Warriors Win!

I've been a slacker, in terms of the blog, this week, but I have a good excuse. This weekend, the Rochester Orienteering Club is hosting the US Sprint and Ultra Long Championships. As the current club president and registrar for the event, my time has been very tight this week. We have almost 300 participants coming in, from 23 different states (plus Ontario), and 4 countries. Back to this in a moment, but first:

Our first league meet of the year was a huge success! The girls got things done against Odyssey, and despite the lopsided losses to Rush-Henrietta and Irondequoit, 7 and 10 girls earned scalps against those teams, respectively.

The boys had a very nice night, picking up three wins. Since the Monroe Country web site only goes back to 2003, we are not yet able to determine the last time we beat Irondequoit, but beat them we did, thanks to Adrian's huge kick! And our win against Thomas was the first since Thomas became a complete high school again, in 2003.

I do need to point out that there are six other teams that we "have not beaten in recorded history". How many can we get this year? The other six are: Athena, Brighton, Fairport, Penfield, Sutherland, and Victor.

Back to Orienteering. Tomorrow's Sprint Championship will be held at Mendon Ponds Park, just across the street and north of the XC course we ran on Tuesday. Most of the top competitors in the country will be in attendance. Unfortunately, Nate has been ruled ineligible to compete for the championship, due to his familiarity with the terrain; however, he will be competing unofficially, going out shortly after the last official starter.

Sunday's competition at Rattlesnake Hill, outside of Dansville, is at the opposite end of the orienteering spectrum. While Saturday's Sprint will be won in under 15 minutes and require great speed, Sunday's Ultra Long will require great endurance, as the winner will take over two hours to complete the course. Nate is eligible to compete on Sunday, since it is a new map, and he's entered in the 18 & under age group (allowing him to run a shorter course prior to our next meet on Tuesday). Zach is also competing both days and is a favorite in the 14 & under age group.