The Irwin County Cross Country Team did an amazing job today at our FIRST meet in Bleckley County for "Clash of the Classes." This meet was MANY of our runners' FIRST time running in a meet and gave us a great baseline for their future runs! This meet also includes A LOT of HILLS, which our runners have not gotten accustomed to (yet...) and many practices have been held "indoors" due to the heat index.
Clash of the Classes is set up a little differently, where runners compete against their GRADE LEVEL PEERS, as opposed to "all middle" or "all high." They ALL run 2 miles (normally High schoolers run a 5k or 3.1 miles). Points are also tallied differently! To qualify for a team, you must have a representative in EACH grade level (rather than just having a team of 5 or more). In this meet, the top 10 boys and girls from each grade level get medals.
Middle School in attendance: L to R: Karma Wilkes, Micah Parker, Cannon Toro, Sam Bowles, Brantley Harris, Davis Law, Aurora Outlaw. Back: Parker Griner, Bryce Martin.
Our Middle School girls, Runners Aurora Outlaw (6th) and returnee Karma Wilkes (7th), did an excellent job representing the team! They finished in the middle-pack groups in their respective races, which included (43) 6th graders and (64) 7th graders.
7th Grader Bryce Martin was able to bring home some HARDWARE. He is 1 of 3 runners in the past several years that have MEDALED at an event. Bryce came in 5th place among all 7th-grade boys competing. With a Time of 13:42. Other middle school
runners were really close to the top 10!
Our Middle School boys team. This year our Middle School boys haven't been able to form a solid 8-9 person team! In the past, we have had 1-3 runners who also excelled. EVERY Middle School boy ran THEIR FIRST race, and they put Irwin on the map. Out of the 7 boys, 4 of our runners were able to run under 16 minutes! This is great for a FIRST year/run. Many of our boys were also close in time and placement, which will BENEFIT them when they start competing as an "official" team.
In the 6th grade race, there were 75 competitors and our new runners did an excellent job. In the 7th grade race, there were 86 runners. They all finished in the TOP half, some of them finishing in the TOP 25, and CLOSE to being in the top 10!
Next week we travel to Coffee County for the Blake Smith Invitational. The First race (HS boys begins at 8:00 a.m. at Coffee County Middle School.