That's the heading I thought of for a shirt to give Ammon for his outstanding 2013 Cross Country season. I envisioned that on the front of the shirt under the headline there would be c3po's golden robot head on a running boy's body, and then on the backside of the shirt would be a list of the names of all the XC meets he went to and all his 3rd & 4th placements in them. Unfortunately, I never had the T-shirt made, but Ammon's accomplishments in the 2013 XC will still be remembered--just on this blog instead of on his chest & back!
This was Ammon's 2nd year running Cross Country, and his last year running with the middle school (since he's an 8th grader). We were constantly amazed at how well he ran the races; he came home with a placement a/o medal from ALL of them!!
In order to have a team score, there must be a minimum of 5 runners. Last year there wasn't enough middle school boys to make a team, but this year there were! It was great for him to have full team to run with, and he and McClay (who also ran last year) ran a lot together and challenged each other throughout the season. McClay got 2nd place in a majority of the races, and Ammon was always right behind him with a 3rd or 4th finish.
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| Connor, McClay, John, Garrett, & Ammon |
Here's a list of the Cross Country meets, and his placements and times in them:
Aug 30 - Saucony Sugar Scramble in Shelley
(3000 meters) - 4th place 12:01
Sept 6 - Wood River meet in Sun Valley
(2500 meters) - 4th place 10:02
Sept 20 - Rigby meet in Rigby
(3000 meters) - 4th place 12:41
Sept 28 - Mountain West Classic in Missoula
(2000 meters) - 7th place 7:32
Oct 5 - Mile High Classic in Challis
(2500 meters) - 3rd place 9:29
Oct 11 - Madison Invitation in Rexburg
(3200 meters)- 3rd place 11:55
Oct 16 - Salmon Invitational in Salmon
(3200 meters) - 3rd place
His first race was in Shelley, at the Journey's End golf course, and it was a course we'd never been to before. Josh drove the XC bus for it, so I drove the 3 younger boys down to attend it, and Ed, Kathy, & Malachi came, too. We got there about 20 minutes before his race began, and I took this cute little snapshot of his team walking towards the starting line.
There were a LOT of runners at this meet: in his race alone there were 170 middle school boys!
Ammon had a good start, and was able to get ahead of the pack and keep up with the pace that McClay set in front of him. This picture was the halfway-point of the race, and my boys and I barely made it there to see him run around this loop, then we headed back to the finish line to see him cross.
He earned a 4th place finish and a big medal! It was exciting for all of us that he did so well in the first race of the season, especially since it was such a large race!
His 2nd race was in Sun Valley, and Josh again drove the XC bus. I wasn't able to go, so there are no photos of this race, but Josh took this picture with his phone of him by his team's tent after the race with his 4th place medal and texted it to me!
The next race was in Rigby, and I drove the 3 younger boys to it again since Josh took the team on the bus. Edward & Kathy came, and got there ahead of me. I'm so glad I made it for his race--I panicked when I got lost and couldn't find the Rigby reservoir, which is where the race was at. I called Josh and was so frantic. Finally, I discovered it and was so grateful that I made it in time to see him race. It was a pretty large race again; there were 151 middle school boys running.
He didn't have the best start, but he sure ran consistently, and was able to forge through the pack of boys to get ahead as they made their way around the reservoir. Here he is crossing the finish line:
Up to this point, Ammon had consistently got 4th, and McClay had repeatedly got 2nd. They were on a roll!
His next race was the largest one of the season: the Mountain West Classic in Missoula, Montana. It was a HUGE race! I wasn't able to go, but Edward and Kathy did, and Josh drove the bus for it. It was a new course for Ammon, and the shortest one of his season. He ran a very fast race, and got 7th out of 266 runners. He got the highest placement of any runner on our middle school or high school teams in that race, and his photo was featured in the local newspaper from that race, too!
The October races began with the Mile High Classic in Challis. This is one of the best spectator-friendly courses, and we love it! It is held at the Challis Hot Springs Resort, and we went down as a family the night before the race and camped there in our trailer. Edward & Kathy came down on Saturday to watch Ammon's race at 12:30. There wasn't as many teams this year as last, and there wasn't any smoke like last year, so it was looking to be a good race for the middle school boys.
Ammon ran alongside his teammate McClay for the majority of the race, and only one other boy was ahead of them.
This is their approach to the finish line: Ammon had only fallen a few yards behind McClay as they neared the end.
He earned a 3rd place medal for this race. In this picture he is 2nd from the right, and McClay (to his right) received 2nd place. The first place medal went to the boy on the far left from Snake River--he was the 1st place winner in several of Ammon's middle school races.
His second-to-the-last race was in Rexburg, and I was working in the pumpkin patch and unable to attend. It was homecoming weekend, so the high schoolers didn't go to the race either, just the middle school teams ran it. Josh drove the Cross Country bus, and texted me as soon as Ammon's race was finished to say that he got 3rd place again, for which I was so happy to hear!
Ammon's final race was in Salmon, on October 16. It was at the Salmon Valley Golf Course, and I took the afternoon off of work to go see it. Edward and Kathy came once again, and Josh took us around on a golf cart to watch the races (a perk to working at the place where the race is hosted!). There were 5 teams of boys, and since Snake River wasn't in attendance, McClay and Ammon were hoping to get the 1st & 2nd place finishes in the middle school boys race.
They started out strong and it looked as if their hopes of attaining the 1st & 2nd place finishes would be realized!
The boy from Challis stayed on their heels, and these 3 boys stuck together in a pack for a lot of the race.
After they ran over the haybale obstacles and across this bridge, the Challis runner began to gain momentum...
...and this is where the Challis runner surpassed Ammon (btw, isn't Josh's golf course SOOO beautiful?!!).
Ammon was in pain, and he began to fall behind the first two runners. But he focused on finishing, and endured the pain to get another 3rd place finish!
It was a fabulous cross country season! Ammon loves racing, and has really improved this year! It is so enjoyable for Josh & I and Ed & Kathy to attend the meets and watch him race. There's just no other sport like it--we love being in the outdoor atmosphere and feeling so much positive energy from the young athletes.
Congratulations Ammon on all your running accomplishments! We are so proud of your dedication, perseverance, and positive attitude! You were able to achieve so much this running season, and we were so glad to be witnesses to your successes!
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