Two Waiver Forms for XC Registration!

Here are the links to two forms you need for cross-country. You also need an updated physical, which you can either upload electronically OR you can fax it to Mrs. Sandy Altman (fax # 508-821-1149) in the Athletic Director's Office.

Link 1 Fall Athletic Waiver 2020:

https://highschool.tauntonschools.org/apps/form/form.TAUSD-TAHS.sac19Ig.2yb?_=1599841480972

 

Link 2 THS Covid-19 Permission Form:

https://highschool.tauntonschools.org/apps/form/form.TAUSD-TAHS.sabSStU.22m?_=1599841516619

Remember, physicals expire after 13 months, and "virtual physicals" aren't accepted.

Updated Info, Including Meet Schedule!

Our Cross-Country coaching staff had our meeting with the Athletic Director today, here are some important updates regarding the fall.

REGISTRATION / BEFORE FIRST PRACTICE

The athletic department will post a link to (online) registration in the next few days. There will be three things required of all athletes in order to be cleared.

1 - COVID waiver form

2 - Permission form (the usual one)

3 - Updated Physical (“virtual physicals” don’t count)...Physical expire after 13 months, so make sure it’s current.

MAJOR CHANGE - All students will need to register BEFORE the first practice. No waiting around until the second week to decide if you’re joining, as was the case in the past. The only exception will be for students that switch from another fall sport they’ve already registered for. The date will be announced soon, but it will be before September 18th.

Good news - the user fee (normally $150 for the year) has been waived for all athletes this year!

PRACTICES

So typically we train in groups based on ability, and experience. However, the catch this year is the groups are going to be together for the non-running parts of the workout. When you jog your warmup, you’re with your group. When we do drills, we’ll have you scattered across the track or field, away from other groups.

The head coaches will directly supervise certain groups while the assistant coaches will supervise others. 

As far as we know, groups will not change during the season, so there’s a chance any time trial may be held on the first day in order to help facilitate proper group composition.

Do I Need To Wear A Mask While Running?

No, but the rest of the time you do. That includes if you arrive early or don’t get picked up right away.

Speaking of which

NO HANGING AROUND AFTER PRACTICE, ESPECIALLY IN GROUPS

I’ll do my best to have very specific projected end times for practice (which would be different for each group depending how far they’re running). If I say your group is going from 2:45-4, your ride should be able to get you within minutes of 4 p.m. If you’re waiting by yourself that’s fine, but no waiting in large groups, even if you’re each six feet apart. 

If students are hanging around together after practice while on school grounds, the coaches can remove them from the team if it becomes a repeated problem.

PRACTICE REQUIREMENTS

Girls XC runners are expected to attend four of six days each week. Typically weekday practices will be at 2:45 p.m., and Saturdays would be 9 a.m. (possibly off campus). Our meet days are on Tuesdays, so it’s expected that you wouldn’t miss Tuesdays. But athletes can do a “run on their own” day or two if necessary each week. This allowance has been made due to the fact that you are responsible for your own transportation to and from practice.

Please be sure to e-mail me to let me know if you can not attend particular days. This will help as I schedule training for groups, and set up groups.

MEET SCHEDULE

It’s posted on the top of the right-hand side of the website. Yes, there are a few “duplicates”, as Franklin is a home meet for the second year in a row, while we travel to Attleboro and Milford again. I’d assume starting next year they’ll revert back to the alternating approach.

The entire athletic department faces the same school each week. So when we face Attleboro October 6th, that week all the other teams (soccer, field hockey, golf) are only competing against Attleboro. This is to limit any potential spread if anyone tests positive for COVID from either school.

The Hockomock League is discussing having some form of postseason meet, as our season does technically extend until November 20th. Us coaches have a league meeting on the 16th, if any news arises from it I’ll pass it along.

I already covered in a post on the blog (which is still up there) how meets will be different, with your training groups starting at different intervals. There will still be JV options on some courses, too.

Our home course may be altered, as they want to avoid as many potential narrow spots as possible.

FUTURE UPDATES

I’ll post the link to registration once it’s available, and will also e-mail it out as well. Remember, there will be a very short “turnaround” time before it’s due. Any other updates I’ll post on the blog. As always, e-mail me (mkelley@tauntonschools.org) if you have any questions.

XC is on! Here's what we know/don't know

 By now you've probably heard that the School Committee voted last night to approve Fall Sports starting on September 18th. The exceptions were football, volleyball, and cheerleading, as the MIAA and Hockomock League had pushed those to the "Fall 2" season that starts in late February. The School Committee vote was on the condition that the Board of Health also gives its approval, which should happen in the next several days.

If you were unable to attend the Google Meet today, here's what we covered regarding What We Know and What We Still Don't Know.

When does practice start? Friday, Sept. 18th. School starts Monday the 14th (remotely).

What do I need in order to be eligible? Registration will be done online this year. The link isn't available yet, but should be out soon, and I'll e-mail it to everyone. One thing you CAN do in the meantime, is check with your parents/guardians to make sure you have an updated physical. Physicals expire after 13 months. Our season is scheduled to go through mid-November.

When will we have practice? Every day after school, with optional practices on Saturdays. Typically we start at 2:30, but that might get moved a bit later since students need to have their own transportation. (No buses provided to pick up/drop off kids to practice, in other words).

What if I can't make a practice due to transportation? Us XC coaches have a meeting next week with the athletic director, I'll ask him then what the recommendations are regarding that.

What will practice look like? So we got lucky compared to other sports, the modifications we have to adopt are relatively minor. Runners should train in groups of 5-10, which we usually do already. The "trouble spots" will be when everyone's warming up, or cooling down, to keep the groups separate from each other. So if we're doing drills on the track, instead of 30 kids in 6 lines, we might have 3 groups of 10 athletes spread out along the straightaway.

Do I need to wear a face covering? Yes and no. While you're running (this includes races), you don't. However, the "down time" as you're waiting for practice to start, you need it on, and once practice is over, you need to have it on.

What does our meet schedule look like? The dates haven't been announced, but we will have the five dual meets against the other teams from our division (Attleboro, Franklin, King Philip, Mansfield, and Milford - they replaced Oliver Ames). There won't be state postseason meets, and it's expected there won't be invitational meets since they don't want teams from all over competing with each other. There could be a league-type postseason (modified league meet, perhaps), but as of now it's just the five dual meets.

However, we will incorporate some time trials during the season to provide more opportunities for competition, even shorter distances on the track if needed.

What will meets look like? Obviously they wanted to avoid having dozens of athletes on the starting line at once. The suggestion is having groups of 5-10 athletes start every 2-3 minutes. For example, Runners 1-5 from Taunton and Runners 1-5 from Attleboro would line up on the starting line. (With 14 feet between teams, and 6 feet between runners, so it'd be a wide starting line). After two or three minutes, the next group from each team would do. You could still beat someone from another group, we would keep track of the actual time people ran in terms of scoring.

At the finish, the last 100 yards would have two "lanes" so athletes from each school aren't finishing alongside each other.

If you have any questions, please don't hesitate to e-mail me. I'll keep this page updated as we get more news regarding schedule, attendance, etc.

15 DAYS UNTIL PRACTICE STARTS!!!

Fall Update (ALMOST there!)

We've had a lot of great news from different state agencies the past few days, but we aren't completely cleared yet, so I wanted to clarify things since there's been some information out there that isn't totally accurate.

Short Version

The MIAA (state governing body for athletics, for those of you that are new to HS sports) had their Board of Directors meeting today, and voted to approve the following recommendations.

Fall Sports can start practice on Friday, September 18th, the season would end on November 20th

No MIAA Fall Tournaments - for XC, "tournaments" mean no Eastern Mass/All-State type meets.

Winter season would be November 30th to February 21st

"Fall 2" season would be February 22nd to April 25th...this as of now just covers Football and Cheerleading, which were deemed "high risk" sports traditionally held in the fall. The hope is by February, they'd be able to compete, either with modifications to their sport or vaccine/public health improvements.

Spring season would be April 26th-July 3rd.

However, despite what's been published in different newspapers, this does not mean that we're officially guaranteed a fall season in Taunton. It looks great, but there are two more hurdles....the Hockomock League has to approve it, and the Taunton Board of Health also has to agree as well. This information should he available soon, and I'll update you when news arrives.

Long Version

On to the details...

You may have seen that the state classified towns into three main categories based on their number of positive cases per 100,000. Red (8 or more per 100K), Yellow (between 4 and 8), and Green (Less than 4). Technically there's a White category for having 5 or fewer total cases, but that really only applies to towns with a very small population.

A town in the Red category can't compete in athletics. They'll be evaluating towns based on data on Sept. 1st, as well as Oct. 1st to see how things are progressing. As of August 12th, Taunton had a rate of 3.2%, putting us in the Green category. To give you a scenario if things spiked by October 1st and we were above 8%, they would stop the season for us.

If you want fall sports, keep wearing a mask!

Back to the details...

What's the schedule going to look like?

The reason the state didn't want fall tournaments is to avoid having schools from different regions competing with each other. On that note, although nothing's been announced, I don't think it's unreasonable for me to predict that invitational meets (Bay State, Coaches Invite, and yes, Twilight) will most likely not be held this year since they draw teams from all over the state.

Any schedule - and this goes for your friends in the "ball sports" - is likely to be local, entirely within the league, with the lone possible exception being competing against teams from the same State District. The Hockomock League is in a "State District" with the Bay State Conference and Tri-Valley League. For those unfamiliar, the Bay State Conference schools are mostly along Route 9 and 95, while the Tri-Valley League schools are along or just inside 495 as you go northwest from Taunton. Over half of those teams are closer to us than Milford, so overall the leagues are mostly adjacent towns. (Keep in mind we're the easternmost school in the Hock, so yes there are towns that are nearby on the other side, but they group leagues based on how close most of the teams are to each other).

The two ways the State District could (doesn't mean they will) affect their schedule are filling in gaps in "regular season schedules" (if a team from their league is in the Red category and can't compete) and/or possibly providing a District postseason, since the teams are all localized. Again, it doesn't mean the State Districts will do this, just telling you what they could do. 

Will races look different?

Even the fall sports that have been approved have to make modifications according to the state's guidelines. While moderate risk sports (soccer, field hockey) have more modifications to make than lower risk sports like XC, we'll still likely have some changes being made. The most obvious issue for XC is the number of people on the starting line, so it's highly likely that some form of "staggered starts" is used in meets, with small groups of runners starting together rather than everyone all at once.

So as a responsible high schooler, what can I do between now and September 18th?

1) Wear a mask.

2) You still have 4 weeks of the extended summer training, so get those miles in!

3) Wear a mask!

4) WEAR A MASK!

5) WEAR A MASK!!!

If/when we get clearance from the league and local Board of Health, I'll certainly forward information regarding registration, etc.

Can we meet at the HS?

No. The "captain's practices" as some erroneously call them are not allowed. If you and a few of your friends are going for a run together, you would need to find a location other than the HS.

As always if you have any questions, you can e-mail me at mkelley@tauntonschools.org

I'll update with further information when we get it from the League/Local Board of Health.

Resources for Running in College

I'm 2/3 of the way done with a big project I've had over the summer, and while the third part isn't quite done yet, I didn't want to wait.

There are two spreadsheets that I've put in the links on the far right. If you're thinking about running in college, or even if you're not but want some basic info on the schools (cost, distance, SAT/grades you need to get in), it's got EVERYTHING.

New England Colleges - I looked up every New England college or university that had an XC team - there's a few that don't have the sport, so if you don't see one, that's why. All the relevant data is there. I even checked the driving distance/time from Taunton for each one, since that's something you can't find in those giant oversized "2020 Guide to College" books.

Conference Results - more specific for those of you thinking about running in college. Fortunately the vast majority of the Division 2 and Division 3 colleges in New England all compete in the same seven or so conferences, so I put the results from their conference meet, the New England Regional meet, and NCAA meet (for the few that qualified) to get you an idea of how strong some of them are in relation to each other. I haven't done Division 1 yet, will update that at some point.

Rising seniors probably already have your "short list" already done, but perhaps there's a school you didn't realize fit the profile you're looking for in terms of cost/location/etc. Similarly, our youngest runners (incoming "Ocho's" and rising freshmen) don't need to worry just yet, but you can at least get an idea of the relative strength in terms of athletics/academics for some schools. Sophomores/Juniors, this is probably right in your wheelhouse.

Good week to get some running in, the temperatures are tolerable, and you never know when the next heat wave will be!

Oh, and you all could probably use some good news, so here's some for you...whenever our first week of practice is, the Time Trial (socially distanced, of course, so probably staggered start and multiple heats of small groups) is only going to be 1500m on the track. Not even a full mile, that's right.

Be well,

Coach Kelley

Google Meet Next Thursday / Face Masks Recommendations

Hi girls, hope everyone is doing well. Two big announcements...

Our Preseason/Signup meeting will be done as a Google Meet on NEXT Thursday May 14th, at 2:30 p.m. I'll be sending the invites/links to your tauntonschools.net accounts, so be sure to check those.

The Summer Training Guidelines (modified since people are running on their own for now) I'll post on the blog and e-mail out ahead of time so less of the meeting will be spend with me reading aloud from the guidelines. I figured it would be best focused on catching up, and questions/answers.

Secondly, since today was the start of the Governor's order that people wear masks/face coverings, I tweeted out some recommendations on the thsxctf twitter account.

Looking forward to seeing everyone on the 14th!

-Coach Kelley-

Spring Update/Social Distancing Training Guidelines

I still can't believe we're only in the middle of the third full week without school. Honestly, early March seems like it happened last year, and indoor track feels like it happened decades ago. First off, I hope everyone and their families are well and practicing proper social distancing.

This is our new reality, as we're out of school - and organized high school sports - until at least May 4th. I'm going to use this website as a form of communication with the Taunton HS Distance athletes, and might also incorporate some Problems of the Day for my Friedman 7th grade Math students.

So, to my high school runners, a quick update. The MIAA met on Monday that if schools resume on May 4th, they would extend the traditional high school spring season with an "end date" of June 27, not the original date of June 20. I'll address some frequently asked questions regarding this.

1) Would that mean that we'd only have 2-3 weeks before Hocks and 3-4 before EMass? 

    Probably not. The postseason tournaments for the ball sports are usually the ones that go deeper into June. My educated guess would be they'd try to push back the postseason meets to later in June to give athletes more time to train. Ball sports would only have an 8-12 game regular season, as opposed to their usual 20.

     On that note, if you're training for a (potential) spring season, that's still 33 days away until practice (potentially) start, so no need to do speedwork yet.

2) If schools don't come back May 4th, will they have a spring season?

    Highly doubtful. I'd estimate that a week or two before May 4th, the Governor will announce whether or not we're sticking with the May 4th deadline, or if they have to close them for longer or altogether until the 2020-21 academic year.

How To Effectively Train While Maintaining Social Distancing

Who - just you, run alone!

Where - if you're running in your neighborhood, maintain basic safety precautions. Stay on sidewalks, if you have no sidewalk or have to leave the sidewalk, hopefully you're against traffic.I mention "having to leave a sidewalk" because nowadays it's a little trickier. When I run in my neighborhood, there are some routes I can do that stay entirely on sidewalks. However, if I'm passing people now, I'll step onto the edge of the road (if it's safe) when passing them to make sure they have at least 6 feet of distance from me - which is harder to do if you stay on the sidewalk.

When - So, there's a Rail Trail a few minutes drive away from where I live. It's quite wide (14 feet), but also can get a decent amount of foot traffic. When if I'm running on it, I'll try to go early in the morning, when there's fewer people on it. The trail runs for several miles, the most congested part has a downtown parking lot nearby. Today, I chose to park in a more remote lot about 1.3 miles up the trail, and avoided the more heavily used section.

Okay, Math Problem of the Day for the middle school students. This morning, I did a 6 mile run on the aforementioned trail (3 miles out, 3 miles back). On the way out, I passed 1 bicyclist, 1 jogger, and 7 walkers. On the way back, I passed 2 bicyclists, 1 jogger, and 17 walkers.

2-part question.

1) What was the unit rate of people passed per mile?

2) What was the unit rate of yards per person passed? (1760 yards per mile)

Way back at the first school I coached at, I had a blog like this and allow the THS runners to post comments, etc. If there's enough interest, I'll allow comments on future posts. Obviously I can't make any training mandatory since we're in the off-season, but if people want to post what they've been doing, they can feel free to do so.

Stay safe!

Coach Kelley