TEAM STORE NOW OPEN! Deadline: 8/17 at 11:59pm

 The BSN Team Store is now open for our program. You can order any of the items on the team store, including this jacket. Personalization should be available on the jacket. This jacket is an optional purchase, as are all items on the store. We will use this jacket for two seasons, or more, so it would be an investment long term.

All orders MUST be placed by Tuesday, August 17, at 11:59pm. There will not be any changes to that window as the delay also delays the receipt of the merchandise. Athletes and parents are not allowed to ask about their order until after Thursday, September 16. We give BSN four full weeks to process the items. If you have any questions about the order process, please let Coach Clarey know. Use the LINK HERE to access the team store.

"Hawaiian Knight with the Cougars" - An All KXC Family Event - Aug. 6

 KXC Families and Alumni, let's make history! Our first ever Cougars game with our own KXC section and special pricing! Please use the details below to help navigate your purchase of tickets and parking passes for the game on Friday, August 6th. This is a fireworks night with the Cougars, and someone you may know could be throwing out the first pitch (he didn't sign up for it).

Tickets are $5, and parking is $6,  We are Section 114.  There is a transaction fee to purchase online. As mentioned in the headline above, it is Hawaiian Night with fireworks, and apparently one of our own is throwing out the first pitch so you could get there early... but no rush. Just get there!!

- For the tickets, you can go here and choose the seats you'd like for your family:   
https://www.ticketreturn.com/prod2/signin.asp?UserID=KanelandXC&Password=Kaneland&submit=Continue&Cookies=yes&HoldID=18833

- And for the parking, they can go to our website, select "Purchase Parking Passes" under the "Tickets" tab, and use promo code "KHSXC" to apply the discount. The parking can be found here:
https://www.ticketreturn.com/prod2/BuyNew.asp?EventID=315530#.YPslWY5KiUk

If you have any questions, please contact Coach Clarey or Brian and Cindy Babka. Special thanks to the Babka Family for helping us get this opportunity to celebrate our KXC Families and Alumni getting together in such a fun way.

KXC Boys Logging Summer Training

 Our team will use a similar method to recording our summer training this season. On the link to the right, please find the 2021 Summer Training Log to enter your data. You will see names at the bottom on tabs, and you can click on the arrows in the bottom right to find your name. Athletes registered for camp appear on this training log. Please take the time to record your work, and consider this an opportunity to shine in the effort you're putting into your training. 

Open up your Chromebook from school, keep this bookmarked, and log all the running, swimming and biking that you are putting in each week. Remember that your "hard miles" include all the running you do in camp and on your own. The "soft miles" consist of 15 minutes of sustained swimming and biking which equals one "mile." Athletes who bike for 50 miles should not record the 50, but every 15 minutes that they are actively working on the bike.

The coaches are working on an alternative application, using Strava and your wearable technology (GPS watch or iWatch), to track data automatically. We will let you know when we're ready to put this to use. For now, this digital system is the best version of what we have for collectively celebrating your hard work in and out of camp. Use it!!

Summer Running Begins June 21 - Camp Starts July 6

In an effort to implement our season's worth of training, those who are ready may begin with the calendar on our blog. We will use consecutive weeks of training, beginning with four weeks of base mileage work that allows for us to safely transition to our workouts in Week 5. When you begin, plan on starting with Week 1 on the link provided. If you should miss a week due to vacation or other reasons, plan on only advancing to the next consecutive week's work. If you should have any questions, please contact Coach Clarey.

Welcome to KXC! Our Summer Camp Begins on July 6

 Great to see our newest faces of KXC this evening. Please use this link to connect to the KXC Summer Roster so that we can get acquainted and connected. For those of you who are interested, you can easily join our KXC Remind group by texting @kanela to 81010. This connects you to important messages about camp and other upcoming events that you can take part in. You are also able to reply back to Remind texts, so a coach can help answer questions.

Our Summer Running begins on July 6, and we will be meeting regularly at the following locations:

MONDAYS: Elburn Lions Park (6am to 7:30) - come to the large parking lot just north of the buildings. We have some summer lifting work for those interested, back at Kaneland. Please join us if you are able.

TUESDAYS: Nelson Lake Forest Preserve (6am to 7:30) - this is also known as the Dick Young Forest Preserve (we park in the lot on Nelson Lake Road)

THURSDAYS: Kaneland High School Track (6am to 7:30) - we meet here, but use the full facility for our work. For those who are able, again, we will do some weight work after 7:30 and would be done around 8:15 or so

FRIDAYS: Off Campus Locations (6:30 to 8:00)  - we will go to Big Rock Forest Preserve on 7/9, Leroy Oakes FP in St Charles on 7/16, Afton FP in Dekalb on 7/23 and Silver Springs which is just west of Yorkville on 7/30.

If you should have any questions, chances are they'll be answered on our first day of camp. We will have some digital things to log our training, and other calendars and such in paper form for the athletes and families.

Looking forward to a TREMENDOUS summer, and many new runners and families to join our programs.

Awards Night Link

 KXC Families,

Below is the link to our Awards Night, set for Wednesday at 6:30pm. Please come ready to make history as the first ever KXC Awards Show goes online. Come in your pajamas if you like. Wear a costume if you need to. You can even tune in to us while you're having your family dinner. 

We only ask that you're present as we roll through the classes, starting with freshmen and ending with the seniors. Step in and out of the meeting as you see fit. This will be our boys team only on Wednesday, in order to keep the Zoom minutes to a minimum.

See you on Wednesday at 6:30pm, at this link....

KXC AWARDS NIGHT ZOOM LINK

Kaneland PutsThe Scare in CLC, Takes Second in Sectional on Halloween

 

As Crystal Lake Central may have had the best runners in the field, it was the Knights of Kaneland who took the field by storm and nearly flipped the script on the Tigers. CLC had not won a Sectional title since 1996, and for a long-storied program with many successes, it was their turn to hold the plaque. We gave everything we had and wound up showing the field that we are indeed True Champions.

The format of three flights was new history for us as well. Not running in our usual pack made it very challenging to do what we do so well. Our goals of having small points in the last flight and the fastest fifth runner were achieved, even when on paper that was not to be the case.

In the first flight of the day, Christian Phillips didn’t wait long to move out to the front of the pack and take over the race. Brady Babka wisely hung in with the chase pack and eventually broke loose. Each ran their race plans to perfection, with Christian pacing the gator that was filming him, all the way to a 16:36 effort on the hilly course. Babka clocked in at 16:56, again with a big Sub 17 effort. On this day, it would be huge. Phillips finished the day in 22nd place, and Babka was 37th overall.

The second race featured some very gutsy efforts by our seniors. With strong power from CLC’s 3-4-5, they were heavy favorites coming into the race to use that power and win big. All three, on paper, were to defeat our #3 scorer. Aaron Lodwig stuck himself right in the mix at the front of the pack through two miles, and heading to the second surge point felt confident in taking the lead. With about a half mile to go, a CLC-led pack started moving forward. They took a 40m advantage on the field at 400m to go. Parker Malone found an extra gear, going uphill, and incredibly wiped out that advantage in 300m.

On the final turn of the race, Parker had caught the lead runners and was preparing for another blistering finish like those he uses on Isaiah in practices. At the turn, his shoulder caught the white PVC pipe flag and his 1-2-3 strides were 1-2-3 seconds on the ground as he was flung to the turf. Courageously, Malone gathered himself and completed his race with honor and grit, clocking in at 16:32 as our #2 runner, good for 18th place.

Not lost in the mix, Lodwig and Logan Cunz continued to battle and grind to the finish chute. Aaron grabbed 27th overall in the meet (16:46), with Cunz right behind in 28th at 16:51. All three were ahead of CLC’s #5 runner.

In the final race of the season, Isaiah Dallal and Nolan Allen had the toughest job of all. Neither had teammates to key off for the run. This unique format for racing is contradictory to how our team competes and achieves.

Dallal had the goal of running with the pack of elite Top 10 runners and score some small points. Seeded 10th on Regional efforts, Isaiah rose to 7th in the standings. He was the first finisher from our Regional in the field. His time of 16:03 was just two seconds off of CLC’s #1.

Allen had put himself in great position with the other 1-2s of the field at the half mile mark and held on to finish at 16:54, which also surpassed CLC’s #5 scorer. Nolan had the hardest job of the day in not having any other Knights to support him, and he battled valiantly throughout the run.

We took second by a score of 92-100. On the day, we could not be more proud of our boys who left all they had on the course. You are True Champions, and have made history again.

HUNGRY LIKE THE WOLF:

Our Three Seniors: Isaiah Dallal, Parker Malone, and Aaron Lodwig:  These boys clearly showed that “seniors get the job done.” Dallal put himself right in the mix with other All State caliber runners and moved up to seventh in a deep field of performers. Lodwig set the tone for our squad in the second flight, working right up into the lead pack, and bringing his chasing teammates into the race. Malone had arguably one of the greatest kicks in KXC history going 7th to 3rd, and eyes on a win before the post altered his day. No doubt the HUNGER these boys exhibited was “the strength of wolves.”

STATE QUALIFIERS:  While the IHSA could not put together an IHSA State Finals experience for the schools this year, due to COVID-19, our team’s placement at second would have earned
another trip to Peoria.

This would have been the 22nd State Qualifying team to advance to the Finals. While we will never know the final placement of this squad, in a “normal” year, it would be very hard not to see this group be a Top 10 program, and possibly a school record holder for pack split.