Clearwater, KS — ClearWater, KS - 8/31/23 It was a warm, but beautiful afternoon as we participated in our first meet of the season in ClearWater, Kansas! Yesterday we had 6 runners medal with our 5k boys team placing 5 runners in the top 11! Link to Pictures https://bandrews.smugmug.com/Goddard-Cross-Country-2023/Clearwater-83123/n-S74hTJ Link to Race Times http://www.milesplit.live/meets/565958/events There were a lot of positives for us to take away from this first meet. For some of our runners this was their first race they had ran for the Goddard High School Cross Country team! There were definitely a lot of nerves for our newcomers, but they all got out there and ran a great race! For our returners yesterday provided a starting point for our season as they work closer towards beating their PR and improving! After a hard first couple of weeks of practice navigating the hot weather with early morning practices it was encouraging to see the times we were able to put up yesterday. We have not had as much time to run out in the heat due to extreme temperatures and that definitely had an affect on us yesterday. Clearwater has always been such a great 1st race for our team as it is a flatter course and gets us back into racing! The Lions will want to run their best race times at the end of the season when it counts! Let this first race time be motivation for the coming practices/races. We want to peak at the end of the season. We are in a tremendous spot right now and will keep climbing towards faster times as the season progresses. Boys 5k runners I know this was not a team scored race, but you should be very proud of our team placement! We would have won the meet if it was scored! Our next race will be next week on Saturday 9/9 in Wellington, Kansas. Once I get race information I will be sending out our next race itinerary. Lions take this Friday off and recover from race day. This weekend get out and run! We will need the miles during this Holiday break. We do not want to lose the progress we have been making! Monday I will be sending you a workout to perform on your own time. This weekend go out for a couple aerobic runs and get some miles in! I will get next week's practice schedule sent out this weekend. On Tuesday we will have a Mrs. Coles Shaved Ice Fundraiser from 3-7pm! I will get more info out soon, but plan on having Tuesday evening open so we can all go out there and wear our pink shirts! A portion of ALL sales made during the time frame will be donated to our program! Thank you Gini Brownell for setting this up for our team! GO LIONS! Blake Andrews/Coach Ford