Wow. What a Season!

The cross country banquet on Thursday marked the official end of our 2017 cross country season. Awards were received, pins were handed out, t-shirts were signed, and desserts were eaten (lots of them!). Coach Shirley even gave every runner his or her own golf tee in honor of the golf tee that was awarded to the winners of practice each day back at the beginning of the season (I guess he didn't want to have to carry around a bunch of two-by-fours...).

The winner-of-practice block at the end of the season (Photo: Mrs. Jen Mengel)

Joshua Deitrich ('19) and Hannah Ye ('21) were awarded the Top Male Runner and Top Female Runner awards. These were based on points earned towards varsity letters, of which Josh won 80 out of a possible 80! Marc Sherman ('20) and Captain Naomi Mengel ('18) received the Most Improved Runner Awards. Spencer Armstrong ('19) and Faith Hollister ('22) were the recipients of the Coaches' Awards, the criteria for which included finishing every race and making a significant contribution to the team in terms of scoring.

As Coach said at the banquet, this was an amazing year for our team. We met our team goals for the season, and I've seen every one of us runners improve so much. In looking ahead, we have a relatively young team, and I can't wait to see how Red Lion Cross Country will grow in the years to come!

On a more personal note, I can't express just how much I've enjoyed cross country these past two years that I've been running. This season especially, I really feel like I started to hit my stride (no pun intended). I've gone from thinking I could barely run a mile without dying to knowing I can push myself beyond my mental limits to finish every race. I've learned valuable lessons from both my coaches and teammates, not only about running, but also about encouragement, teamwork, and life in general.

I guess that's it for this year then! To all our parents, thank you for your support of us runners and cheering for us; to our coaches, for teaching us the value of preparing, continually encouraging us, and pushing us farther than we think we can go; and to my teammates, for being an absolutely amazing group of encouraging, hilarious, supportive, and understanding people. I'll miss you all next year, but I can't wait to see what's in store for this team in the years to come!

Naomi

"Therefore, since we are surrounded by so great a cloud of witnesses, let us also lay aside every weight, and sin which clings so closely, and let us run with endurance the race that is set before us."
- Hebrews 12:1

P. S. Don't forget about the 500 club! Keep logging those miles and I'll see you on the leaderboard ;)