Woodberry Invitational

These girls ROCK!! Today they ran a 3.1 mile race against many area high schools and came in 4th, beating their two main rivals!

At least two of the girls came in in the top ten and received ribbons! (Yay #179 and #180!)

Awesome job girls!!


Before the race, the girls went over some racing strategy... and waited for the commands.

There were well over 100 8th, 9th and 10th grade girls running this race. About 100 yards after starting the race they came to a steep drop-off that the runners would meet again uphill towards the end of the race. From my position the runners just seemed to disappear over the bank.


These two ran together, pacing themselves and encouraging each other.





They overtook the girls in front of them by dividing and going around each side of the runners in front of them. As one who used to do this, I know what a great feeling it is to knock one more runner out of the way. And as one who has been passed in this manner, I also know that if the runner isn't in the right mindset, being passed that way can be pretty defeating.


Here they are again!

They did catch this girl - watch for the photos at the end of the race showing how they passed her. You can see the St. Cat's girl running up that steep drop-off. It was steep enough that it slowed some of the girls down considerably, and set others on fire.

Got to love those hills!


So funny - there's David encouraging our girls, and another man encouraging his runner. Both were likely saying the same things.







Here they are charging up the last hill! They've left one girl in the dust and have set their sights on these others.



This is the last long stretch before turning into the finish. They knocked off those three runners before crossing the finish line!


From this point the girls could see the finish line.


Just one last push.

Morgan's teammate has a great kick and took off! The St. Cat's girl didn't want to give up her spot to Morgan, but just couldn't pass her again.


Phew! They gave it their all, had a great race, and took several seconds off their last race times.

Now they just have to rest up and get ready for next Wednesday's race!