DASH Middle School Cross Country 2020 Griffin Invite Meet Report

October 16, 2020 in Uncategorized

Hello DASH families,

The DASH middle school cross country team was back at the Korb Sports Complex in Cedarburg last Monday to compete in the Griffin Invite. It had rained for several hours before we arrived leaving the course very wet. We also arrived to strong winds keeping everyone uncomfortably cold. But the sun started coming out as the races started, and the wind died down some giving us some almost nice running conditions. The racing would be fast with everyone now in peak form. Twelve other teams, including two all-star teams were on hand to push us along. The coach has been looking forward to and preparing for this meet for a couple of months now. Below is a recap of how we faired.

The 6th and under girls were led by Cecilia Budnik. Cecilia stayed just ahead of a very big pack through most of the course and cracked the top-10 with a 9th place finish. Her time of 15:00 was 42 seconds faster than last week. We would need that kind of improvement if we were to score well. Jayleigh Standerwick stayed steady and fast and was seen moving up as the race hit the second lap. She was given the 14th place ribbon for her nice 15:35 effort. That was 33 seconds better than last week. Charline Radtke has now proven herself to be a 2 mile runner. She looked very good the whole way and raced in with a 15:37. That was 38 seconds better than last week. The girls had the DASH fans excited. It was a very short wait before Andrea Chu and Lucia Budnik hit the finish. Andrea seemed to be always making another surge whenever we could see her and Lucia would not let her get more than a few steps ahead. Andrea and Lucia were so good that they ended up with the 18th and 19th place ribbons. Andrea had cut off 1:06 and Lucia 1:22 from their times last week. The girls were giving us their best. Not even the all-star teams could put 5 in the top 19 like we did. Wow! It was Savannah Michalski who improved the most with her 18:22. Her time was down by 2:08. Savannah had a great week of practice and she ran with confidence this time out.

The 6th and under boys were next. Eli Collier got ahead of his teammates early and found a gap in the field where he could pace easy while holding down his 12th place spot. The boys times were so good last week that we will not be seeing the improvement that the girls showed us, but Eli did cut off 17 seconds. I liked that. Emmett Collier got out a little slower this week, but then gave us a super tough second lap where he was seen moving up into ribbon winning territory. Emmett hit the finish in 15:20 and came away with the 19th place ribbon. With 64 boys in the race that is a great showing for a 4th grader. Ephraim Radtke stayed steady through the course and came in just after Emmett with a 15:23 to claim the last ribbon. Noah Caspers was up by Emmett and Ephraim until just the very end. He did not let anyone pass him down the stretch and took 21st place with a 15:32. Getting all our guys in the top-21 had us looking good in team standings. Putting your whole team in the top third will do that.

Unlike last year, the 7th and 8th girls race was very small this year. We were one of only two teams to field a full team of four girls. Aleigha Standerwick looked more comfortable this week over the 2 mile course and got her time down to 14:39. That was good for the 7th place medal. After Aleigha the racing was very spread out with the girls not getting pushed much and the times reflected that. Bedalia came in to win the 9th place medal with a 15:46 time. That is not fast for Bedalia, but she looked good at the end to move up to 9th. Mary LeSac ran a good two laps this time out and looked especially fast at the end to get the 11th place ribbon with her 16:26. Grace Caspers ran with Mary most of the way, but struggled the last half of the second loop. She still finished behind Mary in 12th place with the field being so spread out. It would have been nice to see what the girls could have done in a more competitive race. They will get that race Saturday.

Our 7th and 8th grade boys got themselves into good position early and then found themselves challenged continuously the rest of the way. We got to see some great racing from the boys. Sam Collier met all the challenges thrown at him. He gave it everything he had and was rewarded with the 8th place medal. He also got his time down to 13:18. That is super impressive for a first year runner, and for a 7th grader. I see him as the fourth 7th grader in. Josiah Chu ran near Sam most of the way and posted a nice time of 13:41. That put him in 15th place at the end. This race was so competitive and so fun to watch. If we only could have had a couple more to complement Sam and Josiah.

In the team scores, both our 6th and under teams ended up 4th. The Wisconsin Lutheran all-star team was the winner in both. The girls were also behind the Shockwave all-stars and Brookfield Christian got us by 3 points. We would have had them if we could have counted 5 girls instead of 4. The boys came in ahead of Shockwave all-stars, but 3 points behind First Immanuel. We ran pretty close to our best so we have no regrets. The 7th and 8th grade girls were in a tie for first with the one other team that scored. Bethlehem got the win because they had a 5th runner. We would have had them if we had our full team on hand.

Thanks to all the DASH families for not shying away of making it out to Cedarburg on the rainy day. Thanks to Mr. Beck for his help with the coaching. Thanks to our homeschool friends from WCHSA for hosting another meet for us. The action was captured in photos by a group of photographers this time. The honors were forced upon Grace Caspers early, giving way to the coach for a short while until Jodi LeSac volunteered for the important duty. Thanks to Grace and Jodi for their efforts. As I write this we are only a day away from some homeschool championship racing. The athletes need to eat healthy, rest up, and be ready to run fast tomorrow. I definitely hope to see you there.

Take care,
Jim Caspers