Fall Sports - Off to a hot start...

This is more literal than figurative as the first week of school and sports is in the books.  Sampson ran on Tuesday and it was about 91°F outside with the sun blazing so that is where the literal hot start comes from.  Anyway he was able to hold on to second place for about 2 and 1/2 miles and then he cramped up.  You see, this kid is about 170 lbs. and 5'11", which is very big for a high school cross country runner.  I doubt that there will be anyone finish in front of him that is heavier than he is, until we get to maybe regionals or district.  So he went out about 5:24 in the first mile, which is about 16 and half for a 5k, which is smoking for the first race.  Well the second mile was about 6:38 and the third was another 6:40 or so.  He ended up 8th overall which is good, but 5th on his team.  Like I said, his team should be really good, and the boy who finished first was the 8th runner on the team last year, so good on him for really putting the work in.  I could tell Sampson was a little deflated after the performance, but I think he felt good about how the team did.  He was ok the next day, and was able to race on Saturday.  The meet on Saturday went a little better.  He finished 10th out of 138, and finished first on the team this time.  The team got second behind a team that finished second in the state in division 3 last year, so that was good.  This time the kid that finished first for the team on Tuesday finished 3rd, so this year it looks like it is totally up for grabs how guys will finish.  This weeks race is the home race, but there is no home court advantage for Sampson.  So far he didn't run the race as a freshman and finished 4th on the team last year, but was hobbled a little.  This will be his second time running it competitively so hopefully he can finish without an injury.

On the volleyball side, I was hopeful that Peach's team was just going to be world beaters and come out of the gate and just jump on teams, but so far they are 0-2.  They have only won 1 set, but the 4 they have lost have been by like a combined 10 points.  I think they are playing the right way though and just need to be a little more confident when returning the serve.  That seems to be the biggest hole right now.  That and consistent serving.  They seem to be pretty good during the long volleys and setting the ball for each other.  I mean I don't know a lot about the game, but based on last year they are ahead technically of what they were doing, when they were just hitting it back over.  Interestingly the 7th graders are 2-0, but are doing what the girls did last year and just hitting it over.  It will be interesting to see if other teams catch up and can handle those easy balls by the end of the season.  On a side note, I did get to be a line judge for one of the games.  I won't say I was the best line judge ever, especially for someone who has never played competitively, but probably in the top 5 all time for the first game ever judged ;).  See if I can keep that momentum up on Thursday.  At the end of the game it was essentially game point for the other team and I was on their side of the court, and our girl served it and it was going out, but one of the girls on the other team took an ill-advised one-handed stab at the ball and just grazed it, so I made the little hand gesture that the ball was tipped.  I don't think the opposing coach liked it, but it was the right call and the girl that was serving didn't have to end her last game on a serve out of bounds.