Cheers and Jeers
Sportswriter Steve Tietz will use this blog to try to duly reward the great, praise heartily the hard-working, uncover the unsung, and take to task the spoilsport, the foul-mouth and the crass in the local prep sports scene. He'll try to remember that kids are just kids and that coaches aren't in it for the money. He'll try to gently remind parents that the kids are playing for fun, not for profit and that the officials, though occasionally human and therefore prone to error, are there to ensure fair play and not out to get anyone.
The best girls CC conference in the state? No question that it's the North Shore
In a normal cross country universe, Germantown girls coach Nancy Pietrowiak would be making plans for her eighth-ranked in state team to work hard and then possibly celebrate a league title this Saturday when the North Shore meets at Tendick Park in Saukville on Saturday.
After all, the Warhawks have won three major meets this season including the last two in a row and come in on a roll.
But instead, when the 11:10 a.m. race rolls around, Pietrowiak will likely put on her normal intense game face, mix it with an air of resignation and then hope that her talented team can take a strong third.
Because she knows that it will be very hard for her squad to get past the human sonic booms that are top-ranked in state and defending WIAA champ Whitefish Bay and number two ranked Homestead.
And did I mention that Port Washington is ranked sixth in state Division 2 polls and that Nicolet is vastly improved?
"We know that we have our work cut out for us," she said, "but we are concerned with what we need to get done, not with what other teams are doing."
Such is the way of the CC world this brisk and swift fall close along the northern suburban Milwaukee Lake Michigan shore.
That's because Bay and Homestead will likely stage a race for the ages if conditions are good. Germantown won the Port Washington Invite by a substantial margin last week at Tendick and turned in some scorching times, while the veteran-laden Blue Duke and Highlander squads will be getting their first looks at it this season though their veteran-laden teams are well-familiar with the layout.
Homestead stunned an illness-ridden Blue Dukes early in the season at the Arrowhead Invite where new Highlander coach Victor Vilar announced that he "has the utmost respect for Bay" and noted that it wouldn't be long until the Blue Dukes were back in peak form.
Try just about a week later, when a healthier Blue Duke squad took advantage of tight course condittions at Kletzsch Park in Bay's Vanden Avond Invite and dominated the Highlanders in a rematch.
Since that time, the pair have rolled virtually untouched, laying waste to the state's best competition and doing some decent work out-state too (Bay was seventh in the large school division of the powerful Griak Invitational in Minnesota a few weeks ago)..
The Highlanders have buried fields in Janesville and in Madison and for good measure, sent their junior varsity to a 16-team varsity meet in Racine, where that unit demonstrated Homestead's depth by taking a respectable eighth.
Meanwhile, the Blue Dukes won the Purgold Invite at Sheridan Park, though in less than spectacular fashion by coach Mike Miller's demanding standards. The Blue Dukes have owned the North Shore Conference this decade not having lost a meet and frequently winning by wide margins.
But make no question about it, this meet will likely be very close.
Bay will come in with the emotional baggage that every defending champion has: that sense that there is a very large target painted on their backs.
The Blue Dukes have championship experience at all levels. Emma-Lisa Murphy and state 3,200-meter track champion Kenzie Vicker were all-state in the Blue Dukes CC title run last fall and Megan Palmer was state track 800 champ in 2008 and was all-state in CC in Bay's runner-up charge of 2007.
Homestead will come in with an enormously large and motivated senior class. A sophomore, Lauren Holtz, has been their frontrunner and she recently won her first individual title out in Madison, but hard-charging and tight-packing seniors Kelsey Boyle, Caity Bobber and Sarah Miller are the guts and soul of this team, frequently making their marks in the top 10.
They also have extra motivation, as they are running for their late coach Andy Edington, who passed away suddenly on a training run last spring. These Highlanders have worn their hearts on their sleeves ever since but have their tactics and determination firmly planted in Edington's bedrock principles.
"I've spoken to the girls, and I've learned what a great man he (Edington) was and how much he meant to them," said Vilar in an earlier story on the topic. " I'm going to try and help them keep moving forward. ... I'm going to give them the opportunity to run for him."
And for the honor of the sport.
Both teams will have been off two weeks when they sprint away from the starting line on what is expected to be a cool but dry day in Saukville. Both coaches are understandably nervous about the competition, but anxious to get going.
"This just speaks so well to the state of cross country in the area," Vilar said. "The competitive spirit has picked up a great deal. We're really excited about the opportunity. I like the idea that we have a chance to really push things and I hope we're ready to take advantage."
"This will be no doubt the best conference meet anyone has seen in 10 years," said Miller. "...It's going to be a great race. We're just practicing hard and hoping to stay healthy while also hoping that we're emotionally and mentally ready for the championship portion of the season."
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