Update (8/31) – Updated with official results from meet organizers.

Recap: The first meet of the year is in the books for the Middle School, and for several it was their first race ever.  The Lake meet always provides a great way to start off for the Middle School runners by separating the 7th and 8th grader into different races.  The heat and humidity were a bit of a factor this year, but the Viking runners did a great job competing against a fast field.

Coach Cymbolin gets Owen ready for his first Middle School race

Chris pushes past a runner from Perrysburg

Evan focuses in

Jolie works through her first cross country race

Kayla pushes on the way to a 4th place finish

Kennedy works to secure 3rd place overall

Owen battles the heat in his first race

William surges past an Eastwood runner

Some notes from the races:

• Just as Kennedy did last year in winning the 7th grade race, Kayla had a very strong run to finish 4th overall. In her very first race, she’s only 30 seconds off the school record.
• Chris had a really strong first race, taking 38 seconds off his PR from last season!
• Five out of the seven runners ran negative splits (Chris and Evan by over a minute), meaning they were conservative in their starts and are primed to see their times drop quickly

Here are the official Middle School results:

With new PR’s set and a great first effort, the Viking Middle School Cross Country team is off to an excellent start!

Big thank you to Theresa Bryson for the meet photos!!

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