Contact Us
25 Burwood Ln.
San Antonio, Texas 78216
210-342-4674
Hours: Monday - Friday 10 - 5
sports@homeschoolfeast.com |
Cross Country
Our 7th Patriot Cross Country season officially starts in early August, but one must remember the sport's timeless adage: 80% of any competitive success in the fall is determined by effort in the summer. Therefore, we encourage runners to initiate consistent training in May. To assist with this, we will provide guidance after the track & field season and hold periodic summer training events.
The tentative schedule at this time is:
Saturday Group Long Runs:
May 17, June 14, and July 26
Kick-off Meetings:
July 31 or August 4 (attend one of two)
First practice for new runners and lower ability groups:
August 5
First practice for higher ability groups:
August 8
Annual Red-White-Blue Intra-team Meet:
August 15
Upcoming Meets:
Antonian - August 23
Woodlands Friday Night Lights - August 29
Patriot Home Meet - September 6
Seguin - September 13
UTSA - September 20
Patriot Flight Score - September 26
Nike South - October 3-4
Georgetown - October 11 (end of Middle School season)
TLU - October 18
For more information on Cross Country, please contact the FEAST
Sports Office at (210) 342-4674 ext. 14, or email sports@homeschoolfeast.com.
Cross Country Completes Best Season on Record
Record running and continued blessings highlighted the conclusion of the 2007 FEAST Patriot Cross Country season. One hundred Patriot harriers, 55 high school and 45 middle school, wrapped up our best ever season, thanks to the runners' consistent hard work, dedication from our parents, and blessings from our Lord. This have gone beyond our expectations from just six short years ago when we had 35 new runners in a fledgling program.
Varsity Girls:
After making a loud statement in South Texas at the big UTSA Classic
Meet in late September (girls team champion, boys second), our varsity
teams continued to excel. For the rest of the season they faced the toughest
competition ever in our history. For the second consecutive year we
traveled to the Woodlands, TX for the big Nike South Meet where our
teams faced both a blanket of heat and humidity and the best teams from
Texas, Arkansas, and Louisiana. The girls finished 15th out of 18 teams
and the boys 15th out of 21. Six days later sixteen of our varsity runners
traveled to Ft Worth for the Haltom Buffalo Stampede Meet where our
runners negotiated a challenging course that snaked through thick woods
traversing ground of mostly rocky soil and tree roots before bursting out
for a final stretch of smooth grass climbing to the finish. Our girls, led by
Janessa and Emily Dunn's top ten individual finishes (6th and 8th),
placed third behind Southlake Carroll and Keller, the top two teams in
Texas in 2007. Alanna Almirudis, 18th, and Leah Baumgartner, 21st,
were also keys to the team bronze. The boys seized the team championship
by placing six runners in the top 25, of which, four were in the top
ten. Howard Gill grabbed the individual bronze medal, only a half second
from the silver, followed by Christian Peter Chacon, 6th, Chris Gill, 8th,
and John Millsap 9th. After the meet, our student-athletes and families
enjoyed dinner and a play prior to the return trip.
Varsity Boys:
At our last regular season meet beautiful racing conditions
greeted runners on the campus of Texas Lutheran University
campus for the 2nd Annual TLU Bulldog Invitational. A fine
race developed up front where a trio of home school students
battled for the lead; Cate Westenhover, Austin Home School
Royals, and Janessa and Emily Dunn, pulled away from the
pack and led through the mile. Westenhover, one of the best in
the state, went on to a fast 11:18 finish with Janessa next at
11:36 and Emily third in 11:47. In a nip and tuck team race,
UIL 5A state placer, SA Reagan narrowly out scored our girls
45 - 50, despite our faster team average time, 12:08 - 12:14.
Alanna Almirudis, finishing 7th overall, Ginna Gill, and Leah
Baumgartner all ran season bests to help pace our girls to the
second place trophy - the only non-first by our girls team versus
all South Texas competition. In the 19 team boys race,
Howard Gill had another workman's effort for the individual
silver, his brother Chris finished 8th overall and our boys
seized third as a team, only two points out of second.
The varsity wrapped up their excellent season with a first
for our program, competing in the prestigious Nike Team
National South Regional Meet. The top ranked teams, including
public and private school state champions, from Texas,
Arkansas, Louisiana, Mississippi, and Oklahoma competed for
two team slots to advance to the Nike Team Nationals. Our
home school student athletes showed they belong on the elite
stage as the girls finished 12th out of 15 teams and the boys
19th out of 21. Girls earning varsity letters were freshmen
Janessa Dunn, Emily Dunn, Ginna Gill, and Sydnie Moon,
sophomores Alanna Almirudis and Rachael Sanchez, and seniors
Leah Baumgartner, Anna Melby, and Kelsey Meadows.
Boys earning varsity letters were sophomores Chris Gill,
Christian Peter Chacon, and Daniel Chacko, juniors Howard
Gill, Michael Tankersley, and Stephen Dunn, and senior John
Millsap.
Junior Varsity:
Our junior varsity teams recorded the best JV season in the
history of our program. Out of eight JV specific races our girls
team recorded four top three finishes: first at Comfort, second
at both Austin Zilker and TLU, and a super finish at the big
UTSA meet, garnering third out of 31 teams. Leading the girls
and earning top 20 individual medals at UTSA were sophomore
Alicia York, 11th, freshman Bailey Fagan, 18th, and
sophomore Ariece Marek, 19th. Other girls earning junior varsity
letters were freshmen Madison Frambes, Atlee Marek, and
Kristen Purkiss, sophomores Sarah Nunley, Ashley Meadows,
Taylor Welch, Haley Sheehan, Kari Swanson, and Victoria
Rodriguez, juniors Miriam Mitchell and Nicole Villabos, and
seniors (non-JV scoring) Hannah Sheehan and Sarah Torvik.
Our JV boys were 1st at Austin Zilker, second at our Patriot
Meet, third at Comfort, and fourth at TLU. Leading the way
for the boys were juniors Charles Lochte, who often ran varsity
quality times, and Nicholas Lindsey, sophomore Daniel
Melby, and two upcoming freshman, Paul Young and David
Chacko. Also earning JV letters were freshmen Colton York,
Ethan Alder, and Logan Alder, sophomores Colin Dowling,
Sam Gomez, John LaSalle, Michael Kyler, and James Atchley,
and juniors Jonathan Young, Andre Jones, and Isaac Martinez.
Middle School:
Our middle school teams continued the fine winning
tradition of the FEAST Middle School Cross
Country. In seven meets our 7th grade girls, 8th
grade girls, and 7th grade boys each recorded five
first places, one second and one third. The 8th
grade boys claimed four firsts, one second, one
third and a fifth. These great results included
sweeps of all divisions at the Antonian, Pleasanton,
and ISAL Meets. In a very rare and exciting finish
our 8th grade girls finished in a three way tie for
first at the Nike South Meet but settled for third on
tiebreaker rules. Looking forward to high school
next year will be girls Adrienne and Briana
Atchley, Faith Criddle, Caroline Donahue, Erika
Enriquez, Jacqueline Forsyth, Molly Myhand,
Caroline Nunley, Abigail Tankersley, and on the
boys side Matthew Baumgartner, Joshua Chacko,
Ruston Collins, Jonathan Lindsey, Shane Meadows,
and Phillip Torvik.
Team Captains John Millsap and Leah Baumgartner with their
"Joshua - Strong & Courageous" Awards.
Awards:
At our end of season fellowship 12 of our student
athletes were recognized for earning special
character based awards which we present annually,
their names added to the honored list in our team
history. Each of the three awards is presented for
both genders in middle and high school. Earning
the "Saul/Paul Most Improved Award" were
Caroline Donahue, Matthew Torvik, Haley
Sheehan, and Nicholas Lindsey. Our "Titus Top
Encourager Awards" went to Adrienne Atchley,
Shane Meadows, Kelsey Meadows, and Christian
Peter Chacon. Finally, earning the "Joshua Strong
and Courageous Award" were Faith Criddle,
Matthew Baumgartner, Leah Baumgartner, and
John Millsap. These final four award winners also
were recognized for their selfless service as team
captains, providing essential leadership service at
practices and meets. Also, on 30 Dec the San
Antonio Express News released their Fall Sports
Awards recognizing public and private school athletes
in the Greater San Antonio area. We have had
Patriot runners earn Super Team (the top 7 runners overall) and Private Class honors
in the past. This year Howard Gill, Janessa Dunn, and Emily Dunn earned not only
Private Class honors but also Super Team honors. Additionally, Christian Peter
Chacon, Christopher Gill, John Millsap, Alanna Almirudis, and Leah Baumgartner
each earned nominations for the Private Class honors.
Middle School:
Our middle school teams continued the fine winning
tradition of the FEAST Middle School Cross
Country. In seven meets our 7th grade girls, 8th
grade girls, and 7th grade boys each recorded five
first places, one second and one third. The 8th
grade boys claimed four firsts, one second, one
third and a fifth. These great results included
sweeps of all divisions at the Antonian, Pleasanton,
and ISAL Meets. In a very rare and exciting finish
our 8th grade girls finished in a three way tie for
first at the Nike South Meet but settled for third on
tiebreaker rules. Looking forward to high school
next year will be girls Adrienne and Briana
Atchley, Faith Criddle, Caroline Donahue, Erika
Enriquez, Jacqueline Forsyth, Molly Myhand,
Caroline Nunley, Abigail Tankersley, and on the
boys side Matthew Baumgartner, Joshua Chacko,
Ruston Collins, Jonathan Lindsey, Shane Meadows,
and Phillip Torvik.
Senior Banquet:
Jeff and Lynn Purkiss again opened their home to our third annual Senior Banquet
where our six seniors and their parents enjoyed a very special evening. During the
week prior team juniors and sophomores served on cleaning, decorating and cooking
teams to present the fabulous banquet. Under the guidance of Mary Chacon and Sarah
Wilkerson they did a fine job as the seniors and parents enjoyed a wonderful dinner,
dessert and fellowship, a very special time of Bible based view to the future, and
special blessings and prayers from parents to their senior. We are very thankful for our
2007-08 graduating seniors: Hannah Sheehan ran two years, and Kelsey Meadows
and Sarah Torvik ran five years. Leah Baumgartner, Anna Melby and John Millsap are
six year veterans - they are our first graduates that ran since the inception of
FEAST Cross Country in 2002. They have a special place in our team history and in
our hearts.
2007 Senior Banquet – seniors enjoy fine cuisine and sweet fellowship
Parents:
Our team parents perform a myriad of roles throughout the season in our ministry.
A special thank you to them as their service is the heart of the program.
We look forward to the summer pre-season training where discipline and dedication
are the ingredients to success in the fall. We thank our Lord for the many blessings in
2007 and trust in Him for 2008.
Please call or e-mail if you have any questions:
You
are required by FEAST to attend the sports
orientation before you can participate in
any FEAST sport.
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