, 200 Megan/Liz, 200 Dakota, 800 Katie
6.  4x400 - Alexis, Bella, Hope, Shannon

FIELD
Pole Vault - Liz, Cammie
    2 pits, boys and girls vault at same time
    Opens at 7'-0"
High Jump - Megan, Dakota
    2 pits, boys and girls jump at same time
    Opens at 4'-0"
Shot Put - Taylor, Brianna
    2 pits, boys and girls throw at same time
    In intermediate school

Coach's Thoughts, 1/11 - Risk Failure to Gain Success

RISK FAILURE TO GAIN SUCCESS ... a theme upon which I will elaborate in a moment.  But first another congratulations on a great day for our team yesterday at the Ocean County Championships!  Although my season of lying continued (like how I have been 'lying' about the schedule)...apparently, not all the events were tallied when we left yesterday, so we actually had the 7th most points, not 4th.  Still, a great day as far as I'm concerned - I highlighted some of our best moments on the bus and they were plenty - PRs, medals, points, and improvements were abound!  Mostly, as has become our signature, it was all achieved with the right attitude - being supportive teammates, hard working individuals, and fierce competitors!  A tradition of an expectation of excellence is being born (shhhh).

Now, on to my new quote and a look ahead.  Success and achievement are wonderful things and bring with them prideful moments and memories.  But success can also be fleeting if we get satisfied.  I don't think that we are a team that gets satisfied with just a little success, but we are also a young team and we may not be aware of exactly how much we can achieve or, more importantly, how to get there.  So I offer you this quote:  "Risk Failure to Gain Success."

We all get a big boost of improvement early in the season from just getting into 'track and field shape' and from repeating our events once or twice.  But we want to sustain these improvements for the long haul.  So we need to do more - and in practice we will do more repetitions and more miles and more lifting, but our real success will come from our mental capabilities - our willingness to take risks.   Just some examples would be pole vaulters getting onto a bigger pole, sprinters starting their races faster, or distance runners starting their kick earlier.  Already Taylor has tried to warm up with the boys shot, Megan has committed to a new lifting routine, and Shannon has accepted trying out a newer, longer event than she is used to.  Conversely, Hope and Synne have taken risks by being conservative in their recoveries, which seems to be paying off for both of them.  (Sometimes it's hard to be patient!)

So, what will YOU do?  What risks will YOU take?  How will YOU take YOURself to the next level?  Whatever it is, approach it with a committed attitude and a deep rooted desire to improve.  Understand that the risk of failure is a big one and it does not guarantee success - and in fact could backfire - but those who risk most greatly tend to achieve most greatly, as well.  Communicate.  Consult with your events coaches, ask for suggestions, share your own ideas, and get after it!!  There is so much out there for us to achieve, we just have to ask ourselves what we are willing to risk to get it.

Coach's Thoughts - 1/4

I have been really excited and impressed by our start to this season.  I say this for a few reasons, but mostly because we have kept such a positive spirit and developed a strong team bond despite some difficulties - we have been dealt some really tough injuries and had to deal with some especially lousy weather.  It is hard to cope when your team has 18 athletes and 6 of them have encountered significant injuries.  And constant 30 degree weather is not pleasant or conducive to great training, but our efforts have been undeterred!  I am so impressed, though not surprised...I know this is a special group of young ladies who are enthusiastic, friendly, and motivated!

Our meets have been similar - while we have had to run 'short-handed' because of injuries (and vacations!), we have been unaffected and girls are crushing it in their events.  Some immediate highlights that come to mind are Taylor and Brianna breaking the school shot put relay record, Liz and Cammie tying the school pole vault relay record, Megan's 4-10 high jump at the relay meet which was tied for the second best jump in Ocean County, and Shannon's 8.3 second race in the 55 meters, which was in our first meet and was faster than any girl ran in the 55 for us, in either of the past 2 seasons.

We have a long way to go this season, which means plenty more time for plenty more improvements, school records, personal bests, and fun times!  I am excited to see Alexis and Katie make their winter track debuts after schedule conflicts kept them out so far and excited to see Dakota, Synne, Hope and Emily continue to take steps to get back to full strength!  Keep working, ladies!

** Remember, our next meet is this Saturday, NOT Friday, which is a change from the original schedule.

Schedule Change

The Ocean County Championship Meet will be held on Saturday, January 11 at 9:00 am.  Our original schedule showed that the Ocean County Championship Meet was on Friday, January 10 at 4:00 pm.

I apologize for the second date change in this young season.  I made the schedule excessively early this year, trying to get ahead, but apparently the dates were not all set in stone.  Or else maybe it is just having 2 kids at home now is clouding my brain ... either way I do apologize and I hope that there are no further issues with the schedule this season.