Cross Country
The Harvard Cross Country Team had an incredibly successful season in the face of adversity. These athletes not only had to successfully navigate a pandemic, which affected their training, team development, and consistency, but they had to adjust to a new coaching staff, new training techniques and strategies, new scheduling, and modified meets that greatly limited the competitive nature a cross country meet provides. These athletes were the definition of resilient. They continued to show up everyday, often with new rules or mandates thrown at them, often weekly, if not daily. They continued to compete. This team, led by our captains, Liz Flores, Zach Isonhart and Steven Austin week after week turned in personal records. The team finished 4th place in the Kishwaukee River Conference, with a 3rd place overall finish by Liz Flores in the girls Varsity race, Christina Koleno in 16th, 7th place overall finish by Steven Austin in the boys Varsity race with Zach Isonhard in 21st, Manny PIneda in 23rd, Jacob Pedersen in 25th, Elijah Binz in 26th, Jared Gonzalez in 30th and Bryce Fiegel in 30th. Yiszel Calixto took 1st place in the girls JV race and Valeria Torres finished 6th. Caden Kotecki finished 22nd in the boys JV race.
This performance was followed up by a great showing at the IHSA 2A Regional competition, where Steven Austin qualified for the 2A Sectional competition for the second year in a row. In the last two meets of the season our athletes combined for 9 all-time bests times in their Harvard Cross Country running career. The athletes in our program not only continued to succeed in an uncertain time but they represented Harvard at all levels of competition with poise, respect and kept a competitive edge that will continue to gain in strength for years to come. Congratulations Harvard Cross Country!
And to our Seniors, Zach Isonhart, Liz Flores, Jacob Pedersen and Bryce Fiegel: Your presence on this team made us better and your legacy will be present, always. You will be greatly missed.
Coach Koza
Hand, wrist, and finger strengthening
Hand, wrist and finger strengthening are you serious? We have a weight room designed to strengthen most of the large muscle groups of the body that provide large power movements but we have neglected the strength at our fingertips. I’ll never forget meeting Hall of Famer and legend Frank Robinson when I worked for the Washington Nationals. Not because he was the humblest and friendliest man everyone knew him to be, but because when we shook hands my hand disappeared. His genetic gift of large strong hands were a tremendous asset as he led an All-star career of over 20 years as a Major League Baseball player. While he hit his share of homeruns, he was also known as a guy that could scratch out a hit in any situation, he credited having quick strong hands to the ball as a major part of his success.
During this time of lock down I’d like to challenge each of you to get your hands stronger as a way of improving your overall strength and fitness for all sports (yes even soccer and track). Having stronger hands and therefore wrists and fingers can allow you to get even more out of your workouts in the weight room or out on the field. Whether your blocking, pole vaulting or making a throw-in, your ability to provide more force through your hands will translate into many different ways in the field of sports. At home you can use any weighted object to move in every motion of the wrist, if you have a long lever such as a bat or weighted stick you can use it to move until your hand burns out on the motion. Just try to isolate just your wrist and relax your shoulder and elbow by putting them on your thigh or a table. Using putty or clay or any type of squeeze ball or hand squeezing device you can strengthen your grip strength which could be the difference in fighting for a loose ball on the court or fighting off your opponent in a wrestling match. Some of you might have seen my rice bucket in the Athletic Training room for strengthening hands...this cost less than $20 to make and is an ancient martial arts workout. Any way you can find to improve your hand wrist and finger strength could make the small difference in competition as the hands are often the conduit to some athletic motion. Good luck and reach out to me if you have any questions…
Nick Medina M.S., A.T.C.
Harvard High School
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Harvard Booster Club
Harvard 8to18
Website: https://il.8to18.com/harvard
Athletic Director
Email: awalters@cusd50.org
Website: https://www.cusd50.org/harvardhighschool/
Phone: 815-943-6461 2280
