"Run, Run as fast as you can...

...you can't catch me, I'm Ammon from Salmon!"

Ammon went to a Cross Country camp in Montana this past summer, and while there, the kids tried to learn the names of the runners from the other schools in attendance. One girl remembered Ammon's name because it rhymes with Salmon, the town that he's from. She said "Ammon from Salmon" so often during the camp, that it stuck in everyone's minds, and during Cross Country season, I heard him referred to that a lot!!!

Ammon had a good freshman season of Cross Country this fall. There were two senior runners on his team, and besides them, he was the next fastest runner. At the first few meets, it was tricky for him to find a good pace for the new length of 5k (in middle school, they only ran between 1 and 2 miles at meets).  When he started getting the hang of it, though, he injured his knee (which I've already blogged about HERE), which was a setback. Finally, the last 3 meets of the season, he was feeling better AND running his best, and he individually qualified to run at the state meet!

The Salmon team got awesome new jerseys this year.
This made it easy for us to spot them in a crowd of runners!

Ammon's first meet was at the Journey's End Golf Course in Shelley. It was a hot day and he started off fast, and both made him soooo exhausted by the end!

I love this picture of him at the beginning of the race!

Josh poured ice water over him after he crossed the finish line.

The second race at Mud Lake went a little better than his first race. The weather wasn't as hot, and he had a better pace running near senior Dylan the whole time. It was a new course, with a lot of flat running along ditch banks of farm land.

He's getting good muscle tone from all the workouts!

He's in the center of the photo--4 runners ahead of Dylan

The next race was at the reservoir in Rigby. It's a good race for spectators, because they run around the reservoir twice, and you can see the runners almost the whole time. This was the first race that Ammon ran in after his furniture-moving accident. He ran at the back of the pack, and was in pain the whole race. It was a very frustrating meet for him.

Notice the heat wrap on the left knee to help with the pain

He sprinted at the finish to try and catch up with this runner. It was a close finish!

The next race was the course at Eagle Island in Meridian, where the state meet would be held. I wasn't able to see this race, but Josh drove the team's bus, and he watched it. Ammon was still in a lot of pain, and wasn't happy with his results.

By the next race, however, he was doing much better, and his knee wasn't troubling him as much. The race was in Challis, and once again I wasn't able to see it. I had taken Jonah and Micah to their football game in Rigby, and we didn't make it to Challis in time to see him run. He was glad that he was feeling better, and was feeling hopeful for his final races of the season after that, and we were all relieved as well.

The next race was at the golf course in Salmon, and he ran SO well! It was a joy to see him race and feel confident about his performance. He had a good start, a great pace through the race, and an exciting finish, where he sprinted and passed Cole at the finish line!

Starting off strong with seniors Dylan and Billy

Approaching the hill next to 8 teebox

The coach added this strawbale obstacle on the cart path.
I love their faces & arms in this photo!

This was the distance between Dylan, Colde, & Ammon at the end.
Ammon sprinted & caught up to & barely passed Cole at the finish line!

I loved seeing him smile after crossing the finish line!!

He placed 7th in this race, and the top 10 received a visor (instead of a medal).

The next race was the District Tournament at the Challis Hot Springs again in Challis. He had another fantastic race! I was so proud of him as I watched him excel! He finished 12th, and the top 18 individual male runners qualified to run at state from our district.

Finishing the first of 2 laps around the course

Running through the creek on his 2nd lap of the course

Dylan is right on his heels here; he ended up passing him. 

Some of the finalists--the top 10 received a medal.
Dylan was 10th, and Ammon was 12th.

In addition to individually qualifying, both the boys and girls teams from Salmon qualified by winning FIRST place!! It was super exciting to see both teams be announced as District Champions!

The state meet was on Halloween weekend, so once again, I was unable to see him run, but thankfully Josh did because he drove the bus again. Ammon did much better this time around running the Eagle Island course, though. The boys team didn't place at state, but the girls team got 2nd place. It was a good experience for Ammon to be able to go!

At the awards assembly in November, Ammon received his letter and cross country pin. We look forward to 3 more years of running and conditioning! Cross Country is an awesome sport, and we are so glad Ammon participates in, enjoys it, and does so well at it!