First practice of the year is Wednesday, September 4! Make sure you register before then!
District Online Payment System: LINK
Meet Schedule: LINK
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Welcome to the 2019 season of the Hale cross country team! I’m very excited to be back coaching the team this fall for my 12th season, and I can’t wait for us to get started! This year, I will be teaching a little further away from Hale, so I will be relying on an assistant coach to get practices & meet day preparation started - a big thank you to Sara Anderson, who will be helping me out again this season to make it possible for me to coach the team again!
PARTICIPATION REQUIREMENTS
The Hale
cross country team is open to any student who wishes to participate, provided
the following criteria are met:
- A student must be in good academic standing
(refer to the Hale student handbook).
- A student will not be able to practice or
compete until an up-to-date physical is on file. The physical must have
been conducted within the past 13 months; the physical on file needs to be
replaced with a newer physical if the 13-month period expires mid-season.
- Online Registration must be completed before
the first team practice of the season (Wednesday, September 4).
- A User Fee of $55 must be paid before the
first meet. All checks should be made out to Hale Middle School and
submitted to the school office.
Team members must
plan on attending all team events, including practices, and they cannot miss
any team event to attend another non-school-sponsored sport. If an athlete has
a conflict with a school-sponsored activity, such as an extra help session,
instrument lesson, or club meeting, please let the coach know in advance. I do
allow team members to miss practice for club meetings / band practice / extra
help sessions, but I do ask that team members be in attendance for all meets.
If an athlete is unable to attend a team event due to illness, religious
observance, or other unexpected conflict, please contact the coach.
PRACTICES
Practices
will be held every Monday through Thursday unless there is a scheduled meet.
Practice will run from 2:30pm to 3:45pm.
Please bring a pair of running shoes or sneakers, a pair of athletic shorts or
sweatpants, and a weather-appropriate shirt. You will be practicing into late October, and some of you may run into
November, so please dress accordingly!
If
the weather outside is too poor to conduct an outdoor practice, we will hold
that day’s practice in the school gym. Should the weather be bordering on
dangerous, I will cancel practice outright. Be advised: I only cancel practices in extreme circumstances. If a
practice is canceled, I will notify parents via e-mail, and there will be an
announcement made at the school to inform the athletes. If you do not hear
anything, assume that the practice is still on.
There
may be additional practices on Fridays and Columbus Day, depending on what I
feel we need to focus our training on. These practices will be announced in
advance, and they will be held off campus at one of the town’s conservation
areas. I know that not everyone has easy access to transportation, so any practice held on a Friday or Columbus
Day is optional - attendance is not required. If you can make these
practices, that’s great - be advised that these workouts will be challenging,
and they will be designed to target specific areas of our training that we
can’t address at Hale. If you are unable to make it, that’s totally fine -
enjoy your day off, and we will see you at our next regularly scheduled team
event.
MEETS
Our
home meets will be held at Hale Middle School. I will try to start them as soon
as possible, but they generally start shortly after 3:45pm. The delay is usually due to the other team: they have to
travel from their school to us, then they need to walk the course so that they
know where they’re going. Our course is one of the longer races we will run
this year, coming in at about 3km (1.87mi) in length. You are always more than
welcome to come watch our meets - if you arrive late, please be careful of athletes
running down Hartley Road, as the meet may have already started.
For our
away meets, there will be a bus that takes students to the meet and back to
Hale. If you are interested in coming to watch, I will try to provide an
address to our away meets. There are three options to return to Hale from our
away meets:
- OPTION 1: Your athlete returns to Hale on
the bus. If your athlete is returning to Hale on the bus, I do not need to
know in advance.
- OPTION 2: Your athlete goes home with a
parent/guardian. If you are taking your own athlete, I do not need to know
in advance. Please check in with me before you leave.
- OPTION 3: Your athlete goes home with
someone else. If your athlete is going with any other individual, advance notice is required. Please send
me an email before we get on the bus the day of the meet (approx. 2:30pm). If no
notice is received, your child will return to Hale on the bus.
STATE CHAMPIONSHIP MEET /
ADDITIONAL MEETS
We
will be competing in the Massachusetts Middle School Cross Country Championship
this fall. It will be held on Saturday, November
9 at Willard Field in Devens, MA. This meet is open to anyone on the team who
wishes to participate; anyone who enters will be able to run in a race. Please
mark your calendars and let me know if you are interested in competing.
We
may also be participating in another invitational meet in late October,
depending on what our schedule looks like - I will send along more details as
the day approaches.
MEET RESULTS
I
have set up a page at Blogger to post results from all our meets, optional
workouts, links to the season schedule, and other important information - check
it out when you get the chance: coachbenlangelo.blogspot.com
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