{"id":6655,"date":"2024-02-22T10:47:36","date_gmt":"2024-02-22T15:47:36","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/acutabove.mipamsu.org\/?p=6655"},"modified":"2024-02-22T10:47:39","modified_gmt":"2024-02-22T15:47:39","slug":"cross-country-team-runs-a-spectacular-season-this-year","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/acutabove.mipamsu.org\/?p=6655","title":{"rendered":"Cross Country Team Runs a Spectacular Season This Year"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

1st Place, Sports News Story <\/strong>
2022-23, Division 4, News Writing

By Anna He<\/strong>
The Cougar Star
Clague MS

From September to the end of October, Clague cross country runners challenged their bodies and minds, persevering with running practice every week, along with participating in two cross country meets with other middle schools.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cWe had about 160 [runners] to start with,\u201d Coach Michelle Machiele said. \u201cThe numbers fluctuated, but interestingly, every week for probably the first six weeks, we had more students joining. So, some students left but more students kept joining. We would just have more students every day for a while.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

In addition, Coach Laurel Boelens, who is Machiele\u2019s daughter, also joined the team. She is a former Clague student who has a passion for running. Her experience as a nurse practitioner helped the students with injury management, like when students had aches and pains such as sore knees or shin splints. She was able to work one-on-one with them, talking them through what the injury was and what to expect as you grow.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cIt was really good to send the students, direct them to Coach Boelens when they had an injury,\u201d Machiele said. \u201cThat was a really great aspect of having Dr. Boelens with us. It was just such a pleasure to have my own daughter join us as a coach.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The team improved greatly during the season, with many students improving their rank from the first meet to the second.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cThis was probably one of my favorite seasons,\u201d Machiele said. \u201cThe team had so much energy and enthusiasm, and it\u2019s really a joy to coach with Karen Yamada and my daughter. And the students did really well.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The cross country community, in addition to improving their running skills, also learned to work as a team. Everyone was encouraging and helpful to each other while running together.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cYou can\u2019t fake aerobic endurance, and the ones that showed up and participated all grew as runners and as people,\u201d Machiele said. \u201cThere\u2019s a lot of different ways to measure growth, and learning to be on a team is really important. Coach Yamada has always said it\u2019s not about winning, it\u2019s about your personal improvement. So we don\u2019t really measure the team as \u2018We have to win against some other middle school.\u2019 It\u2019s really that we want you to have an individual growth experience, learn how to be a runner, take good care and listen to your body, and help your teammates.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

For the team, the smallest things brought the most joy during the season.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cWe\u2019ve had some really fun times with the kids, and I think that\u2019s the thing that is such a joy to us,\u201d Machiele said. \u201cOne of our runners ended up with a size shirt that was really too big for him, and he was so good about tucking it in and wearing it anyway. It is those little moments of joy that are memorable and kind of give the situation levity. Because cross country is not an easy sport. But it is fun when funny things happen \u2014 not making fun of each other but just having fun together.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The runners participated in a meet on Oct. 27 and the season has ended on a high note.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cThis season has been a wonderful experience,\u201d Machiele said. \u201cMr. Copeland and the administration being a wonderful athletic director for us, us as coaches, parents \u2014 very enthusiastic and supportive, students \u2014 coming, working hard, and encouraging each other. The whole team has been really delightful.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Winter Running Club will also be available to meet on Tuesdays and Thursdays starting Tuesday, December 6th. There will be more fun activities to come such as long-distance running, sledding and parties. Any new runners are welcome to join.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cJust know that our team slogan is \u2018The race is not always to the swift, but to those who keep on running,\u2019\u201d Machiele said. \u201cSo cross country really is a lifelong sport \u2014 you need a pair of tennis shoes, nice if you have a friend with you, but just enjoy growing as a person. It\u2019s a really fun sport. It\u2019ll last your whole life.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

NW-21. Sports News Story<\/strong><\/h2>\n\n\n\n

Sports news stories may include general sports news or sports events and are constructed in news style. Submit a PDF of the print page(s) on which the story was published or the URL to the story on an online news site.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

JUDGING CRITERIA<\/strong><\/h3>\n\n\n\n
    \n
  • Lead features interesting, important angle<\/li>\n\n\n\n
  • Uses colorful, lively style<\/li>\n\n\n\n
  • Avoids cliches, editorializing<\/li>\n\n\n\n
  • Displays knowledge of sports; uses understandable terms<\/li>\n\n\n\n
  • Shows research\/interviewing skills; emphasizes how & why<\/li>\n\n\n\n
  • Effective use of facts\/quotes<\/li>\n\n\n\n
  • Proper diction\/grammar; use of the third person<\/li>\n\n\n\n
  • Unity\/coherence<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

    1st Place, Sports News Story 2022-23, Division 4, News Writing By Anna HeThe Cougar StarClague MS From September to the end of October, Clague cross country runners challenged their bodies and minds, persevering with running practice every week, along with participating in two cross country meets with other middle schools. \u201cWe had about 160 [runners] […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":14,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_genesis_hide_title":false,"_genesis_hide_breadcrumbs":false,"_genesis_hide_singular_image":false,"_genesis_hide_footer_widgets":false,"_genesis_custom_body_class":"","_genesis_custom_post_class":"","_genesis_layout":"","jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":true,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","enabled":false},"version":2}},"categories":[4,69],"tags":[206,23],"class_list":["post-6655","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","category-nw","category-sportsnewsstory","tag-2022-23","tag-division4","entry"],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"featured_image_src":null,"featured_image_src_square":null,"author_info":{"display_name":"Mikayla Mazza","author_link":"https:\/\/acutabove.mipamsu.org\/?author=14"},"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/p6K0n6-1Jl","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/acutabove.mipamsu.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/6655","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/acutabove.mipamsu.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/acutabove.mipamsu.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/acutabove.mipamsu.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/14"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/acutabove.mipamsu.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=6655"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/acutabove.mipamsu.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/6655\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/acutabove.mipamsu.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=6655"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/acutabove.mipamsu.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=6655"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/acutabove.mipamsu.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=6655"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}