On the Run

 

Nobody ever looked at me and thought, "Oh, she'd make a great hurdler!" Let's be honest: No one ever thought I'd be a runner either. And they were right. 

When Kinley decided to go out for her middle school track team for the first time, I don't think any of us thought that hurdles would be Kinley's gift either. But we were wrong. At the first practice, the coach manning the hurdle rotation told her she was one of the better ones to try it. He encouraged her to come back the next day. She did, and she ended up having a great first season. 

Kinley inherited her dad's long legs. She has her mother's determination and drive. And it seemed to be the right combination for hurdles. When the season started, we assumed she'd make the junior varsity team. But her hurdling earned her a spot on the varsity team. She placed 10th in seventh grade girls at the league meet to end her season. She says she's going to work on her form over the summer. (Remember that determination I told you about earlier.)

 She got to high jump at a couple of meets and improved each time she did it.

 

Her success at track had her juggling that with a brief spring tennis session. At her middle school, the girls do their regular season in the fall. The coach chose eight of the best players to participate in a couple of spring tennis meets. 

 

At the first one in Junction City, she competed in mixed doubles with Manny. They go to a large middle school, and she'd never met him before the first practice. 

 

 

But it didn't take long to develop teamwork on the court. They earned a gold medal in their pool play. (All of the Washburn Rural teams earned gold that day.)

 

For the league meet, she was paired with Carmen, who was also her doubles partner last fall. After competing in five matches, she and Carmen earned the gold medal as league doubles champs. 

 

They weren't the only pair to have success that day.

Washburn Rural earned the team league title for both girls and boys middle school tennis.

Next year, Washburn Rural will be split into two middle school buildings. Unfortunately, the coach will be leading the team at Washburn Rural North.

It will be interesting to see how things go next year since the combined school dominated in tennis this year. 

Our week in Topeka also gave us a chance to see two of Brooke's softball games. 

It's different this year, since this is the Dirt Eaters' first year at kid pitch, rather than machine pitch.

It wasn't all sports. We also got to see Brooke's 4th grade music concert. The music teacher encouraged the kids to dress in '90s clothes for a rock and roll theme.

 This year, the 4th graders learned how to play the ukelele. They did a great job.

I can't leave out the other "girl" in the household. While we were there, Summer celebrated her 3rd birthday.

Note: I put several of these photos on my Facebook page earlier this week, but I decided I wanted a record in my blog, too.