YMS Cross Country

2016 Team Goals

May 3, 2016

Last Friday Coach Martin and Coach Miller met with current 7th graders during track practice to talk about team goals for the upcoming cross country season. The only guidelines for the goals were that they needed to be sufficiently challenging as well as realistic. The goals our boys and girls came up with were encouraging.

The girls want to return to State this year and win a trophy. Winning a trophy at State is certainly challenging, but the girls provided evidence as to why it is realistic as well. The girls are returning five runners who competed in the post-season for us last year. Our post-season roster is usually heavy on 8th graders so five runners is a lot of post-season experience for our team. The girls also mentioned how the teams that made it out of our sectional last year (Batavia, Kaneland, and Minooka) finished 1-2-3 at State. The girls were pretty adamant that they would have won a trophy had they made State last year. The girls definitely have a realistic and challenging goal for the 2016 season.

The boys have an even more challenging goal for 2016 and don't just want to win a trophy at State, but want to win State. They provided evidence that they were one of the top 7th grade teams in the State last year. They won the 7th grade boys race at the Troy Invite last year by a huge amount and they have two runners returning with State experience. The boys can't set the bar any higher than this, but they want to win and they have the talent to do so.

Everyone on the team can contribute to our team goals even if you don't think you will be in the top 7 by the end of the year. Here is how everyone can contribute:

Run Endurance Camp
Follow a good nutrition plan
Get 8-9 hours of sleep a night during the season
Cheer on your teammates and opponents
Hold your teammates accountable during practices

We definitely have the talent to accomplish our goals this season, but it will take everyone coming together to make them a reality. We might need a little luck as well, but that's something we can't control. We can control the five items above and if everyone follows those guidelines we will be able to say our season was a success no matter what happens at the end.