Austen's First Cross Country Season Comes to a Close

Austen and some of his teammates
before the race

Soccer players often make good cross country runners. I remember our high school cross country coach trying to recruit many of us to the team because we had stamina (though I didn't take the bait). So it was no surprise that many of the fastest kids who ran cross country in Austen's 6th grade class were none other than soccer players.

Cross country was good for those soccer players too. It help them build better stamina for those 40 minute halves when they couldn't get a sub. It taught them discipline and how to commit to training for something every day. It taught them if you work hard enough and are committed to something you'll surely see results as in you will get better and faster each week.

I believe this was all true for Austen.

He finished the season at the conference meet which only the top 20 6th graders were invited to attend. Austen was one of the top 7 consistently this season. His last meet was a tough one though. It included two monster hills - one at the beginning and one at the end. He held in there running a tough race but he didn't get out fast enough in the beginning so he ended up trailing a bit behind his normal time. Add in those hills and I think he was hoping for a better finish than 28th place out of 180. (He really wanted a ribbon but only the top 15 get those). Something to aim for next year but he'll have to run 2 miles then.

Still overall, a great first cross country season for Austen. And, he says he wants to do it again next year!