Cross Country

Our XC schedule
Sept 4th: Akiachak (overnight)
Sept. 11th: Kwethluk (day trip)
Sept. 18th: Bethel (overnight) Personal best for Trevor (4th grade)
Sept. 25th: Chevak (Regionals-only Jackie, my senior went. I didn't even go,)
Personal best for Jackie Joekay!!!

This year cross country was much better than last year. I was the only coach which made practices much smoother. I had a core 4 students who were my team. Of course, there were close to a dozen students on my cross country roster, but they were hit and miss for practices.

In order to travel students have to be academically eligible, have a physical, and have 10 practices under their belt. This year we are also allowing students to start traveling at 4th grade. So, at the beginning of our cross country season I told the students the criteria and said that we may only have so many spots on a plane for travelers, so spots would be picked based on participation, attitude, and performance. When the week of our first meet arrived their was some surprise when the only 2 students who qualified for competition were 4th graders. No one else had enough practices to qualify. I had four available seats, so I took those 2 and 2 high schoolers who were only missing a few practices because they started late in the season.

Those are the 4 students that traveled the entire season. I have to say that my little elementary students held their own. Only one of the four meets we went to actually had an elementary race, so they had to run in the junior high category at all the other meets. From the start to the end of the season they made great improvements.


XC is also the start of my traveling season. Who wouldn't look forward to traveling with students, spending the night on classroom floors, eating school food, and whittling away the weekend going and coming by boat and plane? I'll let you know. So XC may be over, but NYO (Native Youth Olympics) just started this week and I am usually the lucky chaperone for NYO.