Where do I start. Aim, Stephen, Kappy, Papa and I went to Albany, Georgia today to watch Stephen and the Brookwood Middle School Track Team compete against the best GISA competition in south Georgia. Six or seven of the largest GISA schools around participated. The stadium was huge as you can see in the picture below.
The 1600 Meters (1 Mile)
Stephen ran in 5 races. The 1600 meters was the first race of the day. It was an awesome race. Stephen and the other kid shown above separated from the pack on the last lap. The other kid opened up a 20 meter or so lead on Stephen with about 200 meters to go. With about 100 meters left in the race Stephen had closed the gap to around 10 meters. With about 50 meters left in the race Stephen was right on the kid's heels. When the race ended, the kid had beaten Stephen by less than 1 second. The other kid ran a 5:33 mile and Stephen a 5:34 mile. A great race! I will be posting the video of the race as soon as I figure out how to do it.
Stephen ran in 5 races. The 1600 meters was the first race of the day. It was an awesome race. Stephen and the other kid shown above separated from the pack on the last lap. The other kid opened up a 20 meter or so lead on Stephen with about 200 meters to go. With about 100 meters left in the race Stephen had closed the gap to around 10 meters. With about 50 meters left in the race Stephen was right on the kid's heels. When the race ended, the kid had beaten Stephen by less than 1 second. The other kid ran a 5:33 mile and Stephen a 5:34 mile. A great race! I will be posting the video of the race as soon as I figure out how to do it.
When I say the "tall kid," I mean the "tall kid."
The 400 Meters (1/4 Mile) or 1 Lap
This was one of the most interesting of Stephen's races today. He took an early lead through the first turn and held that lead for about half the race. On the 2nd to last turn two kids caught him and began to take the lead. But oh no, Stephen wasn't finished. After the last turn and while coming down the home stretch, Stephen turned on the burners and raced past both leaders to win the race with a time of 1:07. The following two pictures show Stephen re-taking the lead down the stretch.
The 800 Meters (1/2 Mile)
I didn't hold out much hope of Stephen winning this race. Why, you ask? Because his main competition was the tall kid from the 1600 Meter race. Also, because Stephen had run two other races between the 1600 Meters and the 800 Meters and the tall kid had not run any other race besides the 1600 Meters. Also, because Stephen's previous race (the 400 Meters) had been just 10-12 minutes prior to the start of the 800 Meters. I just hoped Stephen could make it close and not come in 3rd or worse. As it turned out, my prediction was correct. Stephen was able to stay with the tall kid for most of the race but with about 200 Meters left his gas ran out. Stephen finished 3 seconds behind the tall kid with a time of 2:35. He finished a solid 15 seconds ahead of the third place kid. After their race the tall kid approached Stephen and asked him how long he'd been running. Stephen told him this was his second track and field race and the kid acted like he couldn't believe it. Not bad. A first and two seconds.
I will be posting videos of his races as soon as I can figure out how.
Brookwood's Middle School Track and Field Team
A little Pre-Race Strategery
Stephen Anchoring the 4X400 Meter Relay
Kappy is proud of her big brother
Then Kappy decides she wants of piece of her big brother on the track
1 comment:
Way to go Stephen! Keep it up!
Jamie
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