Team 101: May 26th-June 1st

Hello to all my parents, athletes, and coaches!  As you know I like to be organized (to the extent of my ability) so I am bringing you guys a new weekly post which will update you on all the weeks events, a recap of the previous week, and any important things that you need to know.  Hopefully, since our team is growing at a great rate, this will help keep everyone on the same page.  I will try to update you with all the most important information, but please ask questions if need be.  I realize the week has already begun this week, but I wanted to start this as soon as I could.

Weekly Training/Racing Schedule (All Dates, Locations and Times Subject to Change):

Note: Bad weather does not cancel practice, it may be moved to another area.

May 26th- June 1st (Summer evening training schedule in effect)

Monday- Jefferson Playground 12:00-2:00 (Varsity Curtis Athletes) 
Tuesday- John Curtis 11:30-1:15 (Varsity Curtis Athletes) *No Evening Practice
Wednesday- Jefferson Playground 11:30-1:15 (Varsity Curtis Athletes)
Thursday- Jefferson Playground
Friday- Jefferson Playground 
Saturday- SELRR Meet (Covington High School)
Sunday- On Your Own

Weather Outlook:

Expect much rain over the next few days.  If it is raining around workout time, I will be updating changes in practice schedule on twitter which will automatically load onto the right side of this page.  You can check for updates there.  Please do not call or text several hours before practice even begins.  The weather around here changes swiftly and there is no way to tell what it will look like around practice time.  Between 30-40 minutes before practice I will tweet if practice is changing locations, but I will not tweet if it remains the same.  If practice location changes, 99% of the time it will change to John Curtis High School which is located on Jefferson Highway in River Ridge.

Meet Information:

This weekends meet is the SELRR Season Opener and is located at Covington High School (73030 Lion Dr, Covington, LA 70433) so please Google directions since we do not caravan to meets during the summer.  The running events start at 8:30, and field events for 9:00.  More information on this meet and others later in the year can be found at the Southern AAU regional page.  Please arrive at least 30 minutes before the beginning of your event.  For parents that are new to track and field, our sport is unique in that the schedule follows a flowing format.  As soon as one event ends, the next begins.  There are no official start times for any running event other than the first one.  Therefore, be advised against leaving track meets or trying to plan the time between events.  It is not an exact science!  Also, if ever there is a meet that an athlete will not be attending, please alert coach Chaz beforehand, preferably as soon as you know.

Weekly Notes:

For athletes and parents who missed out on buying team clothing or want to buy some more, I have some items left.  I have a few pair of medium sized running shorts left, a small blue singlet, small and medium white singlets, grey team tees in sizes small, medium, and extra large, and finally the red performance tees in sizes youth extra large, small, medium, large, and extra large.  There are also some red team wristbands still available.

A peek ahead to next week, please note that we are no longer attending the NOTC 2 miler due to me being on jury duty, coach Preston being on vacation, and coach Paz not being able to attend practice.  I will update you next week on our plans for that day.

Also, thanks to all the new athletes and parents giving Southern Athletics a try.  I believe you will have a great summer and progress well as an athlete.

Recent Events:

We had an awesome time this weekend at our first team BBQ of the summer.  Our location was in a smaller pavillion than usual, and with more people, but we did just fine!  Thanks to everyone for coming out.  

I want to point out that we have two new coaches to our Southern Athletics coaching staff.  Howie Inman is a graduate of Covington High School and currently lives on the Northshore, and recent Mississippi College grad Fernando Paz has joined the staff as well.

And just two weeks ago John Curtis boys won our 9th track state title in a row, the longest winning streak for track and field in the state!

Upcoming Events (Subject to Change):

June 7th-8th: Governors Games (Tad Gormley)
June 10th-11th: AAU Multi Event National Qualifier (St. Scholastica Track)

June 13th-15th:  New Balance Outdoor Nationals (Greensboro, NC) *Qualifiers Only

June 13th-15th:  AAU National Qualifier (Covington HS)

June 14th: ACT Date

June 18th: NOTC 2 Miler

June 19th-22nd:  USATF Association Championship (McComb, MS)

June 21st: Distance Time Trial

June 27th: NOTC Track Meet

July 4th-7th: Summer Break #2

July 6th-13th:  AAU Club Championship (Disneyworld Wide World of Sports)

July 19th:  Rollette Invitational (Covington HS)

July 21st-27th:  USATF Junior Olympics (Houston, Texas)

July 25th:  Southern Athletics Distance Relay Race

July 25th- August 3rd:  AAU Junior Olympics (Des Moines, Iowa)

July 31st- August 3rd:  Summer Break #3

August 9th:  End of Summer BBQ

May Update of All Thing Good

Busy, busy, busy.  That's how things have been.  We finished up a great outdoor track season which was quite blessed.  The girls squad placed 10th at the state meet with several qualifiers but mainly featuring Monet Lewis winning the 100 and 300 hurdles.  8th grader Troianna Gause qualified for her second state meet 1600 and ran 5:50 or better a half dozen times this year.  The Curtis boys won their 9th straight track title by narrowly beating Jewel Sumner in the last stretch of the 4x400.  It was an exciting race!

Individually for the boys, Trey Stewart placed third in the 1600, splitting 2:09 for his last 800 to run a 4:40.  Austin Brown was second in the 800 with a time of 1:56.  Also 8th grader Zachary Barthel placed 4th in the 3200 with a 10:25 after a long rain delay.  The show of the meet was Devyn Keith winning the 1600, 800, and 3200 for John Curtis with times of 4:34, 1:55, and 9:59.  All distance runners from the state meet for Curtis return for next year which should mean some fast times in the future.

Congratulations to Christian Paz of both Southern Athletics and John Curtis who signed with Mississippi College to run next year.  Christian was 6th place at the state meet in cross country and 3rd place at the indoor state meet in the 3200.  He finished the year with bests of 4:45 and 10:14.

Now that outdoor track is over, summer track is just beginning!  The Southern Athletics crew is preparing to start their training and racing this coming week.  Expect some fun this summer.  If you are interested in running or racing with us, it isn't too late to sign up!  Just click on the Southern Athletics tab for more information.

And lastly, I have compiled the years worth of Training To Be Your Best and amended some weeks and will be posting both the cross country and track training program very soon for you guys to follow at home and pass along to friends and coaches.

Summer track action is about to begin!