Emily's Cross Country Memories
6th-8th Grade Barkalow Middle School Team
2014 (Mr. Lyttle)
2015 Cross Country season was all about Mr. Lyttle. He was a cross country coach which I only had experience 1 year with him. Even tho I didn't know him very well, I can tell he was an excellent coach. He passed away, so since the first meet when he wasn't there, we (players) have dedicated all meet to him. We had a great boys and girls cross country team and we bonded together as if we were a family! 2014-2015 was great, girls and boys were undefeated! IN 6th grade I made all away meets and one person away from going to the All Star Meet!
2014 All Star Meet
2014 was my first time that I was in the "All Star" meet representing Barkalow Middle School. It was a great memory. I came in 27th place out of 240 girls total. I was very excited I did so well! I came in 3rd for Barkalow. Unfortunately I didn't make the all star's in 6th grade, but I am thankful that I didn't because I motivated my self to what my goal was, to make the all star team and go to the meet. Which I did accomplish! From what happened I pushed my self even harder and harder to be better then the person in front of me.
2015 Season
This season was great, fun! We had lots of new faces that were shown and made a good impression. This season was big for me. I was the girl leader in cross country and I made a lot of new friends. This was the year to show how I really was. And that is what i did! I came in first out of 6/7 regular season games and for the all star meet I got 6th place out of 167 girls. We had a lot of good, fast teammates and congratulations to the boys, they got 3rd place all around!
What is Cross Country?
Cross Country (XC) is a non-cut running sport. This is a great sport to get in shape and keep up with your stamina. People some reason get cross country and track mixed up or call it the same thing. Yet, it is totally different strategies, technique and speed. Track is more for the people that are good at sprinting. But XC you run long distance. Running will make you become a better athlete in what ever sport you participate in. And running is good for you! For me in particular, It made me a better athlete in soccer and lacrosse. So in Middle School the distance to run is a 1 1/2 miles.
In the beginning of 6th grade I wanted to try out for soccer and hopefully make it. As sad as I was because I didn't make it, I look back and I am really happy that I didn't make it. If I did make the soccer team in 6th grade I wouldn't have been experienced with cross country and wanting to continue running as a sport (on my own time). Even though I love soccer, I have a travel team and play outside of school. XC is different and I really enjoyed myself. I also feel that you build a good relationship/bond with your teammates. I know for me I have built a good relationship with a lot of my close friends now because of cross country.