The Right Stuff: A Day at the Races

The Right Stuff

Can't you just feel the confidence? This is a mental trick Coach Weaver put on. He had his seven runners pull out before the entire field a number of times, huddle up, and then turn and walk back, casually, confidently, with total, breezy solidarity. I admit I felt it. I was thankful I wasn't running against this team.
Moments later, these seven girls were all in the top 12 at the bottom of the bottleneck, out of a field of 137 participants from about 20 schools.

 

Coach Hammond and the girls in the final huddle.


The team, with Coach Hammond in the background.

Hammond's Contraband
"I don't want to see ONE of you girls lookin' at your watch. You watch the FINISH."

The Team Roster
Runners were Kate, Lindsey, Ruth, Emma, Brittainy, Lauren, Savannah.

Cary Christian School won the State meet for 2A three years in a row. Asheville Christian Academy girls pushed them to their limits this year. Her are our girls waiting for the announcement for runnerup, which simultaneously announces the winner.
So sorry, Cary Christian. This was the year the Lady Lions roared!

2012 NCISAA 2A Women's Cross Country Champions: Asheville Christian Academy

Later, the Men had a great showing too. Josh took 2nd place and Sully took 5th. 

Overall, our ACA guys grabbed that Runner-Up spot. Great job, guys!

Emma sparkles as she shows off her medal...

 ...and her own name and team on the back of the souvenir sweatshirt.

12:30pm:
The ACA girls raced their hearts out. Lindsey led our team and finished in the 5th spot overall. Lauren and Brittany were not far behind. The top 5 girls on each team score points. Emma finished 7th of the ACA girls (as expected) but broke her PR once again by 30 seconds, coming in at 24:06, a VERY respectable time for State competition.

We are neck & neck with Cary Christian, and waiting for the final count. One girl in the top 30 got skipped at the finish line, and so judges are evaluating the video to determine whether that changes team scores.

The boys are finishing now. All ACA boys finished at or well ahead of the midpoint. Josh took second place and I think Sully was in 5th. Barron is 3rd for the ACA team. (Betty--Jack was up in there with Rory and not far behind Michael--Jack was our boys' team sweeper and doing great.)

Awards at 12:45 if they are on time. With a few straggler guys still coming in now, it may be 1:00 before awards.

It's been a great day for The Pride!
Praise!



10:05am: This post will be updated as possible over the course of the day.

We are on our way to the WakeMed Soccer Complex for the State Championship Cross-Country Competition.

Big news: I just found out last night that our ACA Varsity Girls are ranked #1 in the state for the 2A conference. Our coaches (Weaver and Hammond--thank God for Coach Weaver and Coach Hammond) had t-shirts printed for themselves and the team. A large bull's-eye on the back features ACA in the center spot. The message: We're the ones everyone else has to shoot for.

Emma has been visualizing herself passing other runners on what they call "the hill" here. It's a gentle slope. These mountain goats should have no trouble there. There''s more oxygen in the air here than at home. It seems the competition will be mostly mental, not physical. Cary Christian School has won the women's varsity 2A division here for three years running. They don't release their stats so their competition can't know what they are up against. That's the biggest hurdle--the unknown previous champions.

The little girl who, as a baby, refused to stand up and walk so long we wondered if something was wrong with her is now running on the top-ranked team in her division in the state--at just 13 years old. God is good.

More on the day as possible. GO LIONS! (It's a Pride thing.)