Coach Corcoran returns for his third year to lead our Boys' and Girls' Cross Country teams! Runners practice as a team or on their own according to Coach Corcoran's schedule. Races are generally once a week and begin with our own Charter Stars Invitational!
This year we are holding our Charter Stars Invitational at St. Catherine's University in St. Paul on Tuesday, Sept. 1. Girls will race at 4:30pm and Boys will race at 5pm; both will run a 5k.
Interested in volunteering? We need timers and race hosts at our home Invitational! PLEASE come help us so the race runs as smoothly as possible (pun intended!).
Link to the practice schedule:
http://www.emaconference.org/g5-bin/client.cgi?cwellOnly=1&G5statusflag=view&schoolname=&school_id=781&G5button=13&G5genie=70&vw_schoolyear=1&vw_agl=3246-1-0,&category_sel=&category=
Link to the race schedule:
http://www.emaconference.org/g5-bin/client.cgi?cwellOnly=1&G5statusflag=view&schoolname=&school_id=781&G5button=13&G5genie=70&vw_schoolyear=1&vw_agl=25-2-15,25-3-15,&category_sel=&category=
Are you new to the online Athletics Calendar? You can input your cell number for texting and/or your email address to receive notifications and alerts. Read this guide for directions on getting started.
https://drive.google.com/open?id=0B98l5YmUEEloRUwzeTVVTTRzcTA
Read this season's Welcome Letter from Coach Corcoran:
Hello!
With the summer coming to a close and our first practice of the season right around the corner, I wanted to welcome back any returning players and welcome any new players that will be joining the team for the 2015 school year. It should be an extremely fun and competitive season. My name is Tom Corcoran and this will be my 3rd year coaching cross country for the Stars and I am excited to be back!
Our first practices will be held at McMurray Fields, in St. Paul near Great River School. Before school starts, we will get going at 7:15am to avoid the summer heat in the afternoon. If you know that you are going to be arriving late or cannot make the practice please make sure you email me so we can be sure to all leave as a group for our runs.
Now, even though the summer break is winding down, the heat of summer is going to be with us a little while longer. So, please, please make sure that all of you bring water or some kind of sports drinks to practice with you. Staying hydrated while running is going to be a top priority these first few weeks of practice. We want to make sure we keep everyone safe and healthy. Sometimes drinking too much water right before you isn't the best so try to drink plenty of water about a half hour before practice.
If you have any questions, comments or concerns about the upcoming season, volunteering or towel donations, please feel free to email me anytime. I will respond to any communications as quickly as I can. Well, that’s it for now. Again, we are looking forward to the season you guys and girls. It is going to be a new experience for everyone, and yes, we are going to have a lot of fun doing it!
As far as the schedule goes, this is going to be a VERY important link for the most up-to-date information available.
http://www.emaconference.org/g5-bin/client.cgi?cwellOnly=1&G5statusflag=view&schoolname=&school_id=781&G5button=13&G5genie=70&vw_schoolyear=1&vw_agl=25-2-15,25-3-15,3246-1-0,&category_sel=&category=&multipleSchools=1&vw_monthNZ=7_2015&vw_monthCnt=12&sortColumn=time&sortColumn=time&sortColumn=time&sortColumn=time&cond_date=1
Please bookmark that and check it whenever you have any questions. The runs listed on the "comments" section are the minimum required distances to run, if athletes feel good those distances for the long runs and sprints can be increased accordingly. The "individual workouts" are on days before meets. On days before meets, some athletes may just need a rest day to nurse an injury while others who are feeling strong can get in another workout on those days. I'll talk to each athlete individually to see what the best approach will be.
Meets will be on Tuesdays and Thursdays and the general plan will be to have at least 4 workouts a week: 2 sprint workouts and 2 long runs.
Sprint workouts are generally on Mondays and Fridays unless we have a meet on aTuesday. Sprint workouts are sets of either 200m or 400m distances that can be completed in around 20 minutes. Due to the short practices on sprint days, I'm not going to expect GRS students to come to TCA to run and instead GRS students should find a meeting place at GRS and do the workouts together. TCA students will meet in the cafeteria during office hours on Mondays and Fridays to complete sprint workouts.
The long runs will be as a full team at TCA after school on the following dates: August 26, September 2, 3, 8, 15, 17, 22, 29, October 6, 14. GRS athletes, please start planning now for transportation to TCA on those dates.
Finally, we will have a home meet on September 1st. We will need around 10 volunteers to work that day to help take times and be spotters along the course, if you are interested in helping out, please let me or coach Ilse Larson know.
See you soon,
Coach Corcoran
