Sunday, October 15, 2023

Finding His Stride

Last weekend, MBA's cross country teams - varsity and junior varsity - ran in the Coleman Midgett Invitational at Sanders Ferry Park in Hendersonville, Tennessee.  I missed the race because Joe's Dodgers has their second to last baseball game of the fall season on Saturday morning at 9 a.m., the same as the scheduled starting time for the varsity race. 

MBA's varsity finished in first place with 47 points, nine points ahead of Beech High School (56).  Father Ryan finished in third place with 72 points.  One of MBA's seniors and best runners didn't run because he was nursing a mile calf injury.  

JP ran his best race of the season, by far, finishing seventh overall (and third among MBA's runners).  He set another personal record with a time of 15:51:27 (5,000 meters).  His previous PR was the 16:18:35 he ran at the McCallie Invitational.  Cutting almost 30 seconds off his best time was impressive and I was very happy for JP.  

Jack McDaniel, JP's longtime friend from as far back as Children's House when they were three and four years old, won the junior varsity meet.  JP and I were very excited for Jack.

This week, on Tuesday, MBA runs in the City Championship  at Vaughn Creek in Percy Warner Park.  That's MBA's home course, so JP and his teammates should be comfortable running there.  The week after is the State Championship at Sanders Ferry Park.  McCallie is the favorite and Christian Brothers is strong, too, but MBA has a shot.  That's all you can ask for, I think.

It's been a fun and rewarding cross country season for JP.  His loves his teammates.  It's a really good group of boys.  I'm kind of sad to see the season coming to an end.




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