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Making a Team a Family

3/4/2019

Why do Saturdays make me sad? I’ve found that question on my mind a lot since rejoining this family as a coach last summer. I would get home from 10 am doughnut filled practices (also known as 10@8@10) and just feel empty. Today I figured it out. 8 years ago, when I first joined track things were really tough for me. I’d just had a falling out with one best friend and the other had moved to Illinois at the start of the year. I’ll never forget when my science teacher asked me to come out for track, I’ve never asked him what he saw in me but I’m pretty sure what he saw isn’t what he ended up finding. Through track I rekindled old friendships and forged new ones. On Saturdays we started meeting at someone’s house to play board games, risk and monopoly were the favorites. It was in those games that lasted for hours that I found something I didn’t know I needed. I found a family that accepted me with open arms. It didn’t matter that as a sophomore I could barely run a 6-minute mile, they took me as I was. That’s the gift my family has given to me, brotherhood and belief. The boys on that team made me one of their own, they believed in me even when I failed.

Now, the boys on that team from only 8 years ago are scattered to the winds so to speak. We don’t really keep in touch much and we’ve even lost one of our own far too soon. But I don’t look back on those days with a longing for what was. I look back at how blessed I was to receive this gift. My challenge to you is to make this team a family. Introduce yourself to just one person you don’t know, you’ll be amazed at what this simple gesture can accomplish. Help a teammate with their technique or push them through a tough workout, we accomplish more together than we ever could alone. And finally, remember that your words are powerful, your teammates are listening, you have the power to create and destroy, which will you choose? Saturday’s made me sad because I’d forgotten how lucky I was. Now they make me hopeful because I see what we can become and where we are going. And I know that we’ll get there together because just like someone believed in me once, I believe in each of you to make it happen.

This story is the first in a new blog series we will be trying out this season that a focuses on our core values: positivity, resilience, responsibility, and sportsmanship. For me, when you have a team that celebrates these values, what you really have is a family. Throughout the course of the season we will be gathering stories or other writings like this from various people associated with our program, all are welcome to participate.

Coach Carlson

2018 XC Season Video

12/7/2018

Special thank you to Lauren Harrison and Sophia Roehl for making the video!

State XC 2018

10/29/2018

Captains Blog - Week 12

After two more weeks of training to peak at state, the day finally arrived. We arrived at Jamestown around noon to a little bit of rain, but we didn’t let it ruin our day. Before disembarking the bus we all wrote team on each others’ hands to emphasize how we couldn’t run like we do without everyone encouraging and supporting one another. Girls raced first at 2:00 pm and ran hard to earn a second place team finish. Several of our girls had season best times and there were even a few PRs. Later our boys ran another great race led by senior Ethan Harsell to place 14th as a team. It was super awesome to see all our runners working hard and giving it their all in the final meet of the season. I can’t wait to see what exciting things are in store next season for the Central Knights.
Mikayla Weiss - Junior - Captain

State Meet Newspaper Articles

10/26/2018

Bismarck Tribune

Williston Herald

Dickinson Press

Fargo Forum

GF Herald - Hillsboro

Captains Blog - Week 9

10/16/2018

This week has been bitter sweet the Knights XC team. This was the last week of practice that they whole team would be there for, preparing for everybody's last race; EDC. The week started out with a long run on Monday, and then on Tuesday we went down to our home course to run 800s and 300s. Wednesday was a little bit exciting, as we got a snow storm so we were stuck inside to do our stretches and then head home. Thursday we had speed workout of 400s, that we did on a one way street because of all of the snow. Friday was a nice easy recover day that was getting us ready for our last home meet. Meet day was cold and wet, with some snow still on the ground, but our team was ready. The middle schoolers got us off to a good start as we had many good races and some top placers as well. The varsity girls were next, with our very own Mikayla Weiss being all conference and runner up, and with myself being all conference as well(12th). Although some of our girls didn't have the best races, we still fought hard and ended up getting 2nd as a team. Our varsity boys also fought hard during there race, with captain Adam Arnold leading them with and getting all conference(14th). Even though some of the team didn't have there best races at EDC, I couldn't be prouder to be a part of this team. My last EDC was one to remember with such great coaches and teammates. Everyone worked so hard and fought through there races. Next up is state and we will be back to kick some butt!

Alexis Roehl - Senior - Captain

This was a week that we have been waiting for all year,EDC week! For some of your younger runners it was their last week for the year. But we had to deal with some weather this week which was a bit of a curve ball! We had snow and cold temperatures which isn’t ideal running conditions! That didn’t stop us from working hard all week. We had to do a cut mileage run and a speed workout on a side street to avoid the snow. But when we got to Saturday we still had some snow on the ground but thanks to Jason Vasichek for clearing the course of snow and leaves! But during the race the course was mushy and muddy from the snow melting which made for a messy race! But we all worked hard and had a good day! Even with the course conditions we still had 9 PRs on the team. So with that the top 10 runners move onto a off week then state!

Adam Arnold - Soph - Captain

EDC - Grand Forks

10/15/2018

Congrats to Grand Forks All - Conference runners

Mikayla Weiss
Alexis Roehl
Adam Arnold

Special Congrats to Alexis Roehl for being nominated for Senior Athlete of the Year

Newspaper Stories

Bismarck Tribune

Grand Forks Herald

Fargo Forum

Captains Blog - Week 8

10/8/2018

This week was a huge preparation week for our home meet! Last Friday, we had a girls team bonding event which was a blast. We did a lot of fun activities and built our relationships together as a team. We had a sleep over and then got up bright and early to work at the Wild Hog Marathon. It was fun to be there together to cheer on the runners. On Monday, we had our long run down University. Tuesday, we had our first speed workout of the week. We ran at Lincoln, which is our race course so that was super exciting. We had a lot of new kids that had never ran on the course, so that was really fun for them. On Thursday, we had another speed workout at Lincoln, and the nerves started kicking in. Friday was a really rainy and cold day. The max mileage that we could do was three, which was exciting for people who usually run 3+ miles. Saturday was the big day! We got to the tent at 11, and we cheered on our teammates the rest of the day. There were lots of team cuddles, as it was so cold outside. It was a really exciting meet for many kids who moved up from running middle school or JV to Varsity. Claire Hynek and Aria Kinseth both ran Varsity for the first time and did really well. Dylan Van de Bogert had a very good varsity race, running a new PR by over a minute, and Mikayla Weiss stepped up and had a great race, running her fastest time this season. We were able to win the fork, although it was a tight margin this year. But, we were victorious over Red River, which is always a big deal!

Lauren Harrison - Soph - Captain

Grand Forks

10/6/2018

Grand Forks Herald Story Link

Milaca

10/2/2018

Captains Crunch Week 5

9/26/2018

After another full week of training, we were prepared to take on the Milaca Mega Meet in Minnesota on Saturday. The Friday before the meet was the homecoming game and dance for the high-schoolers, but everyone was on the buses and ready to go early Saturday morning at 4:30 or 5:00 AM. After about four hours, we arrived at the course and walked about a mile in the get to the actually team camps and starting line. It may sound odd that we were walking so far, but there are thousands of runners at the meet in various races. A race started every fifteen minutes to keep up. The Milace Meet is known as the largest high-school cross country meet in the US so there’s lots of people everywhere. The road to the course is full of buses on both sides, and it’s quite a sight to see after disembarking our own bus.

The weather at the meet was just about perfect, with temps in the 60’s and a nice breeze to cool you off while racing. Milaca is known as a fairly hilly course, but despite some tough terrain, there were several personal records (PR’s). Some particular highlights of the meet were watching the 7th grade girls win their division out of 42 teams and the sophomore boys placing 2nd in theirs. After a few weeks full of racing, we’ll have this Saturday off, so it’s time to get some of the last hard workouts in before we start tapering to peak at EDC and state in October!

Mikayla Weiss, Junior Captain

This was a big week getting ready for Milaca! The week started off with pouring rain for a Tuesday speed workout. We all love to run in the rain, and it showed in the results! It was also Homecoming week, so everyone had other things going on. Friday we had a 6am practice for the people who wanted to go to the football game and dance. Roughly 20 people got up early to get their runs in. After staying out late at the dance and getting up super early to catch the bus we arrived in Milaca. This is the worlds largest single day cross country meet, and this year it seemed even bigger because the U of M meet wasn’t on the same day like it usually is.
Our 10th grade boys (+Quinn) ran awesome and placed 2nd out of 40 teams, with 3 boys in the top 20 out of 500 runners! Ryan placed 2nd Quinn 9th and Adam 13th. The 9th grade boys also ran great with Carter in 18th and Joe in 31st out of 450 runners.
The shield went to Torrey because he’s always positive and always has a smile on his face. He’s a great leader and teammate.
Now we have two weeks to prepare for the battle for the fork with Red River, GO KNIGHTS!

Collin Allan, Soph, Captain