Volume 1, Issue 2
September 4, 2009
Memory of Jamie Block Lives Strong Another annual Jamie Block Grade Level Challenge has come and gone, yet the memories of Jamie‟s incredible spirit and love of running continue to live strong through his family, friends, and hundreds of runners. The 7th annual memorial race in Block‟s honor was completed at the West Bend High School grounds August 29th. Over 700 runners from 16 schools traversed the same course Jamie had during his four years („93-‟96) as a standout runner for the Spartan cross country team. The Grade Level Challenge, which began in 1991, was named after Jamie Block in 2003. He graduated from West Bend West in 1997, and would go on to run four years of track and cross country at UW-Stout, where the annual Alumni/Intrasquad Meet is also named in his honor. On September 7th, 2002, Jamie collapsed and died a mile from the finish line during the running of the Dick Beardsley Half Marathon in Detroit Lakes, Minnesota. His body succumbed to severe heat exhaustion and heat stroke, which led to sudden cardiac trauma. Jamie left behind his father Dennis, mother Diane, and sister Sara….as well as hundreds of loving friends, teammates, and extended family members. The day Jamie passed, the West Boys CC team was at UW-Parkside for the annual Rebel Invite. Block‟s former teammate and current Spartan Coach Scott Hammer remembered that day. “It was some of the hottest and muggiest conditions we‟ve ever run in. In a close knit running community, it didn‟t take long for the terrible news to reach me”, recalled Hammer. The idea to name the Grade Level Challenge after Jamie was fostered by Coach Scott Hammer and [then] Assistant Coach Kevin Martini - both former runners with Jamie at West Bend West. After contacting the Block family and making some contacts with the Athletic Director, meet organizers swiftly put together details by Fall of 2003 to have the home meet known as the Jamie Block Cross Country Challenge from that day forward.
“I will enjoy every stride and triumph in every completed
“We knew immediately this was something special—a legacy of Jamie‟s love for running, kept alive by an annual event in his home town. Seven years later we feel so very fortunate and honored to have our son remembered through this event and by so many runners and families,” said Dennis Block, Jamie‟s father. As they have every year since, the Block family was strong in attendance at this year‟s meet. They cheer for the West Bend kids out on the course, and then present the medals and trophies at the awards ceremony in conclusion of each meet. “Being at the meet—knowing what it meant to Jamie—is keeping Jamie‟s spirit alive and a way to thank West Bend High School and the coaching staff for this incredible honor,” commented Dennis Block. Jamie grew up living at Camp Silverbrook in West Bend, which his dad still manages today. Jaime worked there (Continued on page 2)
1
The Spartan Harrier
Spartans Breeze to Strong Starts Girls 6th, Boys 7th at Jamie Block Grade Level Challenge (8/29/09) It just felt like Cross Country at the 7th annual Jamie Block Memorial. With overcast skies and cool temperatures, conditions would have been nearly perfect if not for the stiff northwest wind. “Talk about a jump start into cc season…it felt like October,” said girls coach Naomi Fulton. In a meet intended to allow runners to benchmark themselves against similar grade levels, as opposed to designating Varsity and JV runners, both Spartan coaches were pleased with how the teams started their competitive seasons. Girls: The girls finished 6th out of 15 teams behind Neenah, Fond du Lac, Green Bay Preble, Cedarburg and Port Washington. The Lady Spartans were paced by solid performances in the first race of the day, the Freshman/Sophomore division. Newcomer Candice Wayne (6th soph, 17:00) and returning letterwinner Taylor Uebersetzig (7th soph, 17:00) ran near the front of the pack and turned in the team‟s fastest times to pace the Varsity scoring. “Candice and Taylor had great races…they ran the entire race together and pushed each other the whole way,” said Coach Fulton. Also factoring into the scoring for the Spartans were two freshmen. Kayla Janto (8th Frosh, 17:27) and Molly Hertz (14th Frosh, 18:13) each earned medals for their performances in their first official cross country race. Other top performances from the Frosh/Soph race were Jonelle Ritger (So, 18:30), Eden Rogers (Frosh, 18:45), Alissa Kuester (Frosh, 19:30), and Valentina Skurek (Frosh, 19:30). Later in the morning, the team veterans laced up the spikes. Top returning letterwinner, Raina Wedeward (15 th Jr, 17:27) led the way, with seniors Jenny Lemminger (18:22) and Cate Virnich (18:22) close behind. Other top performances from the Junior/Senior race were Megan Thiesen (Jr, 19:14), Brittany Verano (Sr, 19:14), and Melissa Dock (Jr, 19:25). (Continued from page 1)
as a lifeguard, summer counselor and adventure trip coordinator. His interest in running began in middle-school— often joining his dad‟s Army fitness runs. By 9th grade he was leaving “Dad” in his dust!
Memory of Jamie
(Continued on page 3)
After his experience as a freshman on the WB West Cross Country team in 1993, Dennis recalled that Jamie was hooked on the sport for life. “Not just with running—but being a team member, leader, and friend. Jamie had two great lifetime mentors in team captain Scott Hammer, and his first coach, Boyd Janto,” said Block. Jaime managed to crack into the Varsity Top 8 on that team, which would eventually go 121-1 in winning the only State Championship in the program‟s history. Head Coach of the 1993 team Boyd Janto remembers Jamie well. “We had solid leaders up and down that team,” recalled Janto. “But I don‟t remember a team I‟ve run on or coached that ever had a freshman with a greater presence than Jamie did. He was a natural runner and a natural leader. Everyone loved being around Jamie.” Block never looked back. He would go on to earn four varsity letters at West, guiding two more Spartan teams to the State Meet. He earned All Conference and Academic All State honors in his junior and senior seasons. As a senior, he was the team captain, team MVP, and the Wisconsin Little Ten Athlete of the Year in cross country. He medaled (Top 15) in his age group during every Grade Level Challenge he ran, including 2 nd as a Junior and 4th as a Senior in a time of 16:46 for 5000 meters. (Continued on page 3)
2
The Spartan Harrier
Did You Know?
Strong Starts at Challenge
(Continued from page 2)
...that both Coach Fulton and Coach Hammer placed in the 800m at the Div I State Track Meet during their high school days?
After several solid weeks of practice, Coach Fulton stated she‟ll continue to have the team focus on pack running and staying strong between miles 1 and 2. “I think this team has a lot of potential and I‟m very excited about the season. Let‟s go Lady Spartans!” said Fulton.
Old Man Hammer ran 1:55.7, finishing 2nd in 1994.
Coach Scott Hammer approached this meet a bit differently than previous years. “Obviously I wanted the guys to run a smart, tactical race. But the team expectations were not about winning the meet...rather it was more along the lines of having all 40 guys improve on where they were last year at this time,” Hammer said.
Naomi (Bong) Fulton ran 2:17.7 in 2005, finishing 6th for Arrowhead. Who was the winner of that race? That would be WBW Spartan, Megan Duwell! Go Spartans!!
Boys: The Spartan boys finished 7th out of 15 teams. Neenah and Oshkosh North were well in front, but the Spartans fell in the middle of a tightly-packed group of teams between 3rd and 11th, and outpaced conference foes Beaver Dam and West Bend East.
While the boys team lost a lot to graduation, they have a strong group of upper classmen that showed they‟ll contend this year. In the Junior/Senior race the top three scorers were Ben Skurek (8th Jr, 18:04), Ryan Goralski (15th Jr, 18:23) and Eric Stoll (16th Jr, 18:24). Goralski‟s time was nearly a 2 minute PR. Other top performers were seniors Sam Eichner (18:43) and Aaron Serwe (18:46) and junior Mason Petrin (19:05). Most impressive was keeping the leading five scorers within 39 seconds of each other. That was close to Hammer‟s stated goal of 30 seconds between #1 and #5. “If we are going to be competitive at Conference this year, we must master the difficult task of running in a pack,” commented Hammer. The strongest races turned in during the Freshman/Sophomore race were by medal winners Noah Eichner (8th Soph, 18:35) and AJ Emerich (15th Frosh, 20:48). Eichner‟s time factored into the top 5 for the team‟s varsity score.
(Continued on page 4)
The Coaches also competed in Cross Country.
Memory of Jamie (Continued from page 2)
Hammer was an All State runner in 1993, finishing 9th in 16:24 for 1st place WBW. Fulton was an All State runner in 2002, finishing 10th in 15:16 for 3rd place Arrowhead.
The Block Family continues to be deeply touched by the support and encouragement they garner from the annual Jamie Block Grade Level Challenge. To show their appreciation, the Block family presents a memorial Columns Scholarship to an East or West HS male or female runner/athlete each year. “I will continue to run. Only, I will run like Jamie. I will enjoy every stride and triumph in every completed mile. I will run with passion and gratefulness. I will not only run this way, I will live this way. That is what Jamie was trying to teach all of us to do. He ran one more, dramatic, final race to make his point clear and get our attention. He was successful in this task, and I am forever grateful for the lessons he has taught me about running and about life. I know I will continue to miss him. This world has lost a great runner and an even greater person.” -UW-Stout Teammate and friend Jaime Souza
3
The Spartan Harrier
Strong Starts at Challenge (Continued from page 3)
The fact that the JV squad placed 4th is a testament to the depth that the team has. “We had some fantastic performances from a year ago,” said Hammer, as he singled out a few more standout performances: Harrison “PR” Waala (So) ran a 21:41, a 6:54 improvement over his time last year and a PR. Brenan Holmes (Jr), ran a 24:15, a 5:42 improvement over his time last year. Steven Legate (JR), ran a 24:04, which is a 4:43 improvement over his time last year.
Top 20 Boys Times FRESHMAN (Downs, Phil 15:53) 1 Jurss, Jacob 2 Bodensteiner, Luke 3 Schumacher, Michael 4 Hug, Ollie 5 Hansen, Geoff 6 Martiny, Kevin 7 Minderman, Nick 8 Theis, Adam 9 Punzenberger, Luke T-10 Block, Jamie T-10 Grundahl, Aaron T-12 Kautza, Chris T-12 Loduha, Nathan 14 Hammer, Tyler 15 Eichner, Noah 16 Lache, Nic 17 Mitchell, Dan 18 Kelley, Mike 19 Tenges, Josh 20 Mrazik, Chris
SOPHOMORE Time
Year
16:37 16:55 17:00 17:24 17:35 17:42 17:45 17:49 18:02 18:10 18:10 18:17 18:17 18:18 18:24 18:25 18:26 18:28 18:31 18:33
2003 1984 2004 1993 1991 1993 1994 2004 1994 1993 1993 2004 2002 1994 2008 2006 1982 2004 1993 1992
(4 Tied with 15:32) Time 1 Jurss, Jacob 2 Schumacher, Michael 3 Minderman, Nick 4 Hammer, Scott 5 Bodensteiner, Luke 6 Rogers, Elton 7 Theis, Adam 8 Lache, Nic 9 Sullivan, Mark 10 Block, Jamie 11 Widmann, Chris 12 Baumann, Ben 13 Kautza, Chris 14 Mitchell, Dan 15 Stoll, Eric 16 Martiny, Kevin 17 Hansen, Geoff 18 Zahn, Chris 19 Clingan, Jesse 20 Dreher, Mitch
Junior
16:19 16:28 16:35 16:36 16:42 16:47 16:48 16:57 16:59 17:05 17:07 17:09 17:17 17:19 17:22 17:27 17:28 17:29 17:35 17:36
Year 2004 2005 1995 1991 1985 2006 2005 2007 1996 1994 1987 2006 2005 1983 2008 1994 1992 1994 1998 2002
Senior Time
Year
1 Jurss, Jacob
(Solinski 15:07)
16:05
2005
1
2 Sullivan, Mark
16:15
1997
2 Hammer, Scott
3 Minderman, Nick
16:18
1996
16:23 16:27 16:36 16:36 16:37 16:40 16:47 16:50 16:53 16:54 16:55 17:08 17:11 17:12 17:14 17:14 17:17
1992 2006 1993 1993 1986 1993 2007 2006 2004 2007 1988 1985 1995 1990 1995 1994 1994
4 Hammer, Scott 5 Schumacher, Michael T-6 Gundrum, Andy T-6 Hansen, Geoff 8 Bodensteiner, Luke 9 Hudson, Dan 10 Rogers, Elton 11 Theis, Adam 12 Jacques, Dale 13 Baumann, Ben 14 Widmann, Chris 15 Oldson, Paul T-16 Block, Jamie T-16 Steward, Jeff 18 Hug, Ollie 19 Cooper, Chuck 20 Mrazik, Chris
(Solinski 14:54) Time Bodensteiner, Luke
T-3 Jurss, Jacob T-3 Minderman, Nick T-5 Bauman, Ben T-5 Block, Jamie 7 Steward, Jeff 8 Janto, Boyd 9 Hansen, Geoff 10 Sullivan, Mark 11 Rogers, Elton 12 Jacques, Dale 13 Gundrum, Andy 14 Schumacher, Michael 15 Theis, Adam 16 Kautza, Chris T-17 Krochalk, Tim T-17 Coutts, Ryan T-19 Sullivan, Matt T-19 Zahn, Chris
4
16:00
Year 1987
16:11
1993
16:14
2006
16:14 16:17 16:17 16:20 16:21 16:30 16:33
1997 2008 1996 1991 1985 1994 1998 2008 2005 1994 2007 2007 2007 1991 2005 1991 1996
16:39 16:45 16:47 16:53 16:54 17:04 17:08 17:08 17:09 17:09
Catching up with Brittany Verano An interview with the 2009 lady spartan Team Captain * When did you first start running competitively? I started running competitively when I was in middle school. I had gone out for Badger Middle school's track team in 7th grade when my gym teacher told me I would enjoy it a lot. Surprisingly enough, I hated to run long distances and only ran the 200 and the 400 throughout my middle school running career. * Why did you decide to go out for CC? When I was a freshmen I knew that I wanted to go out for a high school sport to make new friends and to stay in shape as I got older. I had been to many cross country races previously to entering high school because my friend's older sister was on the team. The girls were very nice, and I finally worked up the courage to sign up for cross country, even though I hadn't done any training before then. * What and/or who motivated you to improve as a runner? My motivation is definitely my family and my desire to run the fastest time I can accomplish. I love crossing the finish line feeling so drained and exhausted, knowing that I have just completed what used to be a difficult task for me. I used to dread running the mile and now I enjoy running more than double that! It's a great feeling that I guess can only be described as pride. * How do you exercise your leadership roll on the team? I make sure everyone is doing what they are supposed to be doing (as in stretches, strides etc) and I make sure that those who aren't running are out there cheering for the girls that are! I know it helps me majorly hearing my name screamed as I run by a large crowd and I want everyone to have that same recognition and feeling. * How did the team's off-season preparation go? We had an optional summer running program where we met Monday through Saturday, bright and early at 8, at Badger Middle School. While we didn't have a concrete plan, we often ran hard workouts at least twice a week and occasionally a longer run. We made sure we weren't just running thirty minutes easy every day, and even had breakfast runs or days that we just biked. * How does the team look so far? For being a young team I would say we are looking pretty good! The huge new group of freshmen we have on the team now are running amazing times and it is only the beginning of the season!! I anticipate seeing their results as they run more races and become more experienced! I only see improved times and even improved team standings by the end of the season. * What goals does the team have for this season? I think that a good goal for our team this year would be to strive for a better ranking among our competition. The past couple of years we have had some difficulty achieving a higher ranking with the loss of our big senior group when I was a freshmen. I think that the growth of our team will ensure that we will place higher at races this year. * What specific goals do you have for yourself this year? I would say that my only goal is to reach or better my personal record before the end of my senior year. It may be tough but I am going to push myself to reach it. Also, to get more sleep:) * What is your favorite HS CC memory to date? There are so many to choose from! But if I did have to pick a specific one I would have to say the summer running camp we went to at Camp Silverbrook during my sophomore year was very fun! We all stayed in one big cabin, ran some good workouts, ate smores, played campfire games and even had the chance to go kayaking! It was a lot of fun!! I wish we could have had that same opportunity this past summer. * Anything else you'd like to share? I'm really glad I am able to be captain of a team I love so much and have enjoyed my whole high school career! I am going to be really sad when it ends and will miss seeing all the girls improve and continuing their running career throughout high school!!
5