Well after the Tah-Neva cross country season had ended Lake Tahoe School 6th grader Madeleine Patrick and IMS 7th grader Noah McMahan kept working towards a much larger goal. Their hope was to qualify for the National Cross Country Jr. Olympics to be held in Reno.

To qualify for Nationals both Madeleine and Noah had to qualify by finishing inside the top 30 runners for their 11-12 year-old age group at the Region 16 qualifier meet. On Nov. 18th, both Madeleine and Noah run against competitors representing clubs from all over Northern California and Northern Nevada on a 3000m course. Madeleine started well and was just behind the lead group before experiencing a cramp mid-race. Her dogged determination helped her persevere through the pain and she managed to hold on to finish 21st. Noah ran a very strategic race and closed with great speed to crack the top 10 and finish 9th out of 81 boys. Both Madeleine and Noah were ecstatic with qualifying for the National Jr. Olympics.

A few weeks later Madeleine and Noah competed against runners from all of the United States. Thousands of runners representing many different clubs and states arrived in Reno with the hope of being crowned the best in the country. On a very cold, snowy day Madeleine and Noah gave it their all over a difficult muddy course. Madeleine was less than 100% healthy after suffering an illness the week before the meet but she battled hard and finished 207th out of 329 girls. Noah then followed with an equally great run and finished 197th out of 339 boys. Both were exhausted, cold, and muddy, yet happy with their effort. Coach Kris and Coach Brad were extremely proud of their results. Coach Kris remarked, “Maddie and Noah deserve a great deal of praise for how hard they worked. It’s not easy to qualify for Nationals yet both of them made it happen. It was a long season from the Tah-Neva meets to Nationals in December but both runners never stopped working. Congrats to them both for a fantastic season!”