Providence Wendy's Invitational - Charlotte, North Carolina

Yesterday, Ryan had a cross-country meet in Charlotte. It is a long way to drive, but it is great for the kids to see what kind of talent is in the region & hopefully spur them on to greatness. On the drive north we saw bands of clouds from Hurricane Irene. The weather was hot & weirdly windy but nothing strong enough to affect the race. (effect?)

There were A LOT of runners!!! (over 1300 in four races - varsity girls, varsity boys, JV girls, JV boys). The fastest runners are incredible - just over 5 minute miles for a race through forests, meadows, and one big ugly hill. Mauldin took 1.5 buses of kids.

Ryan started at the back of the pack (not going out too fast) & ran a great race.

There was a huge hill in the first mile. The blurred background looks cool on this picture, but my camera is misbehaving & I didn’t like it on many of the remaining shots.

He almost went into a drainage ditch when he ran the inside corner & got elbowed by #1540.

However, he turned on the afterburners & sped to the finish line. His official time was 20:06.

Here's a link to the official news report for the school: http://gomavs.net/content/section/team_189_news/mhs-xc-stampedes-at-providence/