NWSC Meet

 Here is an update for the NWSC Meet.  At the beginning of next week we will send out all of the meet details.

The races will be held on Wednesday, Oct 7 at Bassett Creek Park in Crystal.  There will be 5 sets of races for the Boys and then 5 sets of races for the Girls.  After all of the races have been completed, they will combine all of the Boys times and all of the Girls times to determine All Conference, Honorable Mention, as well the Conference Champions.  Our Boys will be racing at 12:30 against Park Center, and the Girls will be at 3:30 also against Park Center.

A couple of other things of note, we are planning to put on a JV race on Thursday Oct 8 on the same course we ran a couple of weeks at CRHS.  We are not sure which team(s) will be with us at this time.  Also, since the NWSC and the Section 5 meets will be limited, we will be doing a 2 mile time trial on the Track on Friday, Oct 16 at 7:00pm so that we can be under the lights.  This will be a way for the runners to end the season in a more fun way.  We will be using this to determine the Cardinal Cup winners, thus we will be breaking the teams up to have some fun competition.  We know that this will be MEA weekend so if there are runners that cannot make it, it won't be an issue.  With both of these, we will send out more info when we get closer.

Thanks,
Denny

Week of Sep 28 Info

Here is some information for the upcoming week:
We will be meeting at the High School all 4 days of practice, Mon-Thur, with the Girls at 3:15 and the Boys at 3:30.  One thing of change, with at school learning starting to happen, we will have access to the locker rooms, however we will only be using them to change before practice.  We will have a scheduled time which will be based around when the middle school athletes would be able to make it.  With that, the Girls would be have access to the locker room at 3:05 and the Boys at at 3:20.  Then, anyone that has items with them will bring them out to practice and either put them into one of the sheds or a coaches vehicle.

Friday's meet is at Elm Creek.  I will have more detailed information about the meet later in the week, but the Boy's will be racing at 3:50 with the bus leaving at 2:30 and the Girls racing at 5:20 with their bus leaving at 3:50.  The start/finish area will be near the big play ground in the middle of the park.

I am hoping to have finalized information on the Conference Meet tonight and once I do I will get that out.  Please note, though, the meet will be on Wednesday, Oct 7th at Battle Creek Park in Crystal.  Once this information is finalized and we find out about the Section Meet, we will have a plan set for those that won't be participating in those events.

Lastly, since we are coming to the last couple of weeks, we are not in need of doing any more strength training, so the need for the bands is not necessary.  We will be collecting the bands tomorrow, Monday, at the beginning of practice, so please make sure all are brought to practice.

Any questions, please let me know,
Thanks
Denny 

No Friday Practice

We have chosen to give the runners the day off on Friday, Sep 25. We notified the runners at practice today. We will be back to practice on Monday.

Thanks

Denny

Wednesday Results

Our Individual results are posted on the right side of the blog.  Once I get a link to the overall results, I will add that to them as well.

Yesterday was a rough day as a whole for the team.  There were a handful that had solid days, but for the most part it was a struggle, and that is ok.  There are many possible reasons for the struggles, and we as coaches will analyze and make and changes that we feel can help, but for the most part we are not going to dwell on this race and we are going to use this as a learning experience for the runners.  You are going to have bad days.  You will have days where one thing or another is bothering you.  You are going to have days where the energy level isn't high or what it could be for a race or you just don't have the race you hoped for.  It happens.  But it is how you react and move forward and learn from what has happened.  No matter if it is a positive or negative, there is always something to learn from and we will discuss it with everyone, take the steps we need to move forward, and do what we can to reach goals by the end of the season. 

We know that we can run better, and we will.  We still have a few weeks left in our season and we will make any adjustments needed, but we will be looking forward, helping each other, staying positive and having fun.

As for the rest of the season, our next meet is next Friday, Oct. 2 at Elm Creek.  I am currently not sure where at Elm Creek the course is or what the course is, but once I have the info I will get it out to everyone.  After that, and this is still not a definite, there will be a Conference Meet and it is currently planned for Wednesday, Oct. 7 at Bassett Creek Park in Crystal.  The Conference Coaches are wanting it to be run similar to how the Section races will be run, so the Boy's will be running in the morning with groups of 3 or 4 teams going at a time, one group every hour, and the Girls in the afternoon in the same format.  Their hope is to have a complied race to help determine Conference Champions as well as All Conference and Honorable Mention.  It is a strong possibility that the number of runners each school is able to run will be smaller, possible 10-12.  If that is the case, we will still have something for those not running.  As for the Section Meet, I still have not heard a definite answer on date, but chances are it will be either Wednesday the 14th or Thursday the 15th, but this could change.  Once this information is given to us, I will get it out to you.  

Thanks for all of those that made it out to the races yesterday and all of the support.  I will be putting a few more links in the Pictures section on the right of the blog, so please check those out and if there are any you are interested in, let me know and we can hook you up with those who have taken the pictures.

Denny

Boy's Start Time Change

The Boy's Start Time for Wednesday's race has been moved to 5:00pm. 
Any questions, let me know,
Thanks
Denny

Post Season

The State High School League sent out guidelines for a Section Meet last night and we as coaches got this information this morning.  https://www.mshsl.org/sites/default/files/2020-09/section-tournament-cross-country.pdf  This will be a lot different than how we have had sections in the past, but we can now start to have an end point and know what we are building everyone to.  We do not know what day, time, or location yet, but myself and our other coaches will come up with a plan for those not participating so that we are all still getting the most out of this season.

If you have any questions, please let me know,
Thanks
Denny

Week of Sep 21

Here are the basics for the upcoming week.  If there are any questions, please let me know,
Thanks

Denny

Monday: Girls 3:15, Boys: 3:30 at CRHS

Tuesday: Girls 3:15, Boys: 3:30 at CRHS

Wednesday: Tri vs. Andover and Blaine at Anoka High School
                Girls: Bus at 2:30, Race at 3:50
                Boys: Bus at 3:50, Race at 5:20

Thursday: Girls 3:15, Boys: 3:30 at CRHS
Friday: Girls 3:15, Boys: 3:30 at CRHS

Review of Thursday

It was a long day for me yesterday, with set up, take down, work, the races, etc, but it was a good day and fun to watch the runners put out such a great effort and show continued success!  The weather was good, there was a great fan support, not only from our parents and families but from CRHS students, and the energy on the team was positive!

Centennial did beat us in both races, but they are traditionally a deep and strong team.  But we are not looking at it as we lost, we as coaches are looking at the improvements, the effort, and the attitudes of the team and we are moving in the right direction.  Times individually and as a team were the fastest they have been this year, which shows we are moving in the right direction.  It's been a tough couple of last weeks, but they are putting their time in coming together more as a team while having fun (well, as much fun as COVID allows us to have!! lol).  

We did have one race winner however, despite it not showing in the results posted last night on Gopher State.  Congratulation to Lily who was the top JV runner on the day (the top 3 from Centennial only ran 2 miles, so they were supposed to be out of the results).  She helped the very young Cardinal runners in JV show major improvements as they continue to work together and learn about themselves and this sport.  The youth of both teams is looking very good, as Judah and Lachlan tied for the top spots for the Cardinal boys in JV.  Andre and Ilsa led the way for the Varsity teams, and even though both of their streaks were broken, both of them ran their best times on the season and are starting to get closer to where they want to be!  Great work to all of the runners!! 

Over the weekend, I will put up a Season best list on the blog and make another page that will show all of their times so far to show the progress they are making.

Here is a link to some pictures taken by one of our parents, which I also included in our picture page on the right side of the blog: https://benberndtphotography5137.zenfolio.com/p328648687  Thanks for the great pics and if there are any others that parents/fans took that you'd like others to see, send them my way.

There is a change to our next meet.  It was supposed to be on Thursday at Rum River Central, but we were told earlier this week that we were not allowed to have our race there.  The other teams and us looked at other options, but came down to having to move our meet to Wednesday, Sep 23rd, and the location will be at Anoka High School again.  Not the most ideal thing to have a 3rd race there already, but it will allow us to continue to see if the work the runners is putting in is helping them improve.

Thanks again for the great fan support yesterday!! It made a wonderful weather day all that much better!!
Denny

Results vs Centennial

 Our individual results are now posted on the right side of the blog.  You can find the overall meet results on Gopher State Events, in which there is a link at the top of the blog.  I will send out more details about the meet on our thoughts in the morning.  Thanks for all of the great fan support today at our first home meet, ever!!!
Thanks,
Denny

Thursday's Race

Just a reminder that the Boys will be running first on Thursday, at 3:50, and the Girls will be at 5:20. I am putting in a link to the course map so you know where to watch, but the race start and finish will be at the west end the High School Tennis Courts (where we practice).  Course Map  Depending on how many parents and how Centennial brings their runners, parking on that side may be a little tight, especially for the Boys race with that lot being a Staff Lot.  It should be big enough, but please do give yourself plenty of time before the race in case you have to park in the main lot off of Raven St.

Below is some information from the timing system that will be taking care of our meet on Thursday so you will be able to see your runners times/place right away as well as a link to pictures at the finish line. 

GSE Timing will provide two features to help with results viewing: results uploaded every 30 seconds, and a Live Finish Line Feed to our YouTube page.  Please note that, in races with waves, results are not official, and finish order may change, until all participants finish.  Results will be uploaded approximately every 30 seconds.  Results can be easily viewed at  https://gtraxc.com/pages/results/results.asp. There is also a link to our LIVE FINISH LINE FEED on that app.  It can be found at https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCbPxfBaJviUHlgsR-4i2qDw/videos 

If there are any questions, please let me know,
Thanks
Denny

Week of Sep 14

Here are the basics for this week.  I will let everyone know in the next day or two if we will need any help for our meet on Thursday.  I will put out final information, as well as a map, on Tuesday or Wednesday once everything is finalized.  Any questions, let me know,

Monday - Girls at 3:15, Boys at 3:30 at CRHS
Tuesday - Girls at 3:15, Boys at 3:30 at Riverview Park
Wednesday - Girls at 3:15, Boys at 3:30 at CRHS
Thursday - Boys meet at 2:45, Race at 3:50 at CRHS Fields
               - Girls meet at 4:15, Race at 5:20 at CRHS Fields
Friday - Girls at 3:15, Boys at 3:30 at CRHS

Thanks
Denny

Friday Results

Our Individual and a link to the Overall Results is posted on the right side of the blog.  

On a late afternoon/early evening it felt like an early October meet. With cooler temps and a little light rain, it made us as coaches finally feel like it was a regular season for us, and it appears as though the runners were starting to get that feeling as well, as times dramatically improved from our first meet and we were much more competitive throughout the race.  Despite Anoka not being able to run and not having as much competition, it was a big positive step forward for our runners and from those I was able to talk with after their races, they felt better.  One thing I look for in the runners is what they look like before, during and after the race, and yesterday I noticed not as many nerves, a positive energy with smiles, and a desire to do better!  We still have a lot of work to do, and with our possible shorter season we won't have as much time, but we are continuing to work on the plan and we will help the runners get to the best they can.

Congratulations to Andre who won for the second time in as many races!  He looked solid all the way through despite still getting used to having to be a front runner.  Close behind was Peyton who finished in 3rd just mere seconds from giving the team a 1,2 finish!  Ryan also made a big step and finish as our third runner with a 6th place finish.  Champlin Park's depth was able to beat us a team, but we were close and with the continued development of the team, we will keep bringing that closer.  The Boy's youth and depth is improving and they are learning to run better together.  If they can continue to work with each other and push one another, they will move up the ranks quickly!

On the Girl's side, Ilsa was able to gain her second in a row 2nd place finish!  Zoe moved up to 6th and Lilah to 8th, as the Girl's are starting to move towards the team they want to be.  It is a rebuilding stage for the Girl's, but they are working hard, having lots of fun, and are getting better every day.  Yesterday was a big example of their development with all of the Girl's improving by over a minute, and all of the younger ones improving by multiple minutes.  They are all still learning about running and about what they are capable of, so we are just starting to see what they maybe fully capable of! 

For those wondering why Anoka did not run last night, it was due to the fact that one of the members of their team did have symptoms similar to COVID 19 and thus was being tested, and since there was contact throughout their team, they all needed to be certain until test results come back in.  It is an item we as coaches were thinking about and knew there was a chance it could happen.  Without Anoka running, it will hopefully keep things localized if it is COVID 19.  But, please remember that if anyone is not feeling the best, please stay at home and take care of yourself.  If there are symptoms that match COVID, please let me know as well, for I will need to fill out a form for the school district to help with tracking.

Thanks to all of you that were able to make it out to the races last night.  Out next meet will be the first ever official meet at CRHS in Cross Country Running!!!  We are excited for this chance to be at home even if it is on the fields we are so used to.

Thanks, and if there are any questions, please let me know,
Denny

Friday Race Order

The Girl's will be running on Friday at 3:50 and the Boy's will be at 5:20.  Thus, that means the Girl's bus will be leaving from in front of the High School (old main entrance) at 2:30 and the Boy's will leave from the same location at 3:50.  Once the Girl's race is over, their bus back to the High School will leave at that time.
If there are any questions, please let me know,
Thanks,
Denny

No Practice Tonight, Monday, 9/7/2020

 Due to the rain, the colder temps, and the breeze, we are going to play it safe for everyone's health and not have a practice tonight.  No need to give the opportunity for an illness to happen these days, so just not worth the risk.  Hoping all have been active over the weekend and be ready at 3:15 for the Girls and 3:30 for the Boys Tuesday at Riverview Park.

Thanks,
Denny

Monday's Practice

We are watching the weather and depending on which weather predictions you follow, we may be dealing with rain at this evenings practice.  As of right now, we are still going to hold practice and we will so long as it is nothing more than just rain.  But, we are not going to make the decision until we get closer to practice times, so please check the blog or the facebook page prior to practice to make sure if we are meeting or not.  I will try to make the decision by 5:00.
Any questions, let me know,
Thanks
Denny

Week of Sep 7

 Here are the basics for the upcoming week for practices:

Monday: Girls at 6, Boys at 6:15 at CRHS
Tuesday: Girls at 3:15, Boys at 3:30 at Riverview Park
Wednesday: Girls at 3:15, Boys at 3:30 at CRHS
Thursday: Girls at 3:15, Boys at 3:30 at CRHS
Friday: Tri at Anoka vs Anoka and Champlin Park. Bus 1 leaves at 2:30, Race at 3:50; Bus 2 leaves at 3:50, Race at 5:20  (Not sure yet if the Girls or the Boys will go first, once I find out I will let everyone know.)

Also, for those that were not at first meet or are looking for photos of your runner at the first race, you can go to this link by a former parent and look through the pics that she has taken.  Just go to: https://barbscardinalrunskiphotos.shutterfly.com/# password is Cardinals

Any questions, please let me know,
Thanks,
Denny

CC Apparel

 Here is the link to this years apparel. If you have any questions, let myself know and I can forward it onto one the captains, whom were the ones that set this all up.  All orders need to be in by Sunday, Sep 13.

2020 Cross Country Apparel

Thanks

Denny