Mud Mountain Sponsors Video

Video produced for Mud Mountain sponsor packets.

Dunn elected president of 2008 booster club

Randy Dunn flips burgers at Granite City Invite.

Members of the new combined Edwardsville XC and Track and Field Booster Club have elected Randy Dunn president. Dunn's son Greg is a sophomore who runs cross country and track. The club met last night and
also elected the following officers for 2008:

Lisa and Larry Thompson - Co-Vice Presidents for Cross Country.
Diana Speicher - Vice President for Track and Field.
Tom Atwood - Vice President of Mud Mountain XIII.
Lee Speicher - Treasurer.
Monica Laurent - Secretary.

Committee assignments were discussed, along with early preparations for Mud Mountain XIII, the 5K fundraising race held each summer. Complete minutes from the meeting are included below:

Meeting Date: December 19, 2007
The meeting was called to order by Diana Speicher at 7:05 p.m.
In attendance: Diana & Lee Speicher, Tom & Sally Atwood, Kathy & Mike Wever, Randy Dunn, Vicki Maxwell, Val Sweatt, Jeanne Cullen, Ann Kates, Mal Goldsmith, George Patrylak, Steve Chapman, Mitch Wilson.

Approval of Minutes: No minutes were provided

Treasurer’s Report
Lee Speicher reported a balance of $3,743.36 in the cross-country checking account.
Diana Speicher reported an approximate balance of $3000 in the track & field checking account, exact amount will be verified by the next Executive Board meeting.

Mud-Mountain Report
Tom Atwood reported that the search for sponsors needs to be kicked off in January. He asked for volunteers to serve on the Mud Mountain Executive Committee. The following individuals volunteered: Mal Goldsmith (Sponsors), Mike & Kathy Wever, Vicki Maxwell, and Jeanne Cullen (1st Aid preparations).

Randy Dunn also discussed presenting information concerning Mud Mountain to the Edwardsville/Glen Carbon Rotary Club. Tom Atwood is working on a “marketing” video for the event, and Coach Patrylak will put together some information regarding participation. Randy also mentioned that one of our Mud-Mountain t-shirts was spotted on Craig Virgin at a race in Michigan and a local sponsor was contacted!

New Business
• Election of Officers
The following officers were elected for the period of January 1, 2008 through December 31, 2008. Motion was made by Mike Wever, second was made by Ann Kates.
President - Randy Dunn
Vice President of XC - Lisa & Larry Thompson
Vice President of Track - Diana Speicher
Vice President of Mud Mountain - Tom Atwood
Treasurer - Lee Speicher
Secretary - Monica Laurent

In addition, the following individual agreed to serve on as Committee Chairperson:
Concessions – Val Sweatt
Banquets – Stephanie Cann will chair the XC Banquet, Tom Atwood will follow-up with Stephanie to see if she’ll serve as the Banquets Chair.
XC Meet Set-Up – Kevin Cullen can help get meets set-up but has to report to work at 3:00pm so he can not serve as chair.
• Discussion Concerning Ideas for By-Laws and Communications
• Insert Standing committees into the new by-laws
• Ask each Booster Club member to serve on one of the committees
• Ask members to sign up to help at meets at the summer picnic
• Ask Coaches to obtain emails from parents when getting student contact information
• Send home a “Cross-Country for Dummies” and “Track & Field for Dummies” information sheets to middle school parents that describe the sports and the helps that is required at meets.
• Make personal contacts by phone
• Sell advertising space on our website?
Old Business
• Trainers: Continued concern over the availability of trainers at Cross-Country and upcoming track meets. Will discuss with Dr. Hightower whenever an executive committee meeting is scheduled with him. Randy Dunn took action to schedule a meeting with Dr. Hightower.
• Equipment : Coach Wilson indicated that the hurdles at the high school need to be replaced on a rotational cycle. He has investigated a new type of hurdle that is more easily stacked and can be custom painted (school colors/mascot/name). Also, the top pad for the pole vault pit needs to be replaced, it is a safety concern. Coach Bevis had looked into pricing options for the replacement last season, Coach Wilson will discuss with him. The coaches will assemble a list of equipment replacement needs and we will discuss the needs with Dr. Hightower and Mr. Dougherty to validate the responsibility of the district versus the Booster club.
• Booster Club Purpose: Additional discussion over the understanding of our booster club direction/purpose based on a meeting held this past fall with Dr. Hightower. Randy Dunn will schedule a meeting with Dr. Hightower so that the executive board can ensure that the Booster Club by-laws and purpose reflect the needs of the District to support our student-athletes.
Committee Reports
• Concessions
• Communications
• Banquets
• Promotional Event for Track
• Randy Dunn reported that he had briefly discussed this event with John Dean who indicated some interest in helping. Steve Chapman took the action to contact John, Pete Evans and Babe Stahlhut to see if they would be interested in serving on this committee.
• We need to be sure that we don’t overlap with the Alton Road Runners’ series at Wood River High School.

A meeting notice will be sent to discuss this event. Diana Speicher will take the lead to get a committee started.

Coaches Report
Coach Patrylak reported the following coaching assignments for the upcoming track season.
George Patrylak – Head Boys Coach
Mitch Wilson – Assistant Boys Coach (Throws)
Steve Chapman – Head Girls Coach
Rich Skirball – Assistant Girls Coach
Julie Check – Assistant Girls Coach

Coach Patrylak indicated that the District also has a great lead on a jumps coach. Coach Patrylak and Coach Chapman indicated that they will be trying to share skill coach resources (jumps, throws, pole vault) during practices.

Coach Wilson reported that the IHSA had changed guidelines regarding the throwing competition area and that District had ordered additional poles and a new net to comply with the guidelines. In addition, the throwing area has been modified so that the kids won’t be throwing uphill and Coach Wilson is checking on having limestone or some other type of surface put over the mud in the throws area.
Action Item Summary:
1. Diana Speicher to obtain Track & Field financial records from former treasurer.
2. Tom Atwood to work on video presentation to “market” Mud Mountain
3. Randy Dunn to schedule meeting with Rotary Club for Mud Mountain sponsorship.
4. Tom Atwood to schedule Mud Mountain committee meeting for January.
5. Tom Atwood to contact Stephanie Cann about chairing Banquets committee.
6. Randy Dunn to schedule meeting with Dr. Hightower and Executive Committee
7. Steve Chapman will contact John Dean, Pete Evans and Babe Stahlhut about track event.
8. Diana Speicher will schedule committee meeting for track event.
9. Coaches will prepare equipment needs list.
Next Meeting
To be scheduled

Motion to adjourn was made at 8:30 pm and approved on a unanimous vote.

First meeting of combined booster to be held Weds, Dec. 19

The first meeting of the combined Edwardsville Cross Country and Track & Field Booster Club (a mouthful I know) will be held next Wednesday, December 19th at 7 pm. The meeting will be held in the Tiger Country meeting room, which is upstairs in the new building behind the high school by the track.

This is an important meeting since nominations for officers in the new club will be received, a vote will taken to elect officers that night, and we'll discuss committees for the upcoming year.

Nominations for officers include:
President - Randy Dunn
Vice President of XC - Lisa Thompson
Vice President of Track - Diana Speicher
Vice President of Mud Mountain - Tom Atwood
Treasurer - Lee Speicher
Secretary - Monica Laurent

Committees:
Concessions - Val Sweatt
Mud Mountain Sponsors - Mal Goldsmith
Banquets -?
Meet Set up - ?
Hotels - ?

Also, we'll talk about the track season/coaching issues, and preparations for Mud Mountain XIII (mainly, who wants to help with it, starting with rounding up sponsors). Hope to see you there.

EHS banquet video: To Be A Runner

At cross-country banquets I'm always surprised by how the runners look. Normally, we see them sweating, panting, in pain. But Thursday night, we got to see them smile, laugh, and cry. We got to see how poised and intelligent they are, and what excellent speeches they can deliver.

They thanked the booster club, praised their coaches, and no doubt inspired younger runners from the middle schools who were invited to attend the banquet. It was a beautiful end to the season, and it is the focus of this short video, the title of which comes from Andy Barnett's senior speech.

Listen carefully to the senior runners: their messages Thursday night are what cross country is really all about.

To Be A Runner


Produced by Tom Atwood
© 2007 Edwardsville Cross Country Booster Club
All Rights Reserved
Speeches: Andy Barnett, Liz Speicher, Riley Atwood, Aaron Cole, Jake Nelson, Jordan Staffaniak, Kaci Smith, Lia Saunders, Bridgette Hoover, Brendan Corkery, Andrew Gaines.
Photos: Andy Thomas, Tom Atwood, Roger Mueller
Music: "Our Town," composed by Aaron Copland, performed by the St. Louis Symphony Orchestra.

A season ends

by Tom Atwood

High school cross country can be a heartbreaking sport. Heartbreaking when a good runner--because of biorhythms, dehydration, anxiety, or any one of a thousand other distractions called 'life'--has a bad race. Heartbreaking when a good team has a bad day. Heartbreaking when a season ends too soon. Even one week too soon.

We all wanted the season to go on. Some of us would like to have seen it go on forever. But no season ever does. Every season ends.

For me, the hardest part about watching the season come to a close yesterday (for everyone except Liz Speicher, who moves on to the state meet after qualifying individually), was the realization that I had watched my son's last cross-country race. Riley has been running since he was in sixth grade at what was then Edwardsville Middle School. George Patrylak was his coach. In fact, George is the only cross-country coach Riley has had in his seven cross-country seasons. An outstanding coach. I have looked forward to and enjoyed every single race. Winning, losing, running well, or running poorly never really mattered. All that mattered was simply running.

Yesterday, though, losing did matter to me. Because it meant Riley's last race--and my last chance to see him run. I guess it's just the first of many "lasts" this year for seniors like Riley, who will all too soon move on to life after high school, to life after cross country, to the next season.


A Season Ends
Produced by Tom Atwood
Photographs: Roger Mueller and Tom Atwood
Music: Paul F. Page
© 2007 Edwardsville Cross Country Booster Club
All Rights Reserved

Boosters meet Weds Oct. 24

The Edwardsville Cross Country Booster Club will meet tomorrow, Wednesday, October 24 at 7 pm. The meeting will be held in Coach Patrylak's classroom at EHS (Rm D141).

EHS principal Norm Bohnenstiehl will be available at this meeting to answer questions. We will also discuss preparations for the end-of-season banquet in November. Please attend if possible. Thanks!

Smiles in Granite City

Video Produced by Tom Atwood
Photographs: Roger Mueller, Andy Thomas
Music: Rondo Alla Turca from Mozart's Piano Sonata No. 11

Revised: Pain, Agony, Victory

Video Produced by Tom Atwood
Photographs by Andy Thomas
Just a few changes to this video that focuses on the grim determination of runners during competition. A member of the girls team at EHS mentioned there were " a lot of boys" in the original video, and after a careful review, I had to agree. So, this version tries to even things up a bit.

--Tom Atwood

Booster club meeting moved to next week

Sorry for the late notice, but tonight's scheduled meeting of the Edwardsville Cross Country Booster Club has been postponed until next week. It will be held at EHS on Wednesday, October 24 at 7 pm in Coach Patrylak's room (D141). Hope to see you there.

Mark your calendar!

Watch for your personal invitation to arrive in the mail for the annual end-of-season Tigers Cross Country Banquet. The banquet will be held on Thursday, November 8th at EHS
in the commons starting at 6:30 pm. The banquet gives coaches and families the chance to recognize athletes for their hard work and dedication this season. Dinner will be provided by Mother’s catering. Mark your calendar now for this event.

Video: Pain, Agony, Victory

Video Produced by Tom Atwood
Photos by Andy Thomas

Looking through hundreds of photographs taken by Andy Thomas this season, I am struck by the pain in many of his pictures. The agony is evident on the faces of cross-country runners, especially as they near the end of a race, battling for position, or at least for a faster time. Pain is definitely part of Andy's photographs. Pain is part of running, and in cross country, it is often a necessary part of training, and of victory.

-- Tom Atwood

Last call for help at today's Tiger Finale

Sally Atwood and Keith Dudding trail runners at IESA sectional.

Volunteers are needed for today's Tiger Finale at the SIU-E cross country course. This is the final home meet of the season, and will feature 13 teams. We need help for the following shifts:

Ice pickup - 1:00 pm (EHS)
Set up - 2:00 pm (course)
Concessions - 3:00 pm (course)
Chute - 4:00 pm (course)

If you are able to help out, e-mail tom@tomatwood.net, or see Val Sweatt (concessions) or Diana Speicher (chute) at the course. Thanks to all that have volunteered at meets this season.

Boosters vote to merge with track club

Members of the Edwardsville Cross Country Booster Club have voted to merge with the track and field booster club. The merger was approved at a meeting last night. The merger is likely to take place later this year, between the cross country and track seasons.

Scenes from a county meet

Produced by Tom Atwood
© 2007 Edwardsville Cross Country Booster Club
All Rights Reserved

Tiger boys 1st, girls 2nd at Madison County Meet

Greg Dunn received the Madison County JV Champion medal.

Help needed for Madison County meet

Bre Schuett leads the way, winning the 2006 Madison County varsity girls race.
Photo/Tom Atwood (click image to enlarge)

Volunteers from the Edwardsville Cross Country Booster Club are needed at the Madison County meet on Tuesday, October 2.

Help is needed for the following shifts:

2:00 pm - setup at the SIUE course
3:00 pm - concessions open
4:15 pm - races begin, help needed in chutes
6:00 pm - clean up

If you are able to help, please email tom@tomatwood.net, or see Val Sweat or Diana Speicher at the course. Thanks!

Volunteers needed for middle school conference meet on Wednesday

Volunteers are needed to help set up and work the middle school conference meet this week. The meet will be held Wednesday afternoon (September 26) at the SIUE course. Volunteers are needed for the following shifts:

2:30 pm - set up
3:30 pm - concessions
4:00 pm - chutes
5:30 pm clean up

Please send an email to tom@tomatwood.net if you can help, or look for Val Sweatt and Diana Speicher at the course on Wednesday. Thanks!

There are no limits

Video for XC Banquet

This is a portion of the video/slideshow that will be shown at the Tiger cross country banquet in November. This segment focuses on the girls junior varsity team at the Edwardsville Invitational.

Video, editing: Tom Atwood
Photographs: Andy Thomas

Music: Tom Atwood (2nd movement from Lamentations)
©2007 Edwardsville Cross Country Booster Club
All Rights Reserved

Boosters discuss track merger; vote set for Oct.3

The XC Booster Club will vote October 3 on a proposal to merge with the track booster club. Cross-country boosters met last night to discuss the merger, and appointed a committee to structure the new combined booster club. Committee members include former XC booster club president Dave Goodhue, former VP Tom Atwood, and current Treasurer Lee Speicher.

The committee's recommendations will be presented at a meeting of the full booster club in two weeks. At that meeting, a vote on whether or not to merge will be taken.

Please be sure to attend the meeting at 7 pm on Wednesday, October 3 in Coach Cunningham's classroom (A249) at Edwardsville High School.

Thanks!

A big thank you to Roger Mueller, Keith Dudding, Micky Burge-Beckley and Monica Laurent for organizing the food at the remaining high school away meets. A big thank you also goes out to the parents who are bringing drinks and additional food for the athletes at these meets. The booster club wouldn’t be a success without the support and dedication of the parents. Thanks for all the time and effort.

Signed,
The Executive Board, Edwardsville XC Booster Club.

Proposal to merge track, cross-country booster clubs to be discussed Wednesday night

A proposal to merge the Edwardsville Cross Country Booster Club with the Edwardsville Track Booster Club will be discussed at a meeting this week of the XC boosters. The meeting will be held on Wednesday, September 19 at 7:00 pm in Coach Cunningham's classroom #A249.

Please make every effort to attend this important meeting.

Volunteers Needed for Lincoln Invitational on Tuesday

Edwardsville Cross Country Booster Club President Roger Mueller on Gator at Edwardsville Invitational

Volunteers from the XC Booster Club are needed to help with the Lincoln Invitational middle school meet this Tuesday, September 18. The meet begins at 4 pm at the SIUE cross-country course, but we need volunteers to come earlier to help with set up. Here's the schedule:

2:00 pm - set up tents & concessions
3:00 pm - concessions and t-shirt sales open
4:00 pm - races begin; chute volunteers needed
5:30 pm - clean up

If you are able to help, please leave a comment below or email Tom Atwood (tom@tomatwood.net), and he will put you in touch with the right people at the course. Thanks!

Video, photos posted from Edwardsville Invitational

Video of the boys and girls varsity races from yesterday's Edwardsville Invitational has been posted. Keith will create a link to the video on mudmountain.org, or you can see it now by clicking on the link below:

Edwardsville Invitational Video

The video will be expanded for the high school cross country banquet in November, and will include Tiger runners from yesterday's JV and open races.

Some of Andy Thomas' photos from the Edwardsville Invitational have also been posted. Look for the link on mudmountain.org, or just click link bel0w:

Andy Thomas Photos

If you want printable jpeg files of any of Andy's photos, let Tom Atwood (tom@tomatwood.net) know and he will email them to you.

Thanks to volunteers; see you at the Edwardsville Invitational

Saturday, September 15, 2007
6:00 am - ice pickup at EHS
6:30 am - set up tents, concessions at SIUE course
7:30 am - concessions open
9:00 am - races begin; chutes
11:00am - clean up

Thanks again!

Help Wanted: Edwardsville Invitational this Saturday at SIUE

Terri Dalla Riva helps set up for Mud Mountain XII

Volunteers are needed at the Edwardsville Invitational (high school meet) at the SIUE cross country course this Saturday morning, September 15. Twenty teams will participate in the meet.

We need help in the following areas:

• Set up - starting at 6 am with ice pickup at the high school. We need a truck or SUV to deliver ice to the course for concessions. We will set up tents, finish line, concessions, etc, at the course.
• Concessions, chute - teams will begin arriving around 7:30 am, so that's when the concession stand will open. We also need several volunteers to help with the chute once races begin at 9 am.
• Clean up - after the meet is over. Usually takes about an hour.

If you can help, email Tom Atwood (tom@tomatwood.net), or just sign up in the "comments" section below. Thanks!

Food, Gatorade needed for upcoming away meets

Tiger runners enjoy sub sandwiches, fruit, and drinks after Peoria Woodruff Invitational (Click image to enlarge)

From Pam Nelson:

It would be much appreciated if we could get volunteers to donate a cooler of Gatorade or water, some fruit, paper plates (2 pkgs) or sweets to the next few Tiger away meets. Some of you have already been kind and brought for past meets. Thank you.

The Dudding family will possibly be volunteering to coordinate either the Sept 22 or Sept 29th Peoria meet. Roger Mueller may be able to coordinate the other Peoria. Mickey Burge-Beckley has agreed to do the Centralia meet.

If you would like to offer to bring something for the Centralia meet on Sat, Oct 6 please email Mickey Burge-Beckley at mud_turtle@hotmail.com. The other coordinators for the Peoria meets will be in touch soon.

I can bring a small folding table if needed, in case we aren’t able to get a picnic table at one of the meets. I may have offended the other team at Saturday’s meet by moving their watermelon to the other end after I covered the table we were using and I don’t want that to happen. So if the family coordinating the food needs my table just let me know.

Thanks again for helping.

Send Pics for Photo of the Day

A new web-addition to www.mudmountain.org is called "Photo of the Day." The new site, which can be linked from the Booster Club page, will feature a different photo every day (or so) of Edwardsville high school and middle school cross-country runners.

If you have a snapshot or photo of a favorite runner or cross-country moment that you would like to share with Photo of the Day, just email it to tom@tomatwood.net. The site will also feature some of Andy Thomas' "greatest hits" during the season.

To see the website, click on this direct link: Photo of the Day

Thanks to Holly Romann, who sent the following pictures from this week's Alton Invitational middle school meet:


Start of the Alton Invitational boys varsity race on Thursday, Sept. 6
Photo/Holly Romann


Lincoln Middle School brothers Michael and Randy Romann run at Alton
Photo/Holly Romann

Hope you enjoy the new site.

Join the Booster Club

Booster club volunteers work concessions at Mud Mountain XII

To the Parents of our Edwardsville Cross-Country Athletes:
Now that the “race” of a new school year and cross-country season has begun, we’d like you to consider including the Edwardsville Cross Country Booster Club activities among your “to do” list. Our booster club program has been fortunate to include many active parents in the past; we need your help to sustain our program growth.

Our activities include the annual Mud Mountain 5K, our main fund raiser (see video of race below), as well as providing volunteers for our middle school and high school home races.


Mud Mountain XII • August 11, 2007

We also provide meals to our high school athletes at away meets (great grilled burgers and ‘dogs), sell t-shirts at home meets and ensure the course is ready for competition. At the end of the season, we coordinate the banquet activities. In addition, we provide a very enthusiastic fan base for all of our kids at our home and away competitions!

Membership in the Edwardsville Cross-County Booster Club is $10/Individual or $20/Family. The fee offsets club mailing costs and provides money for the booster club to spend on our athletes. For a membership form, or for more information, email tom@tomatwood.net, and it will be sent to you.

We have three booster club meetings scheduled for the upcoming season Wednesday, September 19, Wednesday, October 3, and Wednesday, October 17. The meetings begin at 7:00pm and will be held at Edwardsville High School in room A249.

Our home meets require volunteers for set-up crew, concession sales, chute workers, t-shirt sales, and clean-up crew. Attached is a listing of our home meets for the middle schools and high school. Please review the dates and let us know when and how you can help us by emailing Val Sweatt at vls2262@sbcglobal.net.

We’d like to establish the following volunteer committees: Mud Mountain, Concessions, Home Meet Activities, and Banquet (EHS banquet is scheduled for Thursday, November 8). Please contact Diana Speicher at speicher@charter.net if you’d like to be a committee member or a committee chairperson.

On behalf of the Edwardsville Cross County Booster Club, thank you for your help.

Signed,

Roger & Sue Mueller, President
Randy Dunn, Vice-President
Lee Speicher, Treasurer
Monica Laurent, Secretary

2007 XC Booster Club Meeting Schedule

Lee Speicher, Randy Dunn, and Steve Nelson
at Granite City Invitational on Sept. 1.

Welcome to the Edwardsville XC Booster Club 2007 website. The booster club will be meeting regularly during the fall cross-country season. Here's the schedule through October:

Wednesday, September 19, 7:00 pm.

Wednesday, October 3, 7:00 pm.

Wednesday, October 17, 7:00 pm.

All meetings will be held in Coach Cunningham's classroom at Edwardsville High School, Room #A249.

See you there!