State

Saturday morning is the State Cross Country Meet and Lachlan will be running at 10:00am.  We will have a bus for our runners that are wanting to go down to watch and support Lachlan.  That bus will leave at 8:00am.

This years State Meet will be a bit different, however, than in years past.  The races will be held this year at the U of M Les Bolstad Golf Course, the same location as the Roy Griak Invite.  Know that parking on site is not available and that you will need to park at the State Fair Grounds.  Please click on this link on where to park and go through the info below if intend to drive down:

https://www.mshsl.org/sites/default/files/2023-10/CC_Shuttle_Parking_Lot.pdf

SPECTATOR PARKING & SHUTTLE SERVICE: Spectator parking is free of charge and will be available on race day at the MN State Fair Lot “Block 55” at 1680 Como Avenue, across the street from the MN State Fair Coliseum. 

• Spectators should plan to arrive at the shuttle parking lot at least 60 minutes prior to the start of the race(s) they wish to see. 

• Shuttle service to and from the golf course and the parking lot will be provided from 8:30 am to 5:00 pm on race day. The shuttle pickup and drop off points will be posted with large “Shuttle Stop” signs. 

• Spectator Parking is NOT ALLOWED on site at the golf course and there is limited street parking near the venue. Security will be at each entry point of campus and will only admit busses and team vans with official parking passes, and vehicles with a current disability permit or license plates.

Also new this year is that if you are intending to watch the race(s), you will need to purchase tickets prior to arriving.  Please go to this link and then scroll down to Cross Country and then follow the prompts: https://www.mshsl.org/tickets

STREAMING: All six races and each award ceremony will be streamed. Go to nspn.tv/MSHSL for details. 

SOUVENIR MERCHANDISE AND TOURNAMENT PROGRAMS: Tournament merchandise will be available for sale on Friday and Saturday in a tent near the start line. Digital tournament programs are available at no charge on the League web site. Go to www.mshsl.org/programs to download copies.

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

Denny

End of Season Banquet

2023 Cross Country Running Banquet 

The season is coming to an end it is time to look back on the accomplishments of the 2023 edition of the Coon Rapids Boys and Girls Cross Country teams.

This year, our banquet will be on Monday, Nov. 6, 2023 starting at 6:00 at the CRHS Cafeteria.  This will be a Pot Luck affair with each grade of athletes bringing the following: 

6 Seniors: Desserts

14 Juniors: Salads

6 Sophomores: Beverages

11 Freshmen & Under:  Entrees

Please note that there are 36 members of the team, one manager, plus four coaches, as well as family members of these athletes that will be attending, so please bring accordingly.  All plates, silverware, napkins, and cups will be supplied.

Due to Allergy concerns, if you do make anything with nuts in it, we ask that you mark it.

This will be a night in which we will be handing out all team awards and such, so we do appreciate you being a part of this event to celebrate the accomplishments of the athletes and the team. 

We are also wanting this to be a more formal affair for the athletes.
If there are any questions, please let me know.  Thanks, Denny

Section 7AAA Results

Congratulations to Lachlan Demmer as he qualified for the Minnesota State Cross Country Meet at today's Section 7AAA Meet!!  Lachlan was able to drop 40 seconds off his 5K time to take 8th place overall and grab the 3rd Individual qualifying spot and moved onto the CRCC Sub 17/All Time Best list at #34!!  Ruby nearly also qualified for State, finishing in 17th place to pace our Girls.

On a near picture perfect distance running day, a soft course with some wet spots didn't stop our Cardinals as 27 of the 31 who raced today ran either Season Bests or All-Time Personal Bests!  Of course we can always wish we could have had more qualify for State or finish higher as a team, but we are very happy and we cannot find fault in the fact that we put together our best meet as a team on the season in the last meet of the season!

Thanks to all of those that came out to cheer and support our runners!!! Information on next Saturday's State Meet, Nov 4th at the U of M Les Bolstad Golf Course, will come out early next week!

Thanks,
Denny

Section Meet

To find results for tomorrows Section 7AAA meet, please go to: mtecresults.com.

The Boys Varsity will be wearing red tops and black bottoms while the Girls Varsity will be in black tops and red bottoms.

Thanks

Denny

Section 7AAA Meet Thursday

Here are a couple of items for the Section Meets on Thursday, Oct 26 for the Varsity and JV at Anoka High School.  A list of who will be running Varsity is also below.  Those not listed will be running in the JV races.

This will be the last meet of the season for most of the team, but also the opportunity to qualify for the State Meet at the U of M Golf Course (same location as the Griak Invite) on Saturday, Nov. 4th.  Please note that the Varsity will be in the early afternoon and that the JV runners will be late in the afternoon.  Bus time for both will be 12:45.  However, if there is a JV runner that needs to stay at school for their classwork, please let me know, and they can meet us at the meet after school.

Those that qualify for the State Meet will be the 1st and 2nd place teams, as well as the 6 fastest runners that are not on those two teams.  The weather is looking like temp wise will be perfect for fast times, but it is hard to say at this time if there will be any rain or not.

Also, please remember that there are no dogs allowed.  We don't want a dog getting lose during the race and interfering with a runner.

Varsity Runners:
Boys
Lachlan, Kjell, Owen, Nehemiah, Cole, Josh, Marco

Girls
Ruby, Lily, Emmy, Emily, Hannah, Ella, Kaylee

Varsity times:
Bus Leaves at 12:45
Boys - 2:30
Girls - 3:10
Awards - 3:50

JV times:
Boys - 4:20
Girls - 4:50

Any questions, please let me know,
Thanks,
Denny

Section 7AAA Time Change

I will be sending out more info on Sunday, but our Section (7AAA) will not be racing until 2:30pm on Thursday and not in the morning.  Section 5AAA will be racing in the morning times on the Anoka course.

Sorry for any issues.

Thanks,
Denny

Week of October 16

Here are a couple of items for the week ahead:

Monday is practice as usual, 3:15.  Runners, please bring your spikes with you.

Tuesday is picture day at the CR Dam.  Bus leaves at 3:15 and we will be running back to the school after the pictures.  For those that would like to order pictures, please text PGFW83658 to 90738. You can also order pictures here: https://my.photoday.com/

Wednesday is the ABC 3K at Greenhaven Golf Course in Anoka.  Bus leaves at 2:45 and the Girls will run first at 4:00 and the Boys will be shortly after the Girls finish.  The runners will also be able to do this in costumes if they would like.
Thursday is the JK5K, which is not a meet, just a practice in which we will work on specific items while running a 5K.  Bus will be leaving at 9:00 am and we will start the JK5K at 10:00 am, everyone together.  We will then be back to the high school at about 11:00.

Friday practice will be at 10:00 am at CRHS.

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

Friday/Pictures

Due to the predicted rain all day on Friday, we have decided to cancel practice and move our picture day to Tuesday.

Thanks,

Denny

NWSC Meet Results

Congratulations to Ruby and Lachlan for both earning All Conference today at the Northwest Suburban Conference Meet!! Ruby was able to finish in 12th place in the Girls race and Lachlan finished in 17th in the Boys race.  

The Boy's team finished in 11th out of 14 teams with Kjell 45th and Owen 50th to also help the Boy's.  The Girl's also finished in 11th place with Lily in 48th also helping the team.  

On the JV side, two middle schoolers lead the Boy's and the Girls teams, with both finishing in 33rd place.  Tate helped lead the Boys JV to a 10th place finish with Faith leading the Girls JV to a 9th place finish.

Today was not quite the race we would have hoped for, but it was possibly the best overall team race that we have had this year, with 20 of the 33 runners having a Season or Personal Bests!  It's a tough course and it is a positive step as we head towards the end of the season and we look to have our best race at the Section Meet.

Our Individual Results with a link to the Overall Results are now posted on the blog.

Thanks to all that were able to come out and watch and cheer on the teams!! 

Denny

Reminders

A couple of reminders as we get the week going.  Besides the Northwest Suburban Conference Meet on Wednesday (please read prior post), two other items are happening this week. 

Thursday is the Homecoming Football Game and the Boys will be running the game ball in from Blaine High School.  As of right now the bus to Blaine will be leaving at 5:45.  The Girls will still have practice at our regular time, but the Boys do not have to show up for that practice, just the bus.  

Also, Friday is our scheduled Picture Day.  Once I get the ordering information I will get it sent out to everyone.  However, looking at the predicted weather, we are setting up a back up day for next week in case it is raining.  IF there is a change, I will let everyone know as well.

Thanks and we will see you all on Wednesday!
Denny

NWSC Meet

Below is the information as well as time schedule and line up for Wednesday's Northwest Suburban Conference Meet at the Elk River Country Club.  Just a forewarning for Parking at the Conference Meet, most people will be able to park on the driving range that is north of the main lots, but some may have to park on the street that will be a little bit of a walk.  This is a busy road, so if you do end up parking on a neighborhood street, beware trying to cross to get to the course.  If there is any change in parking, I will let you know.

Elk River (Conference Championships): 20015 Elk Lake Rd.  Highway 10 west to Proctor Ave. in Elk River, go north (right).  Go 2 miles to the Elk River Country Club, which will be on the right.  Additional parking will be available at Woodland Trails, just north of the Country Club.

Bus Leaves at 1:00

Conference Meet @ Elk River CC, October 11, 2023
Girls	Boys
Varsity	Varsity
Ruby Demmer	Lachlan Demmer
Lily McKenzie	Kjell Norquist
Kendall Martinek	Owen James
Emmy Fuller	Josh Hyatt
Hannah Berndt	Nehamiah Kue
Emily Bornes	Marco Velasquez
Ella LaGree	Cole Burnett
Kaylee Buerman	Tythe Kue
Casey Amelsberg	Albi Ludwig
	Nick Reiland
JV	JV
Faith Kue	Tate Burnett
Nyah Fruth	Truman Smith
Jessika Larson	Gilbert Kostuck
Maddie Istratii	Nico Cocchiarella
Ellie Sadler	Landon Egerstrom
	Michael Kane
	Brody Falck
	Wade Schultz
	Avalyn Nagan
	Vlad Vorobeyv
	Vince Vorobeyv
	Wesley Schuck

2023 Conference Meet

Site:     Elk River Golf Club 

Date:   Wednesday, October 11

Make-up date options: 

• If the course is too wet we will use Prairie Park in Otsego or the ERX Motor Park in Elk River.
• If we get intermittent lightning we will run Varsity only on Wednesday, October 11 and JV on Monday, October 16

Time and Order of Races:      

            2:45                 National Anthem

            3:15                 Boys Varsity Race

            3:55                 Girls Varsity Race

            4:35                 Boys JV Race

            5:15                 Girls JV race

            6:00                Awards Presentation

Team Champions, All Conference, and JV places will be announced after the meet.

A postponed meet will be rescheduled.  Every attempt will be made to make a decision to postpone by noon and have that decision communicated to each school by 12:30 p.m.

Total All Conference awards to be equal to two times the number of schools participating:  Year 2023:  The top 28 finishers in the girl’s varsity race and the top 28 finishers in the boys’ varsity race will be awarded all conference medals.
Honorable mention All Conference honors will go to the  29^st through 42^th place finishers in the boys and girls varsity races

No awards will be provided for the JV races.

HOKA ONE ONE/Cardinal Cup Time Trial

Thanks to everyone that came out and supported the 2 Mile Time Trial that we had under the lights tonight on the track!  It was at least a 40 degree temp change from Monday, and the times seemed to drop that much as well!! 17 of the runners that ran tonight ran faster than they have before for the HOKA ONE ONE/Cardinal Cup 2 mile and everyone who ran tonight and in the Time Trial at the beginning of the season were significantly faster!! The energy level was high among the runners, and despite being cold due to the dramatic temp changes and the high winds, they went out and put forth great efforts and were very supportive of their teammates!  It was a positive step forward, big improvements from a year ago, and we are hoping to build off of this as we head to the Conference Meet next Wednesday!

The results are posted on the right side of the blog, and Congrats to the Swifties for winning the Girls race and Team White for winning the Boys race!!  

Thanks,
Denny

Week of October 2nd

Here are a few quick things for the week ahead for everyone to prepare for:

With the weather being on the warm side again on Monday, we will be paying attention to what the temps are going to be at practice time and make any adjustments we feel are necessary to help keep everyone heatlthy.

Thursday evening is the HOKA ONE ONE/Cardinal Cup 2 mile on the track.  We are wanting the runners at the track at 6:00pm and we will run the first at 7:00 and the second at 7:30 (we will have the runners decide on Wednesday if the Boys or Girls will be first).  Something new that we would like to try this year is to have a "Future Cardinal" 1 or 2 lap run in between the two races.  Thanks to Wade for bringing this idea up.  So, please bring any younger siblings as well as let others you may know to come as well to come participate!

Due to the fact that the Conference Meet the following week is on a Wednesday, we are going to have a Saturday morning practice to help prepare for that meet.  We will be on the track at 8:00am.

Last item, our team pictures are going to be on Friday, Oct 13 at the CR Dam.  I am working on having a bus bring the runners over.

Thanks,

Denny