Alex runs Cross Country

A Perfect Season!!!

Meet the ISB Boys Cross Country team for 2008!

Alex is in the back, 3rd standing from the right.

These are the Junior Varsity boys and girls (that's 7th-9th grades) at a meet at Chateau de la Hulpe (Alex is in the back, 2nd from left)

And here are all the boys, JV and Varsity

Alex coming near the finish at the AF North meet in Germany - he came home with a time of 20:24 for the 5 kilometer race, earning himself 1st place in the JV/exhibition (7th and 8th graders) category!  It also earned him a 16th place finish overall out of all the boys (grades 7-12).  Way to go, Alex!

Getting his 1st place certificate at AF North

The next meet was at a local castle grounds - they started at the top of that big hill and are making their first turn.

Alex comes around an obstacle mid-way through the meet at the castle grounds.

and is now heading toward the finish line...

And here Alex is, again collecting a 1st place certificate for the JV division!  His time today was 19:31, earning him another 16th place finish out of all the boys.  Four of the top 5 boys in this division are from ISB!!

The next meet is in the forest near Brussels - Alex stays near the front of the pack as they get started.

Nearing the finish, can Alex take this guy??!!

In the end, no, but he finishes in his best time ever!!!

This time he ran the race in 18:57, bringing home another 1st place finish for the ISB JV boys, again with 4 of our guys in the top 5!!!  His overall finish this time was 21st.  After breaking 20 minutes for the first time last week, this week he broke 19 for the first time as well - what awesome effort!

And now we head to our own school for Homecoming!!

Here the boys round the first corner - from our school you see Baudoin leading the way, followed by Miles, then Louis, Alex, and Harry with several other of our guys right behind them.  Baudoin and Miles would end up in 1st (he has won all 4 varsity races so far) and 2nd places for varsity and Harry in 5th.  Alex would finish 10th overall out of 93 runners!

Here Alex is coming out of the forest by school...

...and onto the track for the big finish...

1st place JV boy again!!!  His coach, Mr. Vande Walle hands him his medal.  His time this week is 19:01 and this was his first time to break into the top 10 of all the runners!  What a great season he has going!!

Shota and Alex at Baumholder before the race

All the runners, including the cows, receive instructions at the start of the race at Baumholder!

And they're off - Alex is right in the middle behind Svenja and Baudoin

Alex coming to the end at Baumholder.

Another JV Boy win for Alex - time this week was 20:21.  That's five for five so far this season....

The last regular season race was held at SHAPE, near Mons.  This is the start of the boys race - see if you can find Alex!!!

Alex in mid-race.  This course is a loop run 3 times around so we got to see them more often.

Alex comes into the finish...

And wins first place again!  His time this week was 19:44. 

That ends the regular season - Alex ran 6 races and came home with 6 first place finishes for the JV division - a truly perfect season for him!!!