Cross country team’s Senior Night saved by…love

  • [photo by Christy Zimmerman]

    [photo by Christy Zimmerman]

By Christy Zimmerman, FMHS faculty / Cross country head coach

What do you do when your team is all set for their Senior Night match, and the opposing team cancels at the last minute?
You call on the Mountain Community and they respond!

The last home race of the 2021 season for the Frazier Mountain High School cross country team was scheduled for Wednesday, March 17.

This is traditionally when we hold Senior Night for our graduating seniors, to give them a moment to shine with their families and friends. They fill out forms in advance, saying where they are headed next year. It is announced over the loudspeaker as they walk the field. It gives their teammates (and coach) the opportunity to salute them on the road to their next chapter and to say goodbye.
 
So, it was very disappointing when we found out the opposing team was unable to race against us (they didn’t get approval from their district in time, according to covid guidelines). I immediately put a message out to our community on Facebook and started texting everyone I knew who might be interested in coming to run on this very important day.
 
The Community Turns Out

Close to a dozen community members put on their running shoes to…(please see below to view full stories and photographs)

Photo captions:

Above left: Senior Daniela del Real (‘Danny’) celebrated with her sister Valeria, her mother and her brother Joaquin, who cheered her on with a sign that is an inside team joke from the movie ‘McFarland, USA’; Above right: The FMHS 2020-2021 cross country team.

Above left: Andrea Calderon with her mother Armida and sister Valerie; Above right: Nine of the 12 volunteer racers, including (far left) firefighter Carson Watson, who placed first in this unique cross country race.

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This is part of the March 26, 2021 online edition of The Mountain Enterprise.

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