NLC Round Robin #1

The girls and boys cross country teams ran up at Ox Bow on Tuesday night for the first conference meet of the year.  It was a gorgeous night to run and Melayna was feeling really confident so we were hoping that it would all translate into a new personal best time.

As soon as we got there, Nolan climbed the tower once or twice and then he ran over to play on the playground.

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The boys ran their race first and while they were finishing their race, our girls team came over to the course and began to do their warm-ups and run-outs.

In the huddle, Melayna was suppose to lead them in the group cheer.  

She said that she meant to say "1-2-3 Lady Tigers" but it came out as "1-2-3 Later Tigers".  

I guess it could still be an appropriate cheer - it certainly made the girls laugh.

 

And then they are off:

After the girls took off down the long stretch, they went out of eyesight and ran through the woods.  The first time we saw them, Melayna was running in the middle of the pack and was running with five or six other teammates.

After Laynie ran past us, Noel and I separated.  He ran up to an area of the course where he could see her running through the woods and I just jogged across the course where I could see her run under the tower.  By the time that she ran past me, she had separated herself from the rest of the pack and was just running by herself.  She wasn't quite fast enough to catch our leaders, but she was faster than the rest of the pack.  She did look strong at that point though and she definitely made good work of the hill that she would need run up as soon as she ran past me.

I turned back and crossed the field one more time to go stand near the finish line.  I stopped where I could see the timing board and to see what her final time would be.

Here she comes.... she was going to be near her latest PR, but could she get another new time?

She didn't get a new PR, but she did run a great race and finished with a 2nd fastest time of 23:28.  Not a bad time at all for a technical course like Ox Bow.  We will definitely take it!!

And the team finished in 1st place on the night so it was a good night!

The team runs at Indiana Wesleyan this coming Saturday and we are waiting to hear if Melayna's placing on Tuesday night was high enough to earn her an Elite race start or if she will run in the Reserve race once again.

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And again... here are a few pictures that one of the moms took with her  telephoto lens and sent to me.

Let's go #555!