Camp Sloper Relays

On Friday, our school cross country team had its first race.  Eileen and I are coaching again this year and the kids are running really well.  We started on the road right away this year (last year, we did laps around a field for the first few weeks) and even though it was hard for some of the kids, a lot of them came into the season prepared.  On the boys side, we have a few new runners who show a lot of promise, so we were very excited about going into our first race.  Our goal is not to win meets like this - our school is far too small to compete with middle school teams that are larger than our entire school - but to do our best and prepare mentally for racing against smaller schools.
Our boys team had an outstanding performance - our top runner medaled, finishing 15 out of 188 runners!  We had three boys in the top 50, leading their team to a 5th place finish overall and beating all of the other Catholic school entries.  Our girls team finished 7th out of 8 teams, but even beating one team was a huge success.  More importantly, some of our weaker runners had outstanding performances, which really built their confidence.  I'm so proud of these kids!

The girls team with Miss Lynch and Mrs. Serio, two of our middle school teachers that came out to support them. 

8th grade teammates

The girls are off!! 

So proud of Emily, running her first cross country race.  She finished 37 out of 154 girls, the first runner for our school.  She set a new school record (and grade record) for this course of 11:25 (7:37 pace).

Elizabeth has been battling a wicked cold since the first day of school, which has hampered her training a bit and gave her some breathing difficulties during the race.  She still finished in 12:18, setting the 8th grade record for the school. 

At the awards ceremony, waiting to cheer on our top male finisher, who medaled. 

First race for these awesome 6th graders.