Weekly Update 10/18 ·    

    Congratulations to the Shoregals on their SWC Championship! That may be the most exciting race I’ve ever seen. While we talked about our assignments, what to do and when to do it, and who to run with, it really comes down to execution. You girls believed in yourself, you believed in the work you did this season, and, maybe most of all, you believed in each other. We are proud of what you’ve done, and you should be proud of yourselves!·         Congratulations to the Shoremen on being SWC Runners-Up! I know you guys were disappointed in coming in 2nd place, but you shouldn’t be. There’s nothing you could have done—you did your absolute best. That’s all anyone can ever ask of a person, or a team. Putting this finish in perspective, the Shoremen runners have come in 1st or 2ndplace at SWCs in 8 of the past 9 years. That’s awesome! The varsity boys’ team just won their 5th consecutive SWC Championship, and you guys are continuing the tradition of fielding tough Avon Lake cross country teams. It all starts at Learwood!·         Please turn in uniforms to Room 404! I am going to be washing all uniforms and doing inventory starting next week. If you haven’t turned in your uniform yet, please place it in a bag and label it with your name.·         Starting next week, you need to take a break! One of the problems distance coaches have with good teams—and we have two really good teams—is getting those teams to rest. Rest is important! Take 3 weeks off of running, starting next week. No running! This is ‘Couch Potato’ time, where you have permission to be a lazy kid for three weeks. Eat what you want, play other sports, sit on the couch and watch television/play video games. Time to rest!·         Learwood Running Club starts the week of November 11th. If you are not involved in a winter sport, or if the winter sport you are involved in does not conflict with Running Club, then you need to start running the week of November 11th. We will meet 3 days a week, after school, from 3 – 4 p.m. We will definitely be done by 4 p.m. We will also meet on some Saturdays and we’ll start advertising road races as well. Running Club starts in November and goes until February, when Track & Field conditioning begins. It is important for runners to run in the off-season! Nothing crazy, but you want to get out there after your rest period. We’ll be running outside so dress for the weather!·         I’m updating the Cross Country bulletin board with our new individual and team records. Parents, if you have any pictures you can bring, I’ll laminate them and put them up. I don’t have any pictures myself so anything you can give me would be great. The pictures we currently have are from 2 years ago!·         Thanks for a great season! This season has worn me out more than any other, but it’s also been one of the most fun! Thanks for being such great kids, and thanks go out to all the parents for all your help, donations, and patience this season! We’ll be updating the blog every couple weeks with our Running Club dates/times, races, and workouts!

OHSAA Middle School Invitational

 ·         Bus leaves TROY at 6:45 a.m.  Be there at 6:40 a.m., and be ready to sleep on the way down. We’re only taking one bus!·         We should return between 5 – 6 p.m. We plan on stopping for food on the way back home, but we should definitely be home before 6 p.m.

·         Dress for the weather! Right now it looks like it will be 50 degrees, with a 40% chance of rain. These will be the coldest temps of the season! Dress in layers. Bring at 2-3 pairs of socks, a pair of dry shoes you can keep on the bus to change into on the way home, and rain gear if you have it (I’ve got home-made ponchos from clear plastic bags should you need it). Hats and gloves are good too!

·         Bring extra food/water. I’ve got extra water but you’ll want to snack when we get there so bring some food and a sports drink!·         Bring money! You might want to buy apparel when you get there, and we’ll be eating on the way back.

·         Here’s the course map: http://www.baumspage.com/cc/ccframe.php?path=http://www.ohsaa.org/sports/cc/Pre-Season_Invitational/JH/JH_RaceAssignments.html    

 Here’s the race schedule for tomorrow:

BOYS OPEN        11a.m.

Erik
Nick
Owen
Nathan
Michael M
.Alec
John

GIRLS OPEN        11:30 a.m.
Shital
Jamie
Julia
Lucy

BOYS TEAM        12 p.m.
Chris
Michael W.
Jake M.
Max
Gabe
Hunter
Patrick
Zivon
Anthony
Colin

GIRLS TEAM       12:30 p.m.
Faith
Lauren
Emma
Maggie
Mackenzie
Elena
Catherine
Liz
Claire
Mary    

Cross County 2013 Video

Parents and Athletes,

I am putting a link to the wonderful video Mrs. Ross created of our fantastic season this year.  Thank you for taking the time to make this movie, Mrs. Ross.

Here is the link:

http://learwoodsocialstudies7thgrade.weebly.com/student-work-2012-2013.html

Coach Walters

SWC Week!

BOWLING MONEY IS DUE TOMORROW (THURSDAY)  $12.00 in a sealed envelope with athlete's name on it!!!  You may be able to run like a champion but can you bowl like a king? 

SWC WEEK

Here we go! This is the final week of the season. 

Please check Coach Walters’ room for any missing items! At the end of our season we’re going to place all missing items in Learwood’s Lost & Found.

Parents, while this final race is centrally located, make sure to remind kids to stick together!

Time to get some rest! Eat healthy this week, drink a lot of water, stock up on sleep (9 hours, 15 minutes a night), and STRETCH before bed! Avoid soda, junk food, and limit sweets to one dessert a day! Remember, it’s not what you do Friday night, it’s what you do this whole week.

Parents and athletes: typically athletes like to toilet paper my house the Thursday before SWCs. But, there’s a lot of construction on my street and my front yard is a mud pit with the sewer separation project. I think we should skip this tradition this year. Maybe Coach Arebaugh will allow his house to be toilet papered! He said he likes toilet paper in his yard, it was weird but that’s what he said to me.

Bowling Reminder: after SWCs we meet at Spevock’s Bowling in Avon Lake. We’ll be bowling from 4 – 6 p.m. Make sure Coach Walters has the $12 by Thursday of this week! Cash only please! Athletes, please bring your uniforms/jackets to bowling. The coaching staff will be collecting uniforms/jackets. Don’t worry about washing them, we’ll do that!

Parents: I’ve updated the bulletin board with our records. I am going to re-update it and laminate the Avon Lake SWC History, plus boys’ and girls’ records at Learwood, after our season. If you have any new pictures to print out and post, let me know and we’ll decorate it after SWCs.

I’m including Avon Lake’s SWC History here. Take a look at what athletes have done over the last 20 years!

Southwestern Conference Championship

Bus leaves at Troy at 12:10 p.m.

Boys run at 1:30 p.m.

Girls run at 2 p.m.

SWC Awards Ceremony at 2:30 p.m. Top 7 runners (All-SWC) will be recognized, then Top 8-14 runners (2^nd Team All-SWC) will be recognized, then the SWC schools will be recognized.

There is an Elementary Race at 12:45 p.m. It’s 800 meters and it’s open to any young athlete in the SWC! If interested, Cathy Juergens at Troy is registering athletes (cathy.juergens@avonlakecityschools.org).

SWC apparel will be available!

We’ll leave around 3:15ish.

Once we return to Avon Lake, go home, shower, then come bowl with your team (don’t forget your uniforms if you’re not running at the OHSAA Championships).

I’m posting the final Cheat Sheet of the season! Thanks for a great year!

OHSAA Middle School Championship Meet

This meet will be held at Waggoner Road Junior High School in Reynoldsburg, OH

Approximate departure will be 6:45 a.m. We should return by 4 p.m. (probably later if we stop to get something to eat)

Boys Open 11:00 a.m.

Girls Open 11:30 a.m.

Boys Team 12:00 p.m.

Girls Team 12:30 p.m.

We have to finalize who’s going to this race…we’ll talk to the team Thursday and/or Friday about this (after we discuss SWCs)

Avon lake records 2012 season from Mrs. Walters' Classroom

Jack Wilhelm Meet

BOWLING MONEY DUE BY THURSDAY....

1. $12.00 CASH

2. In a sealed envelope with athlete's name on it

3. Give to Coach Walters 

4. 10/12 4pm-6pm at Spevocks

5.  Bring uniform to the bowling alley.  Does NOT need to be washed.  (Unless you are going to the 10/19 meet.) 

Cross Country Athletes & Parents:

Here’s our weekly update:

Parents, please remind your kids about the importance of ALWAYS sticking together at meets. We stress this as a coaching staff prior to every meet, but if you could talk about the importance of athletes always sticking together, that would help. We want athletes together at all times. Whenever athletes go cheer on other runners, use the restroom, go to concessions to buy something, or warm-up/cool-down, we tell them they must be with someone else from Avon Lake. If you could reinforce this concept we would greatly appreciate it!

We need to know who’s going to the OHSAA Middle School Cross Country Championships! Please sign up on the blog site so the coaching staff can appropriately register runners for this race.

Time to eat healthy, drink plenty of water, and stock up on rest! Our hard workouts are over for the year. It’s time to rest, we are beginning to taper. Taper…this is one of the greatest words in an endurance athlete’s vocabulary. For this last week, avoid all soda, eat very healthy foods, drink plenty of water, get a LOT of sleep (middle schoolers need to average 9 hours 15 minutes of sleep a night), and STRETCH after practice, on Sunday, and before you go to bed each night. It’s not what you do the day before a race, it matters what you do the WEEK before a race!

Movie Night is tonight (Friday, October 4^th). We will be watching the Karate Kid (1984 version)! For my money, this is the best movie about a kid who learns karate, probably ever. In fact, it’s my favorite movie of all-time. Parents, this is a PG-rated film, but there are no inappropriate scenes (it’s played on the ABC Family Channel all the time). We will be watching it after our Friday Night Dinner in the auditorium. We should be done by 7:15ish, if not earlier. This is an optional activity we plan for the kids, you do not have to be in attendance!

I’m attaching a copy of last week’s Meet Cheat Sheet here. Next week’s final ‘Cheat Sheet’ of the year will be passed out at our final team meeting (either Monday or Tuesday).

Jack Wilhelm Information:

We will meet at DAIRY QUEEN parking lot at 7:45 a.m.

We will return to DAIRY QUEEN around 11:15ish, where we will get ice cream.

Athletes, the coaching staff cannot afford to buy you all ice cream (sorry), so make sure to bring money for your ice cream/lunch (this should be your last ‘garbage’ food you eat until SWCs).

Normal breakfast still applies, with a light snack both before & after the race. Bring water for both before and after the race, and don’t forget your sports drink!

Results will NOT be posted for this race. Times will NOT be posted either. Coach Walters will be highlighting times on a spreadsheet, which can be tough to do with the large volume of runners we’ve got, so if you can help out on Saturday please let us know!

This race is at LCCC. The same course map is used. We’ve got a link of it on the blog.

 Here’s the schedule:

10:00 a.m.       ALL Girls                    

10:30 a.m.       ALL Boys