Cross Country

The team was running up Provo Canyon for practice one day, and Rockwell asked his friends if they wanted to see a cool waterfall he knew about. They ran up to Upper Falls and his friends thought it was awesome. They ran back down to get Luke's phone so they could take pictures of it, and ran back up again. They definitely got their hills in for the day!! That trail is so steep!

After they took plenty of flexing pictures (haha!), they ran back down and met up with the rest of the team who were jumping into the river (in a safe place that they know of). No wonder Rockwell loves cross country so much!! They sure know how to make hard work fun!

They had the Park City meet. I've heard about the dreaded Park City meet, and I can see what people are talking about now. It was mostly on a dirt trail, so they can't wear their spikes. They run through the mountains, so spectators can't really see where they go. A girl named Ella from the team told me "the first mile is big hills, the second is rolling hills, and the last is some of both. So basically you're on some kind of hill the whole time." 

Rockwell ran the JV race.

Here he is coming in from the mountains.

They do a lap around the park to get to the finish line. I love seeing Coach Palmer (Rock's coach from Oak Canyon track last year) cheering him on. :)

He was very pleased to still PR by 1 second at the Park City meet! He took 7th place out of 110 boys, with a time of 18:41.5

They medaled out 10 places for each race. Timpanogos boys took 5 of the top 10 spots in the JV race! That was really exciting!

He sure loves his cross country friends!

Great job at a tough meet Rockwell!!

The next meet was Border Wars. This was another huge one with schools from 3 different states. They ran a Freshman race this time.

The course was nice and grassy and flat, but it was also not a true 5K. I think the total distance was 2.8 miles instead of 3.1 miles. That makes it hard to count your time as a PR. But it was fun for the kids to see super low times too. :)

Rockwell's finish was amazing!! There was a kid a good distance in front of him as he came into view in the final stretch. You could see both of them giving it their absolute all. Rockwell passed him right with his last step across the finish line! It was amazing!! 

A lady was there handing out medals to the top 10 finishers, and Rockwell got the 10th medal. It was a really exciting finish!

This picture makes me laugh. Grant's mom wanted a picture of the Freshman boys, and I happened to capture one, but I don't think this is what she was meaning. :) We have Rockwell, Grant, and Luke......and Caleb throwing up in the trash can. Haha! Poor kid, he's one that throws up after every race.

There, that's a better picture of the Freshman boys!!

Rockwell finished in 16:10.84 and took 10th place out of 192 boys.

We had to rush home as soon as Rockwell caught his breath so he could be ready in time for Jade's Quinceanera.

Rockwell told us that Jody talked to the whole team about Rockwell at practice on Monday. He said that everyone should be finishing their races the way Rockwell finished his on Saturday. He said Rockwell passed 5 boys in front of him in the final hundred yards or so, to earn that 10th place medal. He didn't just choose to be happy with his own PR and finish the race at the same pace. He said he competed to win, and that's the way he wants everyone to finish their races. That made Rockwell feel so good!! He loved getting that praise from his coach.