Running for A Reason: Freedom High School Preseason Practice 
Above left: Jill Joly has coached 16 years at Freedom, the last 15 as head girls coach. Her 2009, 2010, and 2012 teams were Champions of the Eastern Valley Conference. Prior to the start of this years season team leaders approached Coach Joly with an idea. A track team member who recently graduated had been diagnosed with Hodgkins Lymphoma. The team wanted to help their former teammate and her family.
A fund raiser in which T-Shirts were designed and sold let a teammate know that the Freedom Irish girls team was working as hard to support a teammate as they were to defend their conference champhionship. The theme for the year is Running For A Reason. The words on the back of the T-shirt are the goals of the Olympics: Faster - Higher-Stronger. Above right: Assistant coach Jim Lardinois [hurdles].
Top header photo of Corinne Franz by Lisa Franz.
Explosiveness and quickness were objectives that the athletes worked on.
Being Day 5 of practice the athletes had the expected soreness from earlier workouts.
The indoor workout was designed to provide improvement in quickness, agility, and conditioning.
A variety of line, hurdle, ladder, and jump rope drills ensued in a fast paced workout.
Distance, throwers, and dash/jumps athletes split up with the dash/jumps athletes staying in the Field House.
The Freedom 4x8 finished 2nd [9:24.75] in D2 at the 2012 State Meet. Their time earned them a place on the the 4x8 Top 50 Lists compiled by Mike Krugel
Freedom runners in the 4x8 above L-R: Alison Bos [12], Kendra Johnson [12], Lauren Peters[10], and anchor Liz Bloy [12]. Bloy finished 3rd and Peters 24th at the D2 2012 WIAA State Cross Country Meet. Johnson and Bos also ran on the Freedom State Meet XC team helping the Irish to a 4th place team finish. Lauren Peters was also a 2012 State Qualifier in the 800m run. All four athletes helped Freedom win the team championship at the 2012 Eastern Vallety Conference Track and Field Meet.
Division: 2
Enrollment: 517
Head Coach: Jill Joly - 15th year as head coach.
Conference: Eastern Valley
Conference Schools: Berlin, Clintonville, Fox Valley Lutheran, Freedom, Little Chute, Waupaca, Winneconne, Xavier, and Ripon.
Left: Senior Liz Bloy finished 11th [#11, middle photo] in the D2 1600m run and 8th [#7] in the D2 1600m run at the 2012 State Meet.
In addition Bloy helped the Irish 4x8 to a 2nd place finish and a Top 50 4x8 time at the 2012 State Meet.
At the 2012 WIAA State Cross Country Meet Bloy finished 3rd in the D2 race helping Freedom to a fourth place finish in the team competition.
Above: Senior Alison Bos was a State Qualifier in the D2 300m LH event and was the leadoff runner on the Silver Medal winning 4x8 relay team from Freedom.
After four days indoors the throwers were anxious to see the product of their workouts. The snow covering the throwing area was their first challenge.
Above center: Ashley VanDinter who graduated last year is voluntering to help the girls who are throwers for the Irish. VanDinter placed second in the SP and discus at the 2012 Eastern Valley Conference Meet.
Right: School records.
Far Right: A poster that is in Coach Joly's classroom. Coach Joly teaches mathematics and physics.
The distance group stretches at the end of their outdoor run. The weather, although cold, was sunny with the signs of a winter melt announcing the coming of spring [not a given in Wisconsin]. Assistant coach Dean Aerts is the distance coach. He is also an assistant in cross country and boys basketball. He was in Madison at the Boys State Basketball Tournament on Friday.
Above: Distance athletes prior to their outdoor run.
Below: The distance athletes went to the weight room after their outdoor run to complete their practice. They had a prescribed workout.
Coach Joly made cupcakes to celebrate the end of five days of practice. Brittney Schweitzer decorated the cupcakes.
The coaches and athletes were working so hard throughout the practice session that they did not notice that a wandering photographer appropriated one of the cupcakes in order to write a review of the treats.
Kendra Johnson [above, below left] executes one of the lifts
Liz Bloy led the weight room workout
