Great finish to a slow week

I don't like to dwell on the negatives, so I'll skim the beginning of our week and make it to the good stuff shortly.

It was the last week of the grading period, and because it was the first of the school year - -and because we want everyone to have a good academic start, we allowed some concessions. For instance, practices were missed all week for athletes with a C average or less in any subject area, so that they could attend morning tutorials to try and increase their averages.

However for the rest of the year, athletes will only be allowed to miss one workout a week (when necessary/essential) for a class where their grade is less than a 75 for tutorials. More than one missed practice in a week will prevent the athlete from participating in that week's competitions. I believe this is extremely fair considering all of the time that has been built into each students' day for tutorials (SOAR). The test center (room 244) is open everyday after school (except Friday) for test retakes, and Thursdays after school tutorials are from 4:30-6:30 p.m.

So....enough of that! We had a very productive first week on the mat. Our main focus was to establish routine. The general outline of our workouts has now been set, so I think it will be easier for the guys in upcoming weeks. Outside of working through small kinks practices went well. We taught three different neutral techniques, with multiple finishes. Although we aren't drilling as hard as we would like, the guys are giving outstanding effort (with attempted correct technique) every rep. Right now...That's all a coach can ask for.

To cap off the week many of the team volunteered for the cross country meet. We had an outstanding turnout, and they did an excellent job of working the finish line area. Thank you guys for volunteering, I received many complements on you.

We had many wrestlers that participated in the race, in addition to volunteering. The cross country course was 3.2 mile trail course; on uneven inclines. It was a mental and physical challenge, at which the following athletes represented us very well:

Safer Muhammet: 21:30, Keenan McCord: 22:12, Rodney James: 22:15, Dan Prokop: 22:17, Francisco Hernandez: 22:37, Taylor Henderson: 22:37, Tayler Cameron: 23:20, Kevin Gray: 23:27, Noe Rocha: 23:35, Kenny Harbison: 24:02, Kurt Day: 25:22, Paul Dhot: 25:31, Brian Knechtly: 25:35, Adam Disque: 26:18, Bill Reeves: 26:37 (8 min, 24 sec. or less per mile for 3.2 miles)

Eight of these times would have beat times turned in by athletes that competed varsity. Outstanding job guys!