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Three-Sport Champion! Eli did it!

Eli met his biggest challenge in the Busline League Track and Field Championships...see below for all the glorious details!

Preface:  I should follow my husband’s example on FaceBook and start with with a “Parental Pride Alert”!  We now have a three-sport champion at home!

Back in September, about halfway through the Cross-Country running season, Eli had just won another meet.  From the back seat of the car on the way home, he said something to this effect:

“You know, I think I want to go out of 8th grade with a bang!

  • Be on  the equivalent of honor roll [note from mom:  they changed the grading system and eliminated honor roll…do NOT get me started!]
  • Win the Cross-Country championship
  • Repeat as Eastern Regional Champion in wrestling and
  • Win States in Wrestling [the Pine Tree League covers about 70 percent of the state, minus only the big class A schools down near Portland, Maine]
  • and win one individual blue ribbon in Track and Field.”

With his first event today at the Track and Field Championships for our portion of the Maine Coast, Eli achieved his goal, and then some!  He began the day at the Shotput:

Eli ready to heave the 8-lb shotput 34' 6" feet; despite a couple of good kids from Belfast, he won!

Next up:  Triple Jump!  For several years, we lived near the Vitagliano’s; Eli would play with Chris and admire Matt’s athletic abilities.  When the family moved down to Virginia, the boys kept in touch by Facebook.  Eli copied Matt and set up a throwing zone in our yard, weighing rocks that were from 10-12 pounds to practice!  Matt told Eli that he had looked up Olympic athletes on the internet to study their form, and Eli promptly did the same, to the benefit of his field events.

Even though a lady almost walked in front of me, blocking my shot, I managed to get this great shot of Eli airborne! Makes my ankles and knees hurt just to think about the landing!

Eli landed a personal best of 32′ 7″ and WON!  Second first place ribbon!

Skipping the running for just a moment to complete the field events, Eli came in third in the discus (his last event…he was tired by then and the overcast skies had cleared and the heat soared to near 80):

Throwing the discus for 3rd

and in the Turbo Javelin (a new event last year, the middle school boys use a plastic javelin that has blades on the back like an arrow) got a second place, logging a personal best in competition and breaking his own record at school to hit 133 feet (about 50 feet more than most of the other kids! to qualify for the middle school championship competition you had to throw over 6o feet!).

But saving the best and sweetest for last:  the 1600 metre race, about a mile.  When Eli began track three years ago, then 8th-grader Ben Trapani would lead in so many races, by such a long distance, that he seemed unbeatable.  He held the school record in several events, including the 1600 metre with a time of 5 minutes 19 seconds.  Eli wanted to beat that record and trained hard, going to the high school on Sundays where Coach Morse would run optional extra practices and time intervals so the kids could learn to “feel” if they were running a lap at 1 minute 21 seconds, 1 minute 26, 1 minute 15 and so on….. how they can do that I have NO idea!  Right off the opening shot, a kid from Medomak took the lead:

A large pack for the 1600 metre race. The boy on the left (Med. for Medomak) with red arrow (not the boys in yellow in the foreground) is the one who took and held the lead for 3 1/2 laps. Eli is the arrow on the right.

I took photos of the clock, and Eli’s first lap was EXACTLY what he wanted:  1 minute 20 seconds.  If he could maintain that through 3 laps, he would increase at the start of the fourth, then “book it” for the last half-lap.  By halfway through the third lap, Coach Morse hollered at him to close the gap of over 100 feet (maybe 50 yards?) sooner.

Rounding the end of the track for the last half lap, you could watch Eli kick it into gear–he and the Medomak boy were wwwwwwaaaaaayyyyyy ahead of everyone else.  Eli mustered heart and guts and closed in, to the screams of many of his teammates, and with maybe 15 metres to go pulled even and then passed him!   The photo at the top shows how close the two were.

Eli WON with a time of 5 minutes 16.16 seconds, beating Ben T’s school record by 3 full seconds!!!!!!!  And the boy in 2nd (previously undefeated this season) finished also in 5 min. 16 seconds, but still second.  Both boys were gracious after the race, and Eli correctly noted it was good to be pushed.  Without the Medomak kid, Eli would have won, but he might not have had the push he needed to beat Ben’s record.  After the race, many parents came up to us and said that was “THE” race and finish of the meet! Well done to all!

After the meet, we waited for team results.

The kids gather to hear team results

The girls’ team has incredible depth, and had a commanding lead in team standings.  Both boys and girls teams are, by the way, made up of kids from Camden-Rockport plus the H-A-L (Hope, Appleton and Lincolnville) schools, as those are too small to have their own teams.  The girls won, again, with an undefeated season:

The Girls team wins!

The boys race to the finish was tight–we weren’t sure up until they announced the second place team who would win…literally every single kid who placed 6th or higher contributed an essential point or several to THE WIN…yes, another undefeated season!

The boys collect their plaque for the school

Oprah Winfrey is quoted as saying “Surround yourself with people who will lift you higher.”

At first I thought how this applies to how Coach Morse has helped Eli, but then I realized it really applies to ALL the team:  To Coach Jim Morse, Coach Dee Kopesky, and ALL the kids are ALL lifting each other higher.  Mr. Morse (the School’s awesome 6th grade Social Studies teacher, and who seems to me a bit like a pied piper–Jim, we’re so glad for all you’ve given to Eli and that we had one more season with you) recruited a huge team…nearly 90 kids!  What is more amazing, I think we had something like 60 (?) kids qualify for the championships (meet certain times or distances/heights for the various events)–not sure how many, but it was a HUGE squad!  The training and dedication of both coaches and kids together lifted them all higher.  WELL DONE, everyone!  And Eli…. we are so proud of you!  Even more than your sports ability, we admire your brains, determination, dedication, and good sportsmanship.  WOW!

Here’s to a three-sport honor-roll champion–you deserve a rest!  Want waffles for breakfast whenever you wake up tomorrow?

9 Responses to “Three-Sport Champion! Eli did it!”

  1. Candy from Candied Fabrics Says:

    Wowza! Way to GO Eli! Big congrats to you and your parents!

  2. Beverly Says:

    That is indeed how to go out with a bang! Congrats to Eli and his very proud parents!

  3. nina in BC Says:

    What a great story. Sarah – you do better that a sports comentater(spellings wrong – but you get the idea)What a terrific accomplishment!!

  4. Lisa F. Says:

    You can be proud and show it! Congrats.

  5. JACQUIE Says:

    Parental pride to the nth degree — and well earned!
    What are Eli’s summer plans– not just resting on his laurels I hope!

  6. Deirdre Says:

    What a great blow-by-blow of the event! Your pride IS showing, but it is certainly well placed. I have to say reading your post made me anxious, even though I had already read the outcome!

    Once again KUDO’s to Eli, Coaches Morse & Kopesky, both teams and especially to you and Paul for being such supportive parents.

    PS – I’m glad that woman got out of your way for the airborne picture – or she might have experienced some of wrestling moves that you picked up over the last year! LOL

    I see another quilt in your future

    😀 eirdre

  7. Judy Warner Says:

    Way to go! So proud for you. Brings back many memories. Enjoy, enjoy, enjoy!

  8. Rachel Parris Says:

    This made me cry. Well done, Eli! I am proud to know you if only on the pages of your mother’s blog. AND, well done Mom and Dad.

  9. Sherri D Says:

    I bet you can’t wear button down shirts anymore! You must be busting your buttons with pride! Way to go Eli!
    😀