DASH Middle School Cross Country Brookfield Academy Meet Report

September 24, 2010 in Cross Country, Middle School Cross Country, Middle School Cross Country Meet Reports

Hello DASH homeschool families,

The middle school team ran at Brookfield Academy yesterday. It was quite a change of pace compared to our first two meets. The meet was our smallest of the year with 5 teams, and the longest at 2.25 miles.  The weather was much hotter than the previous meets. This made the order of finish very unpredictable. Not everyone would have a great race. This was the kind of day where experience and race tactics come more into play. Courses and weather are always a factor to be dealt with, but especially so when running a long course in hot weather. Testing yourself against such challenges is what make cross country such a great sport. The athletes were out of view for most of the race. This leads to excitement, but also to frustration. What was going on back in the woods? Who was prepared to overcome this day’s challenges? Who was ready to keep up a fast pace on this course? We had to be patient to find out.

The girls race was first. All our girls lined up at the start. The usual DASH surge took place. Into the woods they went. Lucretia Nyhart came out first, second place overall, followed closely by Andrea Beck. On closer inspection, Andrea was running with only one shoe, but running fast nonetheless. They would hold their positions for impressive 2nd and 3rd place finishes. Zipporah Caspers and Faith Caspers were seen next. Zipporah finishing 7th overall. Faith, after a strong start, maybe too strong, came in 9th. Veteran Gabrielle Heiss overcame the rough conditions to finish 12th. Five girls in the top 12 for the DASH team! Renee Nurre and Gloria Heiss were the next girls in. Both ran hard, as could be clearly seen at the finish line. The heat got to Siobhan Heiss. You felt the heat more in the woods, and it really slowed Siobhan down. She has five more races to help her forget about it.

It was time for the boys race.   A pack of four boys came out of the woods over a minute ahead of the rest. Our own Ransom Nyhart was among them, finishing the course in an astounding 13 minutes flat! That was only good for fourth place on this day. The teams we were racing were few, but they were good. Next in for the DASH team was a very determined Zebulon Caspers. Going head-to-head with all his DASH teammates had Zeb running his best. It was good for a 7th place finish. Matthew LeSac and Christian LeSac had their usual strong races to finish 9th and 10th. That’s four of the top 10 for the DASH boys! From here on out the finishes become very interesting. The next boy in was Kevin Egan. Is no course too long for this little guy? Kevin was followed closely by Nick Contino who had another very encouraging race. We had a group of four boys together – Glenn Kaboskey, Ben Contino, Dawson Miller, and Daniel Caspers was the order. The heat and length of the course slowed these older boys down a bit enabling Daniel to keep up. The heat affected Levi Leonard the most, though. This race will give these boys more incentive to run great in the next race. Rookies Tommy Egan and Seth Heinz filled out our team’s finishers. Finishing this long course is an accomplishment in itself. Kudos to all the runners.

Overall, we did very well.  The change of pace from big meet to little meet was fun.  Experience was gained, yet the challenge to get better remains. We have five more meets to put our racing skills to the test. I wouldn’t miss it. Check out the results here

Thanks to Christine Nurre who helped collect the placement cards. Thanks to those who took pictures and will send them to me. Thanks to the parents who drive the kids to the meets. Thanks to the Ed Beck who is always by my side helping with something. Thanks to Brookfield Academy for hosting the meet.  Thanks to those who helped cap off the night at Marty’s Pizza.

Take care,
Jim Caspers

Advertisements