October Soccer

Sporting girls have played two games almost every weekend this month, although many of those have been late in the day or in rainy weather, which limits my ability to get photos of the girls.  They are up and down, as usual, playing great soccer one day and barely keeping it together the next day, which is definitely frustrating to watch.  Hopefully, they will gel over their last few games before they take a break for the winter and head inside.

These are from Emily's best game of the season and taken by another parent, as I could not pick up my camera when she had the ball.  Emily (who jumped in the car for a three hour ride after running a cross country race that morning) was matched up against an insanely fast girl with excellent foot skills but was able to hang with her the entire game and really showed off her speed.  The girls came from behind to win 3-2 on a gorgeous afternoon in upstate New York.

After their big 3-2 win with an amazing backdrop. 

Catholic School Championship 2019

On Saturday, the JPII cross country team ran in the Catholic School Championship meet.  The girls had a really great showing, as we had the number 1st, 4th, 15th and 19th finishers overall.  Our number one ran an incredible race, using a brutal hill to take out the two girls ahead of her and then holding them off for the last 1/3 mile.  Our boys did well too, finishing 7th and then 21st and 22nd, just out of the medals.  We are so proud these kids and how hard they worked all season and the improvement they showed.  As for Emily, we were disappointed in her finish, but she was not - apparently, she was listening as other coaches were counting out the positions of their runners and passed just enough girls during the last 3/4 mile to get a medal.  The fact that she's content to be "good enough" rather than the best shows that this is just not her sport.

19th place 

Top finishers 

CFC Columbus Day Weekend Tournament

Over the long weekend, the Sporting 06 girls played in the CFC Columbus Day Weekend tournament, with games taking place at various fields around the state.  After running at Wickham in the morning, Emily played two games in the afternoon.  Thank goodness for the other parents with cameras, otherwise, I probably wouldn't have any photos from this weekend as I was shuffling between races and games.  Emily had an assist in the first game and then played some solid defense in the final three games, including the championship game.  The girls came up short, losing 2-1 on a heartbreaking goal by the other team with three minutes to play.  We are proud of how well Emily and her team played over the weekend and looking forward to the rest of the season.

Cam and Emily with the high 5's after Cam's goal off of Emily's pass.

Wickham Park Invitational

Elizabeth and Emily both ran at the Wickham Park Invitational over the weekend.  Emily ran the middle school girls race, which was at 9am; Elizabeth ran in the high school varsity girls race, which was at 2pm.  Needless to say, we spent a lot of time navigating the traffic and runners at Wickham on Saturday.  The course is the most difficult one in the state, so I'm always just glad that our runners can push through it and finish.

Middle school boys team. 

Middle school girls team. 

Girls start. 

8th graders, so happy to never have to run at Wickham again.

Brody and Elizabeth - friends since pre-school.  Thousands of people there for the high school races and we just happen to see Brody as we get out of the car. 

Before.... 

After.... 

What a view! 

September Odds and Ends

Running into former XC teammates at the Dragon Invitational.  

Snuggles with Beau 

Driving to Schenectady. 

Running into one of your BFFs at an XC invitational. 

Headed to Long Island 

This crew on the ferry 

8th graders at Sunday mass.

Camp Sloper Relays

Our middle school cross country team runs this race every year, although this year was not without a few hiccups.  Elizabeth and Emily were originally both scheduled to run, in two different divisions, and the race was scheduled for the end of September.  Unfortunately, violent thunderstorms were predicted for race time, so the meet was postponed for a week. Elizabeth's team pulled out and wouldn't you know, it poured on the day the race was rescheduled as well.  For JPII, it didn't matter however, as the team had its best finish ever.  Due to the size of the schools competing, our girls have never finished better than last.  This year, they were SECOND overall.  SECOND.  I just couldn't believe it.  Emily, who ran 30 seconds faster than last year to finish 20th overall, was the fourth JPII female to cross the line - which just demonstrates the depth of the girls team.  On the boys side, the top finishing boy for JPII was 13th, shaving 30 seconds off of his time from last year.  It was quite a day, with every single one of our runners turning in gritty and spectacular performances.  Once again, I am reminded of what an amazing sport cross country is.

Girls team 

52 degrees and pouring but I was able to convince every girl to shed their warm ups and run in just their shorts and singlet.  Not that this girl had much of a choice...