The Little Pintos cross country team sent multiple runners to the nationals meet — a good amount of success for a team that started just two years ago.
Little Pintos head coach Danielle Lebel said she and her husband, Ron, started the team after finding out about children’s cross country three years ago.
“We started taking (our son) Carson to the meets where he ran unattached, meaning no team to run with,” Lebel said. “He really liked going to the different towns and seeing what the different courses were all about. We wanted Carson to have more fun with running and have some teammates to be able to practice with and not just run on his own to get better. So two years ago, we started the team, and (we) didn’t want it to get to big at first so some of our friends helped us find some runners.”
This year, the team started with 19 runners. The team lost a few runners during the year, but Lebel said that they ended with 15 runners who made it to most of the meets.
“Last year, we had around 12 runners so the team has definitely grown,” Lebel said. “We started this year with only five runners returning from last year.”
Practices this year happened at Proctor Park.
“Micky Sommerer and I mapped out some courses to run that were the correct length for our 2K and 3K runners,” Lebel said. “We would start practice with some stretching and then either run the course with them or do some Indian runs as a team. Some days, we would work on sprint work and hills. After our running was done, I always tried to play a sport with everyone like kickball or soccer to end with something a little more fun than just running, but still something that they got a workout in.”
The team has worked hard all year, Lebel said.
“I had a goal for them to work hard and try to make it in the top 10 in their age group. Most meets, the top seven medaled, and we always had at least a couple medal in their group. I think this goal made each kid excited and strive to work harder and get a better time or position in each race,” Lebel said. “Last year, we only had one runner medal I believe, and this year we had seven different runners earn a medal at some point in the season. I also had eight kids make it in the top 10 all STAR rankings. All my runners definitely gave it their best this year, and I was very proud of all of them.”
Five of the team’s runners decided to run at regionals in Kansas. All five of them made it to nationals.
“All five of my runners were very excited that they all took home a medal and had the chance to go to nationals,” Lebel said. “The team is not the Little Pintos at nationals, they are combined with all the surrounding teams and made into one team called CMAC (Central Missouri Athletics Circuit). This is pretty awesome for them to run with kids from Bowling Green, Centralia, Columbia, Russellville and Fulton. Nationals is a big treat for the kids where they will run against hundreds in their individual age groups. They get to travel out of state and of course stay in a hotel, which they (were) very excited about.”
The team traveled to Shelbyville, Indiana, on Nov. 22 and walked the course. The team received free CMAC National shirts and got to go bowling and to dinner together. Their final race for the year was Nov. 23. Nationals awards medals to the top 25 of each age, and Braylnn Porter finished in second place out of all the 7-year-old girls with a time of 9:32.
At the national meet in the girls 8u division, Porter’s 9:32 finish was good for 33rd place out of 156 girls, and Jamie Morrow finished in 109th place with a time of 11:05. In the 8u boys division, Carson Lebel finished in 37th place out of 162 boys with a time of 9:06. In the 9-10 girls division, Winnie Wood finished in 114th place out of 214 girls with a time of 14:19.
Lebel said she enjoys watching the team get along together and work together to get better.
“I love watching the kids grow together as a team and become good friends where they are always supporting one another, cheering each other on at the meets and pushing each other to get better,” Lebel said. “I love coaching kids in this age group and being there for them to help them get better at something they enjoy. There were so many different personalities in this group of kids, and I loved seeing their excitement when they smiled getting a medal or when they knew they got a PR or a better placement in the race.”
Lebel said the runners get along with each other really well.
“They loved competing against each other and cheering each other on at the meets. I think they really enjoyed the sports we played at the end of practice, and they had a lot of fun together,” Lebel said. “We had a few kids that are home schooled on our team so they have become friends with kids they might not have ever met.”
When it comes to the future, Lebel said she wants to try to host a meet in California. Lebel said she also wants to try to have at least five or six runners in each age and gender group so that they can have full teams and try to earn a placement as a team next year.