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The end of Cross Country season
Well, number two son Eli had a phenomenal end of season! He won the Busline (local) League individual Championship, with his friend Ben coming in right behind him!
Eli wins the Busline League (midcoast Maine) Middle School Championships; friend Ben is not far behind
The boys team wins the Busline League as Undefeated Champions (second year in a row!)
The girls team wins the Busline League as Undefeated Champions (second year in a row!)
Happy Coach Morse and Happy kids!
Then they went to the Winthrop Invitational (thanks to a wonderful Coach, Jim Morse, who kept seeking more opportunities for the top runners), where Eli won with a new course record (!!!), and both teams won!
To our delight and surprise, Eli came charging up the final hill IN THE LEAD--and no one in sight behind him-- and won the Winthrop Invitational with a new course record!
Next was a larger invitational about 90 minutes north of here so the kids could experience a larger field. Eli came in third, and both boys and girls teams won!
Aurora meet...Eli comes in third! and fourth is not even around the corner of the building....
While I was teaching at A Quilters’ Gathering in New Hampshire, there was a State-wide qualifying meet in Augusta. Runners who placed high enough would get to compete in the USA Track and Field Association Junior Olympics Northeast Regional meet in Queensbury, NY. Eli placed second in the STATE!
The last big event, the Sunday before Thanksgiving…get this!…. Seven of our runners went to the Junior Olympics Regionals! A few more made it, but they were in 6th grade and the parents decided, maybe when they are older (smart!). All of the kids raced, some ran their best times ever, and all came in somewhere in the middle of the pack. Eli was the highest finishing middle schooler for Maine except for the kid who beat him at both Aurora and Augusta meets. There were some older boys from Maine, Freshman, in the same age group, and they came in a bit ahead. Eli was 63 of 116 which is pretty amazing since runners came from Maine, NH, Vermont, parts of NY, Connecticut, Massachusetts and Rhode Island. WOW!
Junior Olympics Northeast Regionals, age 13-14 boys; Maine kids are at the far right--taking off! As Eli put it, the leaders shot out, went into the woods, and weren't seen again!
Eli heads down the chute for the finish line at his first Junior Olympics race
Our Camden-Rockport kids standing under the finish line. It was great...we had kids in three or four separate races, and all the kids and all the parents stayed for all the races and finishes! We're so proud of ALL of them! Eli is the boy to the right, his friend from first grade on, Ben, is at the left.
It was a 6+ hour drive from Hope, Maine, to Queensbury, NY, so we drove over Saturday for a midday race Sunday, then drove home after the race. And slept in Monday–we told Eli he could go to school late! While waiting to head over to the course on Sunday, I decided to sketch a bit…I’ll share more of this journaling later.
To pass the time on Sunday morning before the race, I decided to sketch Eli's tank.
It was a great season…we are so grateful to Jim Morse for his dedication to the kids, to the school for providing buses to all the meets and letting the kids wear their red uniforms for the after-season meets.
I have to comment the USATF and the volunteers in NY. Over the course of the day there were some 2000 runners, and this was by far the best organized meet of this sort I’ve ever attended. And best of all: ALL the kids were enthused, learned from the reality dose from being the best of the best in Maine to among the best in New England, and ALL want to go back next year!
December 20th, 2011 at 7:37 am
Congratulations to Eli and to his proud Mum. Dorothy.
December 20th, 2011 at 11:21 am
Cool shots – you’re a good mom! Queensbury – my old stomping grounds! Lived around the corner basically from the high school and field.
December 26th, 2011 at 6:37 pm
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