Our 2023 competition cross country season came to a close this week with an awards night recognizing our athletes and coaches. Our coaches spent a few days conferring with each other and choosing some cool items to go with the awards we have for our athletes. Of course we would love to give awards to ALL of our athletes, but we just can’t. It would diminish the importance of the awards we do give.
Mile Series Winners – 1st, 2nd, and 3rd place for the overall fastest times in all three Mile Series races. Athletes had to run in all three races to qualify for this award.
Mile Series Club Record Breakers – Because courses are so different in cross country, we don’t track club records from meets. Instead we track records in our Mile Series races because we run on the same courses every year. These awesome kids broke our club records in their age divisions. When someone breaks a club record, we usually give them a Wolfpack medal with the event and time engraved on the back.
Mile Series Combined Record Breakers – Mile Series times are added together and the athletes with the fastest combined times hold the record in their age division. We had four athletes break those records this season.
Cool Cubs Club – These kids are the ones who bring the most energy to our Pack. They always have a positive attitude, they work hard, and the make the Pack fun for everyone.
Workhorse – These athletes are the ones always show up ready to just work hard. They never complain; they are the fighters in our Pack.
Energizer Bunny – These athletes never seem to get tired, they are always ready for more miles, more speed, harder workouts, and they have a great attitude.
Most Improved – These two have shown the greatest improvement in their speed and endurance and most of all; their race times throughout the season.
Hungry Wolf – This award is for exceptional mental attitude and having HUGE mental growth over the season or having to persevere through some great mental or physical struggle. Similar to Most Improved, but less about race times and more about mental growth and perseverance.
Sportsman of the Year – This one is all about sportsmanship. These athletes are the first to lend support to their Pack. They show up early and stay late to watch every race and cheer on their teammates and even lend support and cheer on athletes on other teams. They are kind to everyone.
Rookie of the Year – This is given to an athlete or two who are new to OUR Wolfpack program. They exhibit excellence in their work at practices and meets and are a great addition to our program.
Teammate of the Year – This is award is voted on by the athletes and awarded to two athletes have been a great teammate to them and a positive role model; an example both on and off the field.
Alpha Wolf – This one is for the athletes who lead our team. They are some of the most talented runners in their divisions, AND they set a positive example with a strong work ethic, great sportsmanship, and they are a great teammate. Other athletes follow their lead.
Welcome to the Pack – This is for athletes who join mid-season or late in the season from the elementary program or through recruitment. They are an awesome addition to our Pack with their hard work and willingness to go with the flow on a new-to-them team.
We shined a spotlight on our 8th graders who will be moving onto high school cross country (but we will see them for track this spring!)
We were the Race Cats Draper Elite team before we became Wolfpack. Nan Kennard, the founder of Race Cats, shared a few words with our Pack and helped us honor three 8th graders who’ve been with this programs since it began in 2015.
Nan talked about how she didn’t discover that she was a runner until she was a junior in high school. She’d played basketball and was just okay at it. There had been no youth running programs in Bountiful where she grew up. She ended up running for BYU and was able to run professionally for a while after graduation. She started Race Cats after she had her own kids to create the running program she wished she’d had when she was a kid.
Michele Brinkerhoff, former coach and founder of Wolfpack, took Nan’s elementary program and added a competition team. That team went to Nationals for the first time and eventually was turning out championship athletes. She emphasized that these kids learn how to be part of a team and come to their high school teams with much more experience than most other teens. The skills they learn through Wolfpack follow them into high school and college.
Adam, Max, and Ryan joined Race Cats (and then Wolfpack) when they were in kindergarten and we wish them well as they head to high school in the fall. Coach Rachel Small had Minky blankets embroidered with logos and the years they ran for Race Cats and Wolfpack along with their names and “OG Pack.”
After all of the awards, the athletes who broke club records got to douse the coaches with silly string. We always try to have something fun for our record breakers.
The end the night, we shared some cake and mingled. We had a picture frame out for everyone to write a note to Coach Rachel Small. She spends a TON of time making the program awesome for these amazing kids and their families and it takes a ton of time to decide on these awards, order the stuff to go with them. She even recognizes all of the coaches… except for herself. This frame was a small way to say thank you along with some Diet Coke, de-stress face masks, and bath bombs.
Thank you for a truly awesome season!!
