Cross Country District Race

Could the Lady Panthers advance out of the cross country district meet and move on to regionals? The answer is yes they could and they did so I could end the post here but I am wordy and if anyone can turn, "The girls are headed to regionals" into a multi paragraph, verbose blog post, it is I.

The meet was at 3:00 pm on Saturday at Cedarville. Alyssa decided that she wanted to ride the bus to the meet which meant she had to be at the high school by 12:15. I dropped Alyssa off and then went to run a couple of errands- both were cross country related. Alyssa's coach anticipated that the girls would make it out of districts so she asked us parents to make posters as a surprise for the girls for when they board the bus to regionals this upcoming Saturday (the 30th).  It made sense for me to get the items that I needed for the poster when Alyssa wasn't home so that I wouldn't have to lie to her about where I was going or why I was going to Hobby Lobby (since Alyssa has her driver's permit, she wants to go everywhere with me so she can drive which  makes surreptitious shopping difficult). I also had to get items to put in goodie bags for the girls, again, anticipating that they would make it out of districts and to regionals. Alyssa's coach asked that parents bring in goodie bags for the girls for the upcoming week of practice. (If for some reason, the girls did not advance out of districts, then there would be no need for the poster or the goodie bags since the season would end on Saturday. In that case, I would have taken back everything that I bought for the poster and goodie bags.)

By the time I arrived home from the errands, it was almost time for Donnie and me to leave the house for Cedarville.  The drive was about forty minutes- we left a little later than anticipated and ended up arriving only a few minutes before 3:00 pm. We found a spot along the course and settled in to watch the (slightly) less than spectacular spectator sport that is cross country. We saw Alyssa just once along the course and then at the end. Alyssa did well- she PR'd for the season by 17 seconds. She finished 4th for her team.  Her team came in 4th out of 24 schools. That was good enough to earn them a spot to move on to regionals.

The weather was perfect for a run- cool and overcast  and the course was nice 'n flat

Almost done…

Post run goofiness with her bestie

The girls were considered co- runners up for the Cedarville Southwest District 

Some members of the team who weren't running came to cheer the girls on which was sweet of them. They all posed for a picture

We stayed to watch the boys' race- the Springboro boys did great and came in 3rd place. Alyssa didn't want to ride the bus back to the school- she chose to ride home with us. It was close to dinner time and Alyssa asked if we could get sushi for dinner. We weren't too far away from Sake in Beavercreek so we went there for dinner. By the time we arrived home, I'd been gone almost seven hours from home- long day but I wouldn't have wanted it any other way. I can hibernate in the winter which will be here before we know it…

Now, will the girls make it past regionals to move on to state the following weekend? It is unlikely but not impossible. At regionals, five teams from two districts will move on and compete at the state cross country meet. Four teams in the two districts are considerably better than we are and will move on for sure. Two other teams are better than we are on paper but they aren't better than we are by too much. So it will be possible to clinch the fifth spot. We will find out on Saturday...

I put together goodie bags for the runners (parents take turn bringing in goodies for the girls each day this week of practice)  

I thought the outside of the bags turned out cute even though Donnie and Alyssa pointed out that writing, “State Bound” was presumptuous. After all, at this point, they are only regionally bound. But I thought it sounded good to aim high 😆.