Week #36: Ragged Mountain Invite Concludes Historic Inaugural MS Track Season

Today's Ragged Mountain Invitational at UVA began with the Girls 100 Meters, where Ellie (15.6), Aggie (15.9), Sage (16.5), Eleanor (16.8) and Cora (17.1) all enjoyed peak performances! It was Ellie and Aggie's first time under 16, and for Sage, Eleanor and Cora, their first time under 18! Gabriel (14.1) led the way for the Boys 100, a full .3 faster than his time back in March! William (14.3), (Eric (14.4), Kai (16.1) and Elias (18) all ran excellent races, Kai dropping a full second off his time from Western Albemarle - a big difference in the 100!

 

With no rest for the weary, Eleanor was right back at it - this time in the Girls 1600 Meters, where she was well under 8:00 in a time of 7:42! Between Cross Country and her work as a miler in Track and Field, Eleanor has quite the future in distance running! 

 

Our Boys 1600 Meter athletes really brought it today! Finishing 10th out of 79 participants, Ethan's time of 5:20 is an elite Middle School time - and a massive PR - quite a way to wrap up the season for such a talented 8th Grader. Running a brilliant tactical race, Ryan used his opponent to shield him from the wind for three laps before closing the gap and bursting into second place in his heat!  Ryan broke 6:00 - running 5:58 - and earning a 30 second PR! Hot on his tail was Landon (4th in heat) and Andrew (6th in heat) earning PR's of 6:25 and 6:28 respectively. Landon dropped 30 seconds off his previous best, while Andrew cut off a full minute! James time of 7:01 is 32 seconds faster than he ran at the Dash on the Grass! The distance crew would get right back to work - Landon and Andrew earning more PRs in the 800 (both runners finished in 2:56) and James came through in 3:24!

 

Out-kicking his competition, Robert remained consistent in the 400 with a competitive time of 1:16! Only moments later, he returned to the track to run the 200, flying through in 32.97! The 200 was one of the most exciting events - William absolutely dominated his heat - winning easily and looking strong and powerful as he earned a new PR of 28.95 - an excellent time! Well done, William! He wasn't the only champion Badger under 30 - Eric won his heat as well in 29.66 and Gabriel's 29.82 also put him squarely under 30 - a full second faster than he ran at Western back in March! On the girls side, Ellie led the way in 33.3, Aggie came through in a speedy 37.2, and Sage was right behind her in a time of 39.8! For all three athletes, that is a PR of a full second!

 

The Ragged Mountain Invitational was an exciting ending to a fantastic season full of hard work, fun, competition and growth! Congratulations to all of our Badger athletes - whether you were running, jumping or throwing you always gave it your absolute best! We are very proud of you!

Special thanks to Coach Julia who has taken the Tandem Middle School running program to another level.  After an incredibly fun and successful Cross Country season, she created a Winter Running Club and has now coached Track and Field as well. Three cheers for three seasons - Coach Julia I am incredibly grateful for you and all of your hard work!