News

Good Super Bowl Sunday, Ram family! I know our beloved Green Bay Packers aren’t allowed to compete tonight, but let us all remember them in our minds and hearts from now until forever.

We have our monthly Booster Club meeting tomorrow night from 6:00 – 7:00 at the Track/XC Fieldhouse. Anyone is welcome to attend.

Tuesday is another round of home basketball games, so no JH practice. The coaches will be working in the gym.

Thursday will be the final JH Off-Season workout. Tryouts for JH runners start next week. Please fill out the following Google Form for your athletes before then…

https://forms.gle/xLhjuk3b1x9LBYFb6

Thursday night will be our annual HS Track Parent meeting from 7:00-8:00 at the 8th Grade Media Center. We will review competition schedules, gear orders, Booster Club fees, and volunteering opportunities.

Our weekly Long Run for High Schoolers will be at Stone Canyon Elementary on Saturday. We won’t have a bus. Practice will begin and end in the north parking lot of the school.

Please encourage your runners to sleep at least eight hours a night! There is no better restorative practice outside of eating nachos than a full night of sleep for our athletes. Speaking of eating nachos, nutrition is also essential for our runners all the time, but especially as we draw near the start of the outdoor competition season. While Dr. Pepper, mini-Pop Tarts, and Sour Patch Kids are unequivocally delicious, they provide little to no nutritional value for runners. Even in cool weather, hydration is equally important to maintaining a healthy runner. We had a truckload of runners sick the last few weeks. (I say truckload because if they showed up to practice sick, we made them sit in the back of Coach Parker’s truck.) (Also, that is a joke, Amber, so don’t text me about it.) I have a nutrition guide I’m writing for our runners that I will send out soon with some ideas on what to eat and when for our athletes before we start racing. “It is time to lock in!” As the 8th Graders in my classes say, when they see their Art grades. Lock in!

Let’s all have a great game tonight! Thank you for all you do, and GO RAMS!!!!

Weekly Schedule

https://docs.google.com/document/d/1ES8smSDD2gkd2j8NAE3CC4wZPbmoSvxPYi8FdgFn2IE/edit?usp=sharing

Good sunny and warm afternoon, Owasso Ram Family! If you haven’t been out today, take advantage of it! Mrs. Collins quickly took the opportunity to kick me out of the house and make me do preemptive yard work in preparation for a Spring that won’t truly be here for at least two more months. We all know the first three Track meets of the season are exercises in hypothermia aversion and a test of the human will to survive. Let us not get ahead of ourselves.

We had several runners out sick last week. I encourage all of our athletes to get plenty of sleep, eat well, stay hydrated, avoid talking to and/or dating anyone of the opposite gender on the team, and to consume plenty of ice cream because that’s just good sense.

We’ll have a typical week of training. Our only change to the usual schedule is no JH practice on Tuesday because the coaches will be working at the home basketball games. During halftime of the Boys Varsity game, our 2024 State Champion ORXC Girls TEAM will receive their Championship rings! We’d love to see the entire ORXC Army there to cheer them on!

Please plan to get out and vote next week for OPS’s next bond. While this bond doesn’t directly include anything for Track/XC, it does include a new Soccer Complex at Ator Field that will GREATLY ease the number of athletes we have crowding our current facilities every afternoon at practice. There isn’t enough room to adequately accommodate the Track TEAM, plus Soccer, Baseball, and Football teams this time of year. Having a solid Track workout is increasingly difficult when the threat of ill-kicked soccer balls is constantly present. It’s like practicing in an ever-moving minefield.

Lastly, we’ll have our Track Parent meeting next Thursday, February 13th, at the 8th Grade Center Media Center at 7:00 pm. Please try to attend as we will discuss gear, schedules, volunteer opportunities, and Booster Club events.

Enjoy your Sunday, thank you for everything you do, and GO RAMS!!!!

Week Ten Schedule https://docs.google.com/document/d/1bRjpmEFlnaIMR4Eq3VACOubUQh_F-uN_NP2dMeSNlP0/edit?usp=sharing

Good afternoon Ram Fam! Nothing new is happening this week. The Track is getting very close, though! They were measuring and painting this weekend, so hopefully, we can get practices back to normal. We fired up the speakers on the scoreboard on Thursday, and they work great! It only took thirty minutes before the police showed up and told us to turn the volume down. We’ll have to fight for our right to party moving forward.

We will have our annual Parent Meeting coming up on February 13th. We’ll go over gear, schedules, Booster Club fees, and volunteering opportunities for the season. Please make plans to attend.

We’ll have three more weeks of off-season JH practice before their tryouts in February. More info will come out soon for our JH athletes.

I think that’s it! We’re looking forward to an awesome Track season!

Thank you for everything you do…GO RAMS!!!!

Week Nine Schedule

https://docs.google.com/document/d/1hFMqz2bzO2E8cPm5UesYDtSWtiKdgtYwRD4IEOLu69s/edit?usp=sharing

Good afternoon! I hope everyone is staying warm. Although I don’t think today is as bad as yesterday. Crossing that pedestrian bridge in the wind yesterday at the Long Run might be the coldest I have ever been in the history of my entire life on this planet of the earth! I also saw that the inauguration has been moved indoors tomorrow. That does make me question if the US is really ready to invade Canada and Greenland. Maybe we’ll have to postpone to the summer.

We’ll give everyone a break from practice tomorrow, but they’ll need to get in a run on their own. Seniors can work out a time for everyone to meet if they’d like. We’ll meet on Tuesday afternoon as soon as we are done with our Teacher In-Service day. There will be no weight room on Tuesday morning.

If runners haven’t ordered their gear yet, they need to get it done ASAP. If they already have a jersey, shorts, and warm-ups, they don’t have to buy anything new. The only condition is that their gear is Track-specific or doesn’t name another sport. For example, you can wear a hoodie to a Track meet with a Ram logo, but you can’t wear a hoodie with a Ram logo that says Owasso Cross Country. If you have any questions, let me know. Here’s the link to order…

https://bsnteamsports.com/shop/BRcdCghZrC

We’re inching ever closer to our first home track meet in two years! We’ll kick off the season on March 7th with the Owasso Invitational. We’ll have a Parent Meeting coming up soon where we’ll go over schedules, volunteer opportunities, and Booster Club info. Very soon, we’ll all be outside freezing our faces off and watching some Rams crush it on our brand-new Track!

Thank you for everything you do and…GO RAMS!!!!

Week Eight Schedule

https://docs.google.com/document/d/1iGqsixugA6LQWogxOMZ9E5k4Sv1JlHEpzD26qLdUX9c/edit?usp=sharing

We’re still circling the drain, waiting on the Track to be finished, hoping for good weather, and wondering why the Green Bay Packers can’t get their junk together. It is supposed to be nice weather this week, so let us come together with fervent prayers, uplift our kind-speaking construction-working brothers and sisters, and propel them forward to completion. Amen. Don’t forget to check out the gear store Coach Parker posted. Athletes do not need to purchase any new gear if they have a jersey, shorts, and warm-ups that aren’t from another sport. So, no XC gear, Lacrosse gear, or Metallica gear. It has to be Owasso Track-specific. We’ll do the same thing again for the Cross Country season in the fall. Here is the link…

https://mandrillapp.com/track/click/30837889/bsnteamsports.com?p=eyJzIjoiUlZpUjlwcDYxMi1uQ29oUEoxQWpncUxVYTI0IiwidiI6MSwicCI6IntcInVcIjozMDgzNzg4OSxcInZcIjoxLFwidXJsXCI6XCJodHRwczpcXFwvXFxcL2JzbnRlYW1zcG9ydHMuY29tXFxcL3Nob3BcXFwvQlJjZENnaFpyQ1wiLFwiaWRcIjpcIjgzNjA1OWQ0MDE3NzQwMDE4MzVmM2ViM2RmMzliNDdmXCIsXCJ1cmxfaWRzXCI6W1wiMzZlYzUyNGFjNDYwMjBlZTc0MWVjMTcxNDc4OGY3MjQ3MDZlMGUwMlwiXX0ifQ

We’ll have our monthly Booster Club meeting on Tuesday at the Fieldhouse at 6:00. Anyone is welcome to attend. Thank you for all you do…GO RAMS!!!!

Weekly Schedule https://docs.google.com/document/d/1uIN5GGcj_1g40FXjozDnfj34zPrFH5ACohA3iFwtJ6Y/edit?usp=sharing

Welcome back! We will start back to our usual schedule this week on Tuesday. Tomorrow is an in-service day for teachers, so practice will be from 3:00 to 5:00. JH kids are welcome to run with the HS kids tomorrow. On Tuesday, we have home basketball games. Coach Parker and I will both be working, so we won’t have JH practice that day. By Wednesday, we should be back to normal.

With the Track still not quite finished and the Indoor taken up with multiple other sports, the distance kids (as usual) will be outside. We’ve certainly run in worse weather, but it does look to be very cold tomorrow. Please remind your athletes to bring plenty of gear. They can always shed sweats and gloves as they run if they get hot, but it will be pretty miserable if they show up in shorts and a t-shirt (as some HS/JH boys are prone to do.)

Lastly, if you have a HS runner putting in a lot of miles, please consider checking their ferritin levels before we start full-blown Track workouts. Low iron levels affect many distance runners by hampering the body’s ability to transfer oxygen from the blood to the muscles. Ideally, runners will have their iron checked two to three times a year…once in August before the XC season, once in January before the Track season, and once in May before summer training. Even if runners register in the “normal” range, they aren’t your average HS kid. Average HS kids don’t run 40-50 miles a week! We always want to make sure our athletes are healthy, and having a high iron level certainly helps. Please reach out if you have any questions.

It’s exciting to start a new year with a new Track facility, new meets, and great runners! It’s going to be a fantastic season!

Thank you for all you do and…GO RAMS!!!!

Week Six Schedule

https://docs.google.com/document/d/1B80TirNoka8OCsNNFd-ZNQfjGZj4Ryh5kFHxT1q_D7s/edit?usp=sharing

It was great to see so many runners last week! We had twenty to thirty runners at every practice, which was fantastic. We’re giving everyone a little bit of a break the next few days before we start cranking things up for real when we return to school. The track surface should also be done next week so we can begin implementing our training and workouts in preparation for the upcoming season.

We will have our JH kids on Thursday only this week because Friday will be an LR for the HS runners.

Short and sweet! Happy New Year’s and GO RAMS!!!!

Owasso Distance Squad Week Five Schedule

https://docs.google.com/document/d/18HqvbjAtAHbKW4a3wqnq4IvAUH1DPxYdxKUl9LW7mUs/edit?usp=sharing

Merry Christmas to everyone this week!

We’ll have practice for our HS kids from 8:00-10:00 on Monday, Tuesday, Thursday, and Friday. JH runners are welcome to attend as well. If athletes are in town, they need to come to practice. If they are traveling, then they to find a way to get runs in if possible. Champions find a way! Nothing is the worst thing our runners can do over the next two weeks. It is much easier to maintain than rebuild. When we return to full practice the second week of January, we will keep moving forward right where we left off. We don’t want anyone to get left behind! Workouts are posted on Google Classroom for any runners who will be gone.

Get some rest. Enjoy your families and GO RAMS!!!!

Christmas Break Schedule

https://docs.google.com/document/d/18HqvbjAtAHbKW4a3wqnq4IvAUH1DPxYdxKUl9LW7mUs/edit?usp=sharing

It’s FINALS week! Maybe that doesn’t warrant an exclamation point. It’s FINALS week. That’s better. We will have regular practice times through Wednesday, and then things will get weird. There will be no practice on Thursday. Students will be on a block schedule with hours 1-3-5 that day. On Friday, for classes 2-4-6 we will have runners with us starting around 12:40. We’ll take the Distance kids to Mohawk for their weekly Long Run. We should be done by 3:00. Since we are having our Long Run on Friday, we won’t meet on Saturday.

I have also attached our Christmas Break practice schedule. Runners should be there if they are in town and can be at practice. It gets a little awkward when an athlete doesn’t attend practice, and we see them at the pedicure place later that morning. If runners are out of town and can’t be at practice, it’s essential for them to still get a run in as much as they can. When we come to school in January, we will continue working out as if our runners have been working out for the last two weeks, whether we’ve seen them or not. If athletes take two full weeks off from running, their progress will be messed up, their fitness will drop dramatically, and they’ll spend the next month working to get back in shape. That’s a less-than-pleasant process. Up will be thrown.

JH runners are welcome to attend the HS practices over the break. We will have modified workouts for them if they want to be there.

Remind your runners to study hard this week and finish strong!

Thank you for all you do and…GO RAMS!!!

Week Three Schedule https://docs.google.com/document/d/18Ooa9EY6sYnvQqLFtf0fFTSISuizrZMv8NTH3YXzNZ4/edit?usp=sharing

Christmas Break Schedule https://docs.google.com/document/d/18HqvbjAtAHbKW4a3wqnq4IvAUH1DPxYdxKUl9LW7mUs/edit?usp=sharing

We Shall Have A Track! Rumor has it that the actual Track will be started this week! After only seven short years of construction, with the majority of that time spent on the ticket booth, we are FINALLY to the point where they are ready to lay down the new Track this week! It doesn’t really affect the parents, but it’s exciting for us.

We had a good first week of Track practice. It was also nice to see our JH TEAM back with us! We will continue to work on building our runners back up to full volume and overall fitness before the Track season. We have a long way to go, but it was great to get started.

Tomorrow night, our girls’ State Championship TEAM will be recognized at the Owasso Board Meeting. The meeting starts at 6:30. Everyone is welcome to attend. Tuesday night at 5:00, our monthly Booster Club Meeting will be held at the Track/XC Fieldhouse.

We will send out the Christmas Break practice schedule a week from today. We encourage runners to run with the TEAM if they are in town. If they are traveling or can’t be there, we suggest they get as many runs in as possible. JH runners are also welcome to join the HS TEAM on those days.

Please encourage your runners to finish strong in the classroom. Any student completing the semester with a failing grade will likely be put in a class in the second semester. It’s not easy being a student-athlete, but the ‘student’ part is important. They have to make good grades to stay in athletics.

Lastly, it is getting COLD outside! We had several runners freezing their faces off last week. Eric Harding is an excellent resource for explaining to young athletes how to use any number of weather apps to check the weather and plan accordingly. Please use his expertise if needed. If not, it might be wise to have your runners add an extra hoodie, gloves, and a beanie to the old Track bag. As Coach Parker says, “There is no such thing as bad weather, just sad clothing choices.” We had several athletes make sad clothing choices over the last few days.

Enjoy your Sunday, and thank you for everything you do…GO RAMS!!!!

https://docs.google.com/document/d/1pQrI7fDTc3pk4u57HJKlvdiDzPQKl55R2lQJdAef0Pk/edit?usp=sharing