A Few December Notes

Happy holidays from the coaching staff! Hope you are enjoying December and are looking forward to break. A couple of notes as the semester wraps-up.

We would like all track athletes to take one of the following:

• Zero Period Power Weights (football only)
• Power Weights (1st, 5th, 6th, 8th)
• Sports Training (4th, 7th)

See your counselor for help.

Second, winter conditioning will resume Tuesday January 3rd from 3-4:30. Meet in the weight room and again NO CHARGE

Finally, our Arizona Trip is from March 23rd-26th. We have forms and details if you are interested, please email Coach Padjen if you have any questions.

Have a great break!

December Track Camp

With fall sports wrapping up, its just about that time. Time for winter conditioning! HRHS Track will be having a December Track Camp from November 28th-December 9th for all of our track athletes. This camp is absolutely free! This two week camp will focus on individualized attention for the athletes including but not limited to...form, jumping technique and pre-season conditioning. Each day after school meet in the weight room at 3:00pm. If you have any questions please contact your individual coach or email Coach Padjen. Hope to see you all there!

Student Athlete Combine

Zybek, the group that does the NFL combine, will be coming to OUR SCHOOL on Saturday November 19th. This is a great opportunity to get high-tech testing done the way professional athletes do that way we have a baseline on athleticism and indicates what athletes need to work on (for example, power, strength or speed training). Our Athletic Director, Bruce Wright, will be sending out a flyer with more information so make sure you are on the lookout for that. We encourage all of our athletes to do this!

Winter Conditioning and Upcoming Dates

Happy almost fall break everyone! I know it is tough to get into track mode already but the coaching staff wanted to let you know way ahead of time some dates to keep in mind that way you can start to plan.

The date that is coming up really fast is the start of our Winter Conditioning. Our winter conditioning will be in two phases. The first phase will start November 28th- December 14th. Our off-season condition is one of the reasons why our program has been so successful! The second phase is after Winter Break from January 9th to February 10th. The following week we will hold track camp from Feb 13th-24th followed by the first day of practice on the February 27th. We

are getting excited!

The last date that you need to keep in mind is our Spring Break trip to Arizona. This year we will once again be running at the Chandler Rotary, this meet has been great for us and we hope that we will get the same awesome results as in years past. Our trip will be from March 23-26. Spots fill up fast and they are filled by Varsity athletes first. We will have more information such as prices, hotel and flights as we get closer to the season. If you have any questions please email John Padjen

Speed Camp and Pole Vault Camp Start Next Week

HRHS Track Camps start Monday, June 6. We have two camps:

HRHS Speed/Running Form Camp

• For current 5th, 6th 7th, 8th, 9th, 10th and 11th graders (2015/16 school year) 
• Dates: Monday thru Thursday June 6 - July 1 @ 9:30-10:45 am
• Cost - $125 -- Checks payable to HRHS Track
• Sign-up: June 6 at the entrance of the Main Gym (Camp will meet there each day)
• No pre-registration is necessary. Click here for permission/signup form.

THE PROGRAM WILL INVOLVE FORM/SPEED/AGILITY TRAINING, POWER AND CORE DEVELOPMENT AND PROPER LIFTING TECHNIQUE (It is NOT a conditioning camp)


HRHS Pole Vault Camp

• Two Week Camp (Monday/Wednesday/Friday)
• June 6, 8, 10, 13, 15, and 17 @ 9:45 AM till 11:45 am
• Cost: $140 -- Checks payable to HRHS Track
• Meet first day in East entrance of Highlands Ranch High School by Main Gym with permission form and payment. Click here for permission/signup form.

Questions?  Contact Coach John Padjen

Track Banquet Reminder

Just a reminder that the Track Banquet is tomorrow, Tuesday May 24 @ 6:30pm in the HRHS Commons.

Please RSVP if you have not done so already.

We will provide a main dish (chicken and paninis), drinks and all tableware, and we are asking each FAMILY to bring a side dish, salad, or dessert to share and to contribute $5 at the banquet to help cover the cost of the main dish and other supplies.

THANK YOU! We're looking forward to a great night to celebrate our 2016 season!

Please RSVP for Track Banquet

This is a night to celebrate our season. All Varsity and JV athletes who completed the season with us are invited, along with their families. We will provide a main dish and ask each FAMILY to:

• Contribute $5 toward the costs of the main dish (at the banquet)
• Bring a side dish, salad or dessert to share potluck style

Please click here to RSVP so we can plan quantities for the main dish.

• When:  Tuesday, May 24 @ 6:30 pm
• Where:  HRHS Commons

Please click here to RSVP so we can plan quantities for the main dish.

HRHS Memorial Results, Photos and Video

We didn't have ideal weather for the HRHS Memorial this year, but we got most of the meet in before the storm system took us out.

THANK YOU to all the parents, grandparents, siblings, friends and supporters who made our meet happen. It's impossible to put on a great meet without LOTS of help, and we appreciate everyone who signed up, showed up, took on extra responsibility, came early, stayed late, and generally went above and beyond to help. THANK YOU!!

We don't have our own photos of the meet, but Colorado Milesplit provided full coverage including photos and video! (Unfortunately, you have to be a subscriber to see full size photos and to play videos but you can see hundreds of thumbnails). Click here for results for the events we completed.

We do have photos of our Mother's Day Flower Pick Up last week. Thanks to all the athletes and parents who sold flowers, helped unload the truck and helped get flowers to our supporters before Mother's Day!

UPCOMING EVENTS:

• Final Team Dinner -- Wednesday 5/11 @ Lathrop's (6513 Dutch Creek Street)
• Conference Meet -- This is on two days (Thursday 5/12 and Saturday 5/14 @ Sports Authority Stadium in Parker) with a day in between to give us some cushion in case of weather issues.
• State Meet -- Thursday - Saturday, May 19-21 @ Jeffco Stadium
• Track Banquet -- Tuesday, May 24 @ 5:00 in the HRHS Commons

Frosh/Soph Results and The Rest of This Week

Our Golden Baton winners from Monday's
Colorado Meet of Champions. Two of them
are sophomores!

Our freshmen and sophomores ROCKED at the Continental League Frosh/Soph Championship!

Click here for complete meet results.

Our Boys and Girls both placed 3rd out of 10 teams in our league! Top 8 place winners score team points. Scroll down for a list of Top 8 place winners from the Frosh/Soph Championship.

We are excited to see what the next few years will bring for HRHS Track with such a strong group of freshmen and sophomore girls and boys!

We're not done yet this week! 

Tonight we have Team Dinner for all JV and Varsity athletes at Krusoe's house (9055 S. Forrest Drive).

Tomorrow is the HRHS Memorial at Sports Authority Stadium in Parker, and the forecast is for AWESOME track weather!  Click here for the meet schedule and NOTE that order of some field events is reversed from normal to accommodate some of our athletes who compete in multiple events.

A HUGE THANK YOU to all the parents who have already volunteered to help tomorrow. We still need help (no experience necessary!) in a few areas -- Long Jump, Shot Put, Discus, Pole Vault, Concessions and Coaches Lunch.  If you have an athlete competing in any of these events, or if you can help out in the non-event areas, it's not too late to sign up. Volunteers, look for an email later today about what to expect tomorrow. And plan on our Kentucky Derby party after the meet at On the Rox.

____________________________________

BOYS PLACE WINNERS

100M  -- Ray Robinson (2nd)
200M  -- Ray Robinson (1st), Kaden Smith (4th), Kyle Weston (8th)
400M  -- Kaden Smith (2nd) and Cory Clarke (6th)
800M  -- Andrew Wisniewski (3rd)
1600M -- Caleb Meis (8th)
3200M -- Brody Garlinghouse (8th)
High    --  Kyler Goslee (7th)
Triple  --  Tyson Gilbert (2nd)
Shot    --  Drake Nugent (3rd) and Austin Johnson (8th)
Discus --  Drake Nugent (4th)
4x100  --  1st
4x200  -- 2nd
4x400  -- 8th
4x800  -- 3rd

GIRLS PLACE WINNERS

100M  -- Kyriana Chambo (5th)
200M  -- Kyriana Chambo (5th)
400M  -- Cami Gale (6th)
800M  -- Megan Koch (1st)
1600M -- Katie Ellis (6th) and Eve LaCroix (8th)
100H   -- Shantine DeMasse (7th)
300H   -- Rachel VanGundy (5th)
High   -- JJ Joyner (8th)
Long  -- Lexi DeVilliers (4th)
Triple -- Lexi DeVilliers (6th)
Shot   -- Leilah Vigil (1st), Elena Opp (3rd) and Autumn Watts (4th)
Discus-- Elena Opp (1st) and Leilah Vigil (3rd)
4x100 -- 3rd
SMR  -- 4th
4x800 -- 1st
_________________________________________

Mark Your Calendar: 

• Team Dinner Wednesday May 11 @ 6:30 pm
• HRHS Track Banquet Tuesday May 24 @ 5pm

Meet Results + Flower Pickup + Please Volunteer (new slots open!)

We still have two more meets this week -- the Frosh/Soph Championships today and the HRHS Memorial on Saturday (more on that below -- we still need help!), but we've already posted some great results this week! At Valor's Colorado Meet of Champions, HRHS Track came home with lots of hardware from both individual events and relays!

 Click here for Complete Meet Results -- including our sweep of the Golden Batons for both girls and boys 4x800 meter relays

Special congratulations on these Monday performances:

• Eric Krauss' PR triple jump of 44' 9.5" put him in 3rd on the state leaderboard for 5A and 6th for all classifications! 
• Morgan Krusoe's time of 46.30 in the 300 Hurdles met the National Elite Silver standard.
• Leilah Vigil's shot put of 38-10 also met the National Elite Silver standard.
• Our Boys 4x800 relay moved into 5th in the 5A rankings. 
• Our Girls 4x400 relay moved into 13th in the 5A rankings.
• Our Girls 4x800 relay moved into 15th in the 5A rankings.

Click for Boys and Girls official state rankings. These are changing with every meet. Remember that the top 18 in each classification after next week's Conference meet qualify for the State Meet May 19-21.

Our team is young this year, and we're excited to see how our freshmen and sophomores stack up at today's Frosh/Soph meet. Click here for today's schedule and watch for details on their performances later this week.

LATER THIS WEEK:

• Earlier Flower Pickup -- Thursday May 5 from 1-6 pm. Please remind the people who bought flowers from you to pick them up. We have no way to store plants that are not picked up on Thursday.

• Team Dinner @ Krusoe Family (9055 S. Forrest Drive) on Friday May 6 @ 6:30 pm

• HRHS Memorial Meet: We still need a number of parent volunteers, especially in the horizontal jumps and throws. There are also additional slots open for concessions. The food truck we originally had scheduled canceled so we need more help in that area than originally planned. Please (pretty please??) click here to sign up and help! Also, keep in mind that JV athletes are required to be at the meet helping; they will have specific assignments and will receive community service hours for their work.

Also mark your calendar for:

• Final Team Dinner @ Lathrop Family on May 11 @ 6:30 pm. There are still a few food/beverage items needed for this dinner. Please sign up if you can help provide them.

• Track Banquet. This is for all athletes (JV and Varsity) who finished the season with us on Tuesday, May 24 @ 5pm. More details to come.

Earlier Times for Flower Pick Up

The nursery is delivering our Mother's Day Flowers earlier than originally planned so the time for pick up has changed.

Please communicate this change to the people who purchased flowers from you along with advice to avoid the 2:45-3:15 timeframe when traffic will be heavy due to dismissal from Cresthill and HRHS!

Mother's Day Flower Pickup

When:  Thursday, May 5 (1:00 - 6:00 p.m.)

Where:  In the front of HRHS.  Our tent will be between the Main Entrance and the Student Parking Lot

Thank you for supporting HRHS Track!!

We Need Your Help This Week!

HRHS Track has a lot going on this week, and we need help from our parents with these three events:

• HRHS Memorial Invite on Saturday, May 7: This is the meet we host. We have 54 volunteer slots that need to be filled, and currently only 23 parents/supporters signed up to help (if you're one of them, THANK YOU!). We need your help! Please click here to sign up for a slot.

• The forecast is for sunny and 73. It should be a great day to be outside!

• We need your help so coaches can coach. Without your help, our coaches will be doing some of these jobs instead of coaching our kids. Also...we have 23 slots and 9 coaches so this doesn't happen without more parents pitching in.

• Get a front row seat to see your kid compete! If your son or daughter is a thrower, sign up for throws. If your kid is a jumper or vaulter sign up for jumps or vault. If your kid is a runner, white flag workers and relay exchange zone judges are right on the track. So are awards runners (and they get their exercise for the day too!)

• These jobs are simple. Most involve helping measure or record marks. Some involve watching to see that athletes don't scratch in the jumps and throws or don't go outside exchange zones in the relays. Coaches will help you with everything you need to know to do a great job.  Please find a way you can help.

• Flower Pickup on Thursday, May 5 @ 3:30 - 7pm Noon - 6pm
• This one is easy! Just notify anyone who purchased plants from you that they will be able to come pick them up on this day.
• We'll deliver plants rain, shine (or snow) and have no way to store them after this pickup window so please spread the word!
• We will be in front of the school, with parking close by in the front and student lots. Athletes will be helping carry plants to vehicles.

• Team Dinner on Friday, May 6 @ Krusoe's
• Thanks to those who have already signed up. We still need volunteers to bring food items, drinks and cohost. Click here to see how you can you help.

It's going to be a busy week with three meets scheduled (Monday, Wednesday and Saturday -- and one of them being ours to host), Flower Pickup, and a Team Dinner.  Check our calendar for details and watch for emails from Coach Padjen on meet schedules and any potential changes due to weather. 

Top 10 Reasons to Volunteer for our May 7 Memorial Invite

Maybe you've already signed up to help with the May 7 HRHS Memorial Invitational -- if so THANK YOU!!

Maybe you've been meaning to sign up and just haven't gotten around to it yet -- if so PLEASE SIGN UP NOW!!

Maybe you still need convincing -- if so, here are the Top 10 reasons to sign up TODAY:


10.  This is our 6th annual meet, and we want to keep our reputation alive as the BEST meet in the area! We absolutely can't do this thing without you!! Go Falcons!

9.   When parents help run the meet, coaches are free to...COACH -- that helps our kids perform better!

8.  You'll meet other Ranch parents and interact with some great athletes and coaches from other schools. Seriously...it's FUN!

7.  No Experience Necessary! Coaches will show you everything you need to know to do a great job!!

6.  You get a front row seat to see your kid compete. If your kid is a thrower, sign up for throws. If your kid is a jumper or vaulter sign up for jumps or vault. If your kids is a runner, white flag workers and relay exchange zone judges are right on the track. So are results runners (and they get their exercise for the day too!)

Are you convinced already? Click here to sign up?

5.  Our coaches will be eternally grateful. Our Booster Club leaders will be eternally grateful too!

4.  Our athletes will be grateful for as long as teenagers can be grateful to their parents at this age.

3.  When this sign up sheet is full, you won't get any more emails begging you to sign up!

2.  We serve the best coaches/volunteers lunch at any meet -- hands down!

1.  There's a great after party for parents and coaches only at On the Rox after the meet!

That's the Top 10. All we have left to say is ... PLEASE??  And hopefully ... THANK YOU!

Legend Prom Invite/Liberty Bell Results and Photos

What a week! This week we had varsity races on Thursday, Friday and Saturday. This week we'll have two JV meets and a Varsity meet.

We REALLY need volunteers to help with our May 7th meet that we host! Please sign up here

We are improving our state times. If you are interested to see what has made state the last three years click here. In order to make state you have to be top 18 in your event. Here is how we rank right now. State ranking for girls and boys.

Click here for results from the Legend Prom Invite.
Boys
Girls

Results from Liberty Bell
Boys
Girls

Photos from the weekend

This week in track

• Tuesday 4/26- Team Pictures (bring uniform)
• Wednesday 4/27- JV Championships @ Mountain Vista High School
• Friday 4/29- JV Meet @ HRHS
• Friday 4/29- Team Dinner at Grant Bauer's House following the JV Meet conclusion
• Saturday 4/30- Varsity Meet- Grandview Invitational @ Cherokee Trail HS (Legacy Stadium)
• 25901 E Arapahoe Rd, Aurora, CO 80016

Looking Ahead

• Flower Deliveries are next week on May 5th 3:30-7pm in the HRHS parking lot. Please make a plan with the people who purchased from you to pick them up.
• Mark your calendar for our track banquet. Tuesday May 24th at 5pm in the HRHS Commons. THIS IS FOR ALL JV AND VARSITY ATHLETES WHO FINISH THE SEASON WITH US!

Ponderosa Frosh/Soph Pictures and Results

Welcome to Snowpocalypse 2016. It's been a wild week of weather in Colorado! We had 3 meets this week -- Ponderosa Frosh/Soph @ Sports Authority on Wednesday, JV @ ThunderRidge on Thursday, and what turned out to be Day 1 of 1 of the Pomona Invite @ Jeffco squeezed in before the snow hit on Friday.

Click here for photos and below for results of Wednesday's Frosh/Soph meet:

• Boys results
• Girls results

Click below for results of Friday's Pomona Meet at Jeffco:

• Boys Results
• Girls Results

We have another busy week ahead! Watch for emails for more details and mark your calendar for these events:

• Wednesday 4/20 -- Legend Prom Qualifier @ Sports Authority in Parker

• Thursday 4/21 -- JV @ HRHS

• Friday/Saturday 4/22-23 -- Liberty Bell @ Littleton High School

Click here for our full calendar.

Parents, we need your help with these upcoming events:

• Team Dinner #2 on April 29.  Click here to help provide food.

• HRHS Memorial Meet on May 7. This meet has a reputation for being very efficiently run because our parent volunteers ROCK! (It also has a reputation for one of the best Coaches & Volunteers Lunches in the season....so volunteers get to 1) BE AWESOME and 2) get a great lunch.) We need all hands on deck to make our meet as great this year as it has been every year before! Click here to volunteer -- no experience necessary. Coaches will show you everything you need to know to do a great job!

Eric Krauss Signs with MSU Denver

Congratulations to senior, Eric Krauss, who recently signed to compete in collegiate Track and Field next year with the Metropolitan State University - Denver Roadrunners.

Eric has been part of HRHS Track since his freshman year. As a senior and team captain, he is a triple jumper and long jumper and also contributes on our 4x100 Meter Relay team.

FAQ on State Qualifying

We talk a lot about State Qualifying. The State Meet is the big dance in high school track and field.  If you're new to high school track and field in Colorado (or maybe even if you're not), you might be wondering what a "qualifying meet" is and how athletes qualify for the State Meet. Here's a little FAQ.

Q: What is a State Qualifying meet? 

A:  In order to be a State Qualifying meet, meets must have electronic timing and use wind gauges. With the exception of our very first meet, the Conference Relays, all of our Varsity meets are State Qualifying meets, and both of our Frosh/Soph meets this year are also State Qualifying meets. JV meets are not State Qualifying meets.

Q:  How do athletes qualify for state?
A: The top 18 performers in each event in each division (1A - 5A) qualify for the Colorado State Meet in May.

Q: What division is HRHS in?
A: Highlands Ranch High School is a Colorado Division 5A school. Championships are contested separately for each division.

Q:  What's the story with wind gauges?

A:  Wind gauges are used for long jump, triple jump, 100 meters, 100/110 hurdles and 200 meters. Wind gauge readings of 2.0 meters per second or less are considered "wind legal" and may be used for state qualifying marks, records, and future seedings.The question is whether times and marks in these events are "wind-aided" so positive readings indicate a tailwind (not wind-legal at 2.1 m/s or higher) and negative readings indicate a headwind (a potential disadvantage but all negative readings are wind-legal).  For reference, 2.0 meters/second is about 4.5 miles per hour.

Q: My athlete has a better mark than the one listed for him or her on the MaxPreps and MileSplit leaderboards. Why is the better mark not listed?
A: For those events in which wind matters  (long jump, triple jump, 100m, 200m, 100/110m hurdles),  athletes need to achieve wind-legal marks (trailing wind readings of +2.0 or lower) to qualify for the state meet. Only wind-legal marks will be listed on leaderboards.

Q: MaxPreps vs. MileSplit?
Colorado Track XC (MileSplit) provides local coverage of meets (including photos and articles, some of which are available by subscription only), posts individual meet results, and maintains event leaderboards that can be searched and cut multiple ways (by grade, separated by division or not, etc.). MaxPreps maintains the official CHSSA leaderboards for state rankings. Links to leaderboards on MaxPreps are provided under Useful Links in the right sidebar on our homepage.