Raiders Off To Great Start

Coaches Corner

Raider(s) Of The Meet - The Raider Of The Meet award will be given to the athlete(s) that through their performances, caught the attention of the Coaches. This week, the Coaches have selected Cece Jackson, Emma Taylor, and Abby Schlenker as our Raiders Of The Meet.   Congratulations!

Wheaton North, St. Charles North, Metea Valley, Wheaton Academy

I have to admit, most everything I saw on Saturday was better than I expected. Your attitude and efforts were great, the intensity was there, and the hand-offs were much better than I would have guessed.   Even your preparation was "on fleek." (Urban Dictionary, "When something is perfect, or going right, or on point") I don't think anyone came to the line unprepared for their events! If we need to say anything it would be, just make sure you have warmed up properly! Ex. - (Watch the distance girls)   With that being said we still have a lot of work to do. Please remember, we are far from a finished product. Take seriously you opportunities to train, work hand-offs, starts, field events and you will improve in all aspects of the sport. Stay positive and let's move forward together and find what the future holds for us.

The TACC-Block-Sprinters/Jumpers/Hurdlers

Incredibly, the S-J-H crew turned in 8, Career Indoor hand-timed PR's! Leading the charge with 2 PR's, Suvannah Williams ran great in the 55 & 200 Dashes. Krista Kreshpanji (55H), TeJanae Tate (55D), Daziyah Arrington (55D), & Justine Drake (200D) rounded out the PR parade in the sprint department. Esther Niedert hit a career best 4-00 in the High Jump while Emma Taylor hit a moster career best in the High Jump with a leap of 4-08! A highlight for me was watching 10 rookies make their debut and all of you surprised me, and some of you may have surprised yourselves! Some of my favorite performances were Katie Kibbey jumping 14-00 in the long jump, and Skylar Moloney, Lily Taylor, Ania Gniatczyk, & Madison Nathe having great all-around sprint days. Simone Banks made her debut in the High Jump with a leap of 4-04 and Abigael Bodine, Bianca Motenegro, Gabrielle Reese, and Harshini Bellamkonda all ran in the 9's in their debut in the 55 Dash. Where we go from here is up to all of you!  

The Crissey Chronicles - First meet is in the books for all of us. The throwers faced some stiff competition in a few state qualifiers. It was a great opportunity for them to observe and learn from throwers from other schools. All season we will face the best competition in the state. CeCe Jackson started out like gang busters with a monster throw for a freshman of 28-8. Kelsey Breen overcame some adversity had tossed a solid power position throw of 25-feet. I was exceptionally proud of Niikki Newman and Taylor Pickens who battled through some nerves and give it their all. Taylor tossed the shot 18-8 and Nikki had a mark just over 21-feet. The one thing that I took away from last weekend is that giving maximum effort is what is expected. Nothing less, ever! If you gave maximum effort, but you didn't have your "A Game"... Oh well. Now, we move onto the next race, throw, jump, or meet.

O-No's: The distance girls had a very impressive start to the season. The coaches were proud of all of you. Unlike the start of last season you stuck your nose into every race and competed. This is a sign of athletes with confidence and maturity. Erica Mote ran a great race by getting up with the leaders. Abby Schlenker, while running a career Indoor PR, and Diane Lipa took charge of the 800m with Grace Gibson and Kendell Arlasky mixing it up in the pack.   Emma Johnson did a great job of getting out an attacking her first career 400m race. In the 1600m, Courtney Knight , Katie King, Sophie Nelson and Mikayla Jacoby all went out hard and competed against some awesome distance teams. There is nothing like having two distances girls with the fastest 400m times on the team and that is what Abby and Diane have right now after they, Emma and Grace ran an amazing 4x400m relay. We know some of you were disappointed with your times, but this is a sport you have to work at every day of the year and you will not get those times you want in the first meet while not running in November, December and January. It will take some time now to get back in shape. You will run some AWESOME times this year. Please learn from this next season!    

This Weeks Focus - "The glory of sport comes from dedication, determination and desire. Achieving success and personal glory in athletics has less to do with wins and losses than it does with learning how to prepare yourself so that at the end of the day, whether on the track or in the office, you know that there was nothing more you could have done to reach your ultimate goal." -Jackie Joyner-Kersey

Team Building - Coming soon, our 2nd annual Alumni Pancake Breakfast!