SWA Divisional Track...a P.R. Day for Easton!

The picture above was taken by none other than my dad (as usual) in Polson last week. What a beautiful day and a great view of the lake. Easton ran a 4:49 mile on this day to set a new personal record. It wouldn't last long however as this weekend at the SWA divisional, he bettered his mark by 9 seconds! The next day he took second in the 3200, even giving state champion Chris Jessop a bit of a challenge. He ran a personal best 10:08...not bad for a frosh:)

Speaking of frosh, Anthony Schmalz also had a great weekend. Anthony took 5th in the same two races running his best times of the year! Both these boys will be representing their school and the conference at state next weekend in Missoula. I'm very proud of you two! Be aggressive and run with relaxed intensity next weekend.

Coach Albert

Cars...A Love-Hate Thing.

The "Skin-mobile," as Ashley's teammates call it is our new addition to the stable of vehicles we seem to be collecting. For those of you who don't know, Ashley was in a "minor" car crash this winter. No one was hurt except our little red Plymouth Neon. It wasn't Ashley's fault but the insurance company of the other driver has refused to pay for repairs. Unfortunately the repairs will cost more than the car is worth. we'd still like to get it fixed but that is another story.

While we were in Billings for Kaurie's senior Raddison Classic basketball tournament we decided to look for a "junker" car for Ashley that we could pay cash for with our recent tax return. This 1989 Buick was the only one we found. My first reaction was "what an ugly car!" Since purchasing it however, "Ludwig," as Kaurie calls it, has really grown on us. Easton and I have been driving it a lot lately, since Ashley needed to take the red truck back to school to use as a moving vehicle.

As you can tell from the pictures (and if you know me at all) I love nice older cars and trucks. I keep them clean and actually enjoy washing them...if only my kids did!

The problem with liking cars like I do is they cost way too much money...to purchase, to $$fuel-up, to maintain, license and insure. With 5 drivers now in the family, you can imagine what our auto insurance is like! That's right, Easton Albert is now a licensed driver. When you see one of the vehicles above around town with a freshman toe-head behind the wheel, head the other way:)

Coach Albert

Super Fan!

Randy Bocksnick, my Dad...Columbia falls "superfan" of the last 40+ years. I like this picture of him. This was a night he was honored by Coach Findberg. He was allowed to sit on the bench during a game against Whitefish. This is pretty unusual but certainly a special thing for my dad. Thanks Cary for making this dream come true for my dad. This was especially "cool" considering I had just refereed for Cary the night before and had to call a technical foul on him:) By the way, most photos in this blog were taken by my dad...the good ones anyway! Coach Albert

49-9!

Last weekend we wrapped up our basketball season for this school year. We played in a very competitive tournament in Spokane. We went 3-2 which was the same record as the champion...whom we beat by one on Saturday. The week before we went 4-0at Glacier, 3-1 at Missoula and 4-0 at Anaconda the week before. Yes...we're tired! Over all, including the school season which started in September, our girls are 49-9!

What a commitment by a special group of 8th graders. We wowed 'em with our ability to execute our offense and shoot the ball.

A few highlights:

Thirteen (13) three pointers vs Columbia Falls. 30 and 42 second half points vs Montana Hoops and Great Falls Amigos. Over-time victory vs Missoula Wolfpack. Only losing by 14 to the Tri-cities Warriors in the championship game at Moses Lake. Undefeated in three games against the best in Billings. Taylor's superior play including 33 points vs Spokane. Bre's 22 and 10 vs Butte in our last game. Jaylee's 2threes late against Great Falls and several game clinching free throws. Kali's half court three vs Montana Hoops and two threes vs Billings. Ellie's six points and great screens in Spokane. Mckayl's big threes vs Spokane and several key rebounds. Shay's charges. Emarie's lay ups in Memphis. Holli's rebounds and post steals. A ton of highlights! Thank you ladies for a very special basketball season...I was truly blessed by all of you this winter.

Now the tough part...get better! Commit to putting the time in to become great. Get in the gym. Shoot and ball handle. Get in the weight room. Improve as an athlete. Challenge and encourage each other. Have fun reaching for greatness!

I love you girls. Our time together this season will always be very special to me. Now it's time to see what you can do at the high school level.

We are...the Broncs!

Coach Albert

Hamilton Lady 8

The Hamilton 8th girls AAU team is rocking tournaments in both Montana and Washington! Last month we took the girls to Moses Lake WA to see how we compared to some of the best of the west. We found out we have a long way to go to be great, but we found out we already have a head start:)

We took second to a team from the Tri-cities area. A team with a record of 54-2! We competed and definitely got better.

A couple of weeks ago we took our team to Butte and played 4 AA all-star teams and went 3-1. We were definitely the best team in the tournament that had all girls from the same school. We were the talk of the tournament...primarily because of our ability to shoot the three and competitiveness despite our obvious lack of size. As I've said many times before, there is simply no substitute for shooters. In 4 games, we hit 25 three pointers!

We have taken a couple of weeks off and are now getting back at it. We go to a tournament in Anaconda on the 12th...the first of four in a row. We will finish off our season in Spokane the first weekend in April.

I am so glad I resigned from the varsity position this year. It truly worked out for the varsity girls...Kaurie in particular. She had a terrific senior season in spite of contracting mono. Coach Faris was the right guy for the job and I was the right guy to coach these 8th graders. We're having a great time, getting better and are really committed to each other. We have a goal to win multiple state titles and so far the girls are doing the necessary weight training, ball handling, shooting and specific skill development activities to help insure this goal will become a reality. I am very proud of them! (as if you couldn't tell:)

Easton had a solid freshmen season, Jaylee is really playing well, Kaurie made second team all conference and Ashley is 3 months ahead of schedule on her rehab! Basketball is good:) God is great!

"If you don't invest very much then losing doesn't hurt and winning isn't very exciting."

Coach Albert

Last Day of 2010!

Happy New Year! It's been a terrific year. 2010 saw the Alberts with 2 kids in high school again, one in college and another in 8th grade. I took classes at MSU Northern in Havre this summer to earn my driver's education endorsement. Later that summer I taught my first 15 students..one of which was Easton! I survived, enjoyed it and am looking forward to this summer's class. Though I am not looking forward to all of the sitting! Carla is still working at Catalyst Physical Therapy here in Hamilton. She loves her work and only gets frustarted when her patients don't show up:) She got some extra work this June when her dad was bucked off his new horse and broke his pelvis. She drove to Seattle to transport him home...I know Don was very appreciative. He is doing well but it was a very difficult injury and it hampered his efforts to win a state house seat in the last election. He ran as a republican, which if you know anything about Missoula politics and especially the lower Rattlesnake area, the task was Herculian! (He only lost by 80 votes). We are very proud of "Grandpa Harby" and how he cares about the future of your kids and mine. Last winter was my last as the varsity girls coach. I resigned to have the freedom to watch my kids this winter. For example, the last few months of 2010 has been filled with basketball! I am coaching Jaylee's AAU team again, Easton has started freshmen basketball and Kaurie is a senior on her team. It has been quite eventful thus far. My team is 10-3 so far...beating several AA all star teams along the way. Easton is 3-1 and starting at the point guard and loving it! Kaurie's team is 3-2...a season highlighted so far by a win against Columbia Falls and 33 points by Kaurie! (I am also back reffing when it doesn't conflict with kids' games.)

Last season was Ashley's first as a member of the Montana State Women's basketball team. It was very successful for both her and her team. She played about 15 minutes per game. It was a season in which they beat the Lady Griz in Missoula for the first time since 1976 and also saw the Cats play in the tournament championship game. (They lost by 4 to Portland State). Of course we are very dissappointed that we don't get watch Ashley play this year. She started at the point guard position for two exhibition games and then tore her ACL at practice the following Monday. She will redshirt this season and have 3 remaining years of eligibility...it could always be worse. She had surgery and is doing quite well. She is traveling with the team and acting as a student coach:)

It was a special fall as I got to coach Easton for the first time as a member of our vasity cross country team. He was our number one runner all season and ran a personal best 16:39 for 3 miles. He also placed 11th at state...not bad for a little freshman:) See the previous blog for more information.

We all wish you a blessed 2011. Remember how good God is and we wish you His best! Hope to see you soon.

With love,

Mark, Carla and the kids

All - State Easton!

Congrats to this year's Hamilton Cross country teams as we made a strong showing at last weekend's Montana State Cross Country Championships. We're very young this year so placing high at the meet was not a priority, but finishing strong was. We wanted it to be a beginning, not an end. Our boys team returns all 7 runners and also a very strong group of JV kids. Look out next season!

Our top 4 girls are all sophomores and have a love for running. With the addition of some incoming freshmen next fall, we could really make a big jump.

Sara Amish, our top runner this season placed 17th at the state meet! She was only two places from making the podium. Way to go Sara!

Easton was able to accomplish his personal goal of making all state by placing 11th out of 136 runners! In fact, he was the second fastest freshman in the state that day...in any classification. Congratulations Son!

It was a special season and we're all really excited about the potential for excellence next season. With quality summer dedication, the future is very bright.

Go Broncs!

P.S. A special congrats go out to Chris Jessop and the Corvallis Blue Devils for their indivdual and team State championships...they were very deserving.

It was a P.R. day!!

Frenchtown. Wednesday. September 22. 3:00 pm. The Broncs came and the Broncs excelled!!

95% of our runners ran personal best times for their high school cross country career. The day was perfect. The course was ideal and the time of the season was suited for a day of personal records (P.R.). We had kids drop not just multiple seconds but multiple minutes!

Both boys and girls teams were outstanding. I was so proud of them all. Their hard work has really begun to pay off. Most of our kids are underclassmen, so the future is very bright for Hamilton Cross Country! Since most of you who read this blog are friends and family, you'll be happy to know that Easton set the all-time fastest freshman record at 16:39...beating the current record by 24 seconds! Not bad for a little bug like E:)

Congrats Broncs. Let's go cut some more time on Saturday!

Run fast.

Coach Albert

And they're off...

Tuesday, August 31st was the beginning of the 2010 cross country season. We competed at the Butte Central Invitation held on the golf course at Fairmont Hotsprings Resort. It was a pretty good day. Our top 5 boys were only seperated by 1:10. This is good for a team with no blazing fast runner. It shows our strength in TEAM. As we improve our times and even lower our seperation time...look out!

Both our girls and boys teams are young but enthusiastic with some real potential for excellence. We had 3 kids in the top 20. We are already hungry for tomorrow's meet in Ronan.

Remember runners to get a lot of sleep, water and good calories. The sky is the limit if we remember two things this season...show up everyday and work hard, and compete in every meet.

Go Broncs!!

Coach Albert

Vegas Champs Again!

The "Super 7!" What a great week in Las Vegas for the AAU West Coast Championships July 22-25. Big Sky Hoops once again won the event as they had done in 2008. The difference this year was no one came close to challenging these Montana girls. This was truly the finest team I have ever coached!

We beat 4 metropolitan teams by sharing the ball and puting on a defensive clinic. We kept people out of the lane, talked and helped. We were relentless rebounders, hustled and executed. I was so proud of our unselfishness on the offensive end. This team didn't care who got the glory...for a group of girls made up of kids from across the state and with only four practices under their belt, this was truly a TEAM in every sense of the word. I received more compliments from people, many complete strangers on how hard our team played and shared the ball. This was encouraged by me but embraced by the players. What a terrific group of young ladies...players and people!

I truly enjoyed my time with these girls during our three tournaments together. Great basketball, great people and some solid entertainment...basketball, Vegas shows and LeBron James:)

Good luck and God bless you girls during your senior year and into your college career...I'll be watching!!

Coach Albert