On October 1, Blue Mountain Union (BMU) hosted a cross country home meet after a one year hiatus. The attendees were: Barre City Elementary, Barre Town, Kingdom East, and Webster Christian Academy. BMU nomally hosts one meet a season; last year, BMU did not host a meet. Jennifer Lund, the new cross country coach for BMU, explains the reason for the one year hiatus: “I was new and didn’t feel confident enough to host one.”
Hosting a meet is a complicated process; there are many necessary elements involved. It requires a lot of time and the collaboration of many different people to ensure that the process runs smoothly. To begin, Todd Powers, BMU’s Athletic Director, needs to send out invitations to the various schools. Then, the team prepares the 5k trail, and the coach recruits and organizes volunteers. On race day, the volunteers record times and direct runners. At BMU’s meet, three students and staff members volunteered to help.
The already complex process of organizing the meet became even more challenging since BMU had to map out a new course. The previous course’s uneven ground and treacherous roots caused ankle injuries. The new course enhanced the athletes’ safety and boosted coach Lund’s confidence. When asked about the meet, Coach Lund expressed that she “felt excited during the race because it ran smoothly. Mr. Powers did an excellent job with the timing and organizing race packets. I was excited to see the racers finish, and I enjoyed seeing my own runners push themselves.”
Every Blue Mountain runner set a personal record during the race. Middle school runner Jason Bulger achieved a time of 13:32.33 for the 3,000 meters. In the high school division, Lily-Ann Morgan recorded a time of 31:00.21 for the 5,000 meters, while Zhijie Zhong finished with 27:30.69 in the same event. BMU season concludes with the middle school running at NVAC Mountain Cross-Country Run Championship at U-32 on October 19, 2024 and the high school running the Vermont HS Cross-Country Run State Championship on October 26, 2024.
