Last year at Tillamook, Hayden Stinchfield ran his first real cross country race. Out of 92, he finished just 84th as he was the final panther to cross the finish line. This summer, his desire to be a good cross country runner blossomed. He attended the summer running sessions when he was in town and he traveled hundreds of miles to attend a running camp. The coaching staff was projecting that Hayden was likely to be the most improved middle schooler in 2015. Today he proved they were probably right! This year he placed in the upper half, capturing 42nd out of 96. His time improved not just a minute faster, not two minutes faster, but EXACTLY THREE FULL MINUTES! Hayden's improvement over this past year should continue to show he is the most improved this year, and probably for many years to come.
Many Middle Schoolers were ready to start the season on day number one. Several days into the season, Emma Spaeth finally was able to join up with the rest of her team. If she had missed those several days last year, she would not have had enough practices in to travel to Tillamook. This year, we had extra time to squeeze in the mandatory days. Emma had a fine meet, moving up throughout the race to our third runner. She placed 25 places better as she improved 43 seconds over last year. She was all smiles as she waltzed around the race site afterwards. Her face beams with excitement and confidence that forecasts a fabulous future in her running career. We all expect her to keep running and keep smiling after her races!