September 12, 2009, First Cross-Country Meet!

Today I woke up excited for two reasons, one MSU football was actually on TV in Alaska (Which later I would find out was probably a bad thing), and two, I got to leave Buckland with 8 kids to travel to Noorvik for the first XC meet of the year.

For the trip I planed on taking 3 Girls (One High School, One Middle School, and One Elementary School kid) and 5 boys (Two High School, Two Middle School, and One Elementary). Unfortunately, one of the High School boys decided the night before was a perfect night for fighting, and was rightfully held back from traveling by his parents, leaving us with an open seat on the plane.

So, at 9:30 am, the 8 of us departed for Noorvik, arriving shortly before 10am. After a quick breakfast at the school, the team and I walked the course, and the kids were amazed by 2 things there, the pine trees (there are 0 trees in Buckland) and the 3 enormous hills they had to run. After walking the course, it was time for lunch for the kids, and a coaches meeting for me. After finding out that the top 5 in each category got ribbons, I felt positive we would walk away with at least one.

Soon after the meeting, it was time for the first race, Elementary Girls/Boys. Shortly after the gun I noticed my boy and girl both take charge at the head of the pack, and immediately I thought this wouldn't be good....

This race was only 1.5 miles, and was ran over 2 laps on the circut. So I was surprised when after completing the first lap, the Sussani runner just behind a Kotzebue runner. So as I encouraged him, I was nervous, he looked tired. On the 2nd go around, I gathered the 5 kids not running and moved about .2 miles from the finish to cheer him on. When he came into view, he was still in 2nd, out of reach of the Kotzebue kid, but in danger of being passed by a Noorvik runner. In the end, he held on for 2nd. Sadly, the same can't be said for the Elementary girl, she dropped from her early lead to finish 9th, which still isn't bad (TOP TEN!). One race, one ribbon!

The next race was the Middle/High School girls race. This race was confusing, as the girls got sent the wrong way. My 8th grader beat my 12th grader, but she finished 7th in the Middle School race. However, the 12th grade girl was 4th in the High School girls category! Two races, two ribbons!

The 3rd and final race was the High/Middle School boys race. In this race I had 3 runners, two from 7th grade, and one from 10th. As the race started, despite my advice to my runners to go out nice and easy, the 10th grader raced out to an early lead (It must have been genetic, because his brother was the afore mentioned runner in the Elementary race!). As I raced up to find out how the kids were doing, I heard a local say the Buckland kid was in front a while back (it was a very tough course to see everything) and he looked like he was hurting REAL bad (my thoughts were, "Oh man, not again," or as they would say it in the bush, "Adiiiii not again.").

To my surprise as the runners passed through downtown Noorvik, a Selawik runner was first, followed closely by......a Buckland runner (the same one who looked like he was hurting REAL BAD!). As an additional Surprise, one of my 7th grade runners was only a few seconds behind him... I rushed down to the finish line to find the great news, Buckland had gone 1, 2. The fact that both runners were in different categories (One High School, one Middle School) meant that Buckland had the individual winner in both races! I stayed down by the Noorvik riverside to cheer on the final Sussani runner to cross the finish line, the other middle schooler, who ended up coming in 7th place in the Middle School race! Three races, four ribbons!!!!!!!

The other 3 runners got participation ribbons as well, so it was a great haul for Nunachiam Sussani on this fine day in Noorvik, one that was perfect for running by the way (50's, misty, and a little cloud cover).

After the awards were presented, they announced that according to the flight schedule, Buckland was the first to leave, so we took off from Noorvik around 5:10, and by 5:35, we were back in Buckland spreading the great news of our success in Noorvik.

I am proud of all 7 runners that went today, but now I have a bigger headache deciding which 8 to take Kiana next Saturday when I do it all over agian. And next Saturday, I get back my 2 time State Finals qualifier, who is a Junior, who was out all this week helping the State Wildlife Fish and Game commision tag and take blood samples from caribou. I can't wait until then!