Regional Meet - XC 2021 - State Bound!

 
All season, the Golden Eagles have been working towards their goal of qualifying for State.  They've fought, one race at a time.  They've had their ups and downs - so many things can happen in a race!  They've battled through injuries, falls, heat, rain, and mud.  Not every race finished the way they had hoped, but they never gave up.  These boys are warriors!  

The Golden Eagles were not favored to finish on top at the Regional meet.  They boys haven't had the best of luck on this course in the past . . . and today's course conditions brought an additional challenge: sloppy, mucky, muddy, mess!

"Guts are a combination of confidence, courage, conviction, strength of character, stick-to-itiveness, pugnaciousness, backbone, and intestinal fortitude.  They are mandatory for anyone who wants to get to and stay at the top."  - D.A. Benton

Tesfaye's personal goal was to finish top 20.  The top 32 individuals qualify for the State meet.  

The top 8 teams qualify for State.  That was the team goal!

From the sidelines we watched Tesfaye fight! 

The course was so mucky in spots, it was hard to get traction.  He did his best to keep up with the pack.  At the halfway mark, he was running about 45th/188.  At 2-miles, he had moved up to 32nd.  Going into the final 800m, Tesfaye was 25th.  In the final finish, Tesfaye passed 7 runners!  

Tesfaye finished 18th overall!!!

Tesfaye qualified for the Ohio State XC Meet!!!

 

After the race was over, the wait began . . . did they do enough on the course to qualify as a team?

The Golden Eagle varisty boys finished 8th overall!!!  

The boys are going to STATE!!!

Led by Tommy's 1st place finish, and Tesfaye's 18th place - the Golden Eagles XC Team are State Bound!

So proud of these boys! 

*While this will be Tesfaye's 3rd State XC appearance, this will be his first in Division I competition and first in Ohio! 

Pumpkin Patch

 

Another fall tradition checked off Mama's list for 2021 - yay Pumpkins!  

We found a magical pumpkin farm open early weekdays, perfect for a busy homeschool family.  Our visit to Richardson Farm fit beautifully between ballet classes, art lessons, basketball practice, play rehearsals, and school - on a gorgeous fall day in late October!  

We were only missing our three oldest - our visit didn't line up as well with cross country (Tesfaye) or college classes (Davis and Hendrick) . . . 10 out of 13 these days is pretty amazing for us! 

Apple Picking

 

It's fall - Time for campfires, football, fall colors, cross country, pumpkins, and APPLES!!! 

This first weekend of October, after a full day of cross country races, we ventured out to a local farm to collect 2 bushels of apples.  The tall apple trees at Kuner's Orchard made picking a bit challenging, but we had no problem filling our bags - thank goodness for good helpers!  The orchard was gorgeous, the  weather was perfect, the apples were delicious - what a great outing!

Alarie was especially cute, walking around the orchard and tripping over fallen apples.  She got super giggly with the attention of her siblings and was having a lot of fun passing around apples. 

It's always a treat - especially for mama - to have a all-family outing.  All-family outings are precious.  We were missing Hendrick, who was working, but we did have Grandpa with us!

*Four hours after picking our apples, we all enjoyed a delicious apple pie, homemade by Hiwot.  Over the next few days, we'll make apple sauce and apple butters to enjoy over the next few months.  Yumm!