by Daniel Koch and Garnsey - November 7, 2011

On Saturday November the 5th, the cross country team traveled to Lubbock, TX for the big regional meet. The team arrived in Lubbock with enough daylight to walk the course before the big day. "It really wasn't that bad.” said Daniel Garnsey. "The worst thing about the whole race was the wind and the temperature. Walking the course before the race made it kind of better for us, because we knew the wind was going to be against us, and we knew that there was a 'big' hill. So, I guess we sort of planned the course out, like where to sprint and where to not run so hard to where the wind tired us out. Everyone there was complaining about the hill and how it was going to destroy souls. My team and myself thought differently. We took the hill as an advantage, well, at least going down it.”

The Pirate Cross Country Team did fairly well for their first time at regionals coming in at 16thoverall as a team, and individually Latham Garnsey came in 38th, Aaron Morton came in 51st, Daniel Garnsey came in 85th, Daniel Koch in 134th, and Rye Webb in at 157th. The overall number of runners in the Region I 1A was 166. "I thought they did very well.” said Mr. Cook, who accompanied the Cross Country Team on Saturday. "I thought they did a great job at planning the course out and in the way they finished. I didn't really have an expectation as to what place they would get overall or individually, because they've never ran at this level with so many other kids before. But, they made Coach Mac and I, and the whole school really proud.”

Now that the season has come to an end, the runners are happy in what they accomplished individually and as a team. "I'm just glad that I didn't finish last.” said Cross Country runner Daniel Koch. "It was really fun, and I plan on doing it all again next year.”

Mr. Cook stated that, "This was a very good experience for our runners this year. Hopefully it'll make those who are coming back next year want to do it again.”

Pictured top is Latham Garnsey, Aaron Morton, Daniel Koch, Daniel Garnsey, and Rye Webb. Rye is also pictured running.

by Aaron "Sparky" Morton - November 3, 2011

On November 5, 2011 the Valentine boys Cross Country team will be in Lubbock for the 1A Regional Cross Country Meet. The meet will take place at the Mae Simmons Park, MLK Blvd & 24^th street at 11:30 am. Coach McWilliams, Mr. Cook and the team is shaking with excitement as they await the day. This is the first time Coach Mac has taken a Cross Country team to Regionals. This meet is going to give our guys a good chance to run their best with tough competition, Coach Mac says, "If we run to our full potential, we will do pretty well”. It's going to be a good and fun experience for all of us and we hope we can make to Regionals for years to come.

Running will be senior Aaron Morton, junior Daniel Garnsey, sophomore Daniel Koch, and freshmen Rye Webb and Latham Garnsey.

by Daniel Koch - October 27, 2011

Wednesday, October 26, 2011 the Valentine Cross Country team went to Balmorhea for their District meet. The lady pirates ran hard but did not make it in the top ten to qualify for Regionals, but as for the boys senior Aaron Morton placed 5th, Junior Daniel Garnsey placed 13th, Sophomore Daniel Koch placed 37th, Freshmen Rye Webb placed 41st, and Freshmen Latham Garnsey placed 9th. The boys got placed 3rd as a team and will be advancing to Regionals on November 5, 2011. As for the Junior High runner, Ignacio Santillan got 5th place and received a medal for his hard work. Good job to everyone and thank you to all the supporting fans of the Valentine Cross Country team. We wish you luck at Regionals, boys, GO PIRATES GO!!!

by Daniel Koch and Daniel Garnsey - October 24, 2011

Our District Cross Country Meet will be Wednesday, October 26 in Balmorhea. We asked Coach Mac how impressed he was with the teams performance, and he said "Very.” The District meet should be a lot harder than the rest, because everyone has been practicing and getting better. When we asked Coach Mac what the prospects are for the Cross Country team he said "to try and advance”, and thats what we intend to do. Coach Bea added "The kids have been working hard and I am confident they will do their best; also, I wish them luck!"

by Kimberly Morton - October 3, 2011

Saturday, October 1st, 2011 the Valentine Pirate cross country team traveled to Alpine for their 3rd meet of the year! This one was a tough one because the course was rather difficult and the girls had to run 3.11 miles like the boys! But Ignacio Santillan (our only JR high runner) got 15th out of a handfull of boys, he was the only one to bring back a medal this meet. Out of our high school (JV) girls Cayenne Webb got 24th, Adriana Rangel got 25th and Amelia Santillan came in at 26th. The (Varsity) boys did pretty well, Latham Garnsey got 41st, Daniel Garnsey got 55th, Daniel Koch got 60th and Rye Webb got 76th. Everyone did great! The next X-Country meet is the last one, district will be held in Balmorhea at the state park (the pool) on the 26th. Good luck Pirates!

by Kim Morton - September 27, 2011

On Saturday the Pirates travelled to Marfa for their second cross country meet of the year. Everyone did pretty well, Cayenne Webb got 15th, Adriana Rangel got 19th, and Amelia Santillan got 20th out of 20 varsity girls! And for the Varsity boys, Latham Garnsey got 4th, Aaron Morton got 5th, Daniel Garnsey 10th, and Rye Webb came in at 28th. Aaron, Daniel and Latham all received metals! Good Job Pirates!! The next cross country meet is this Saturday, October 1, 2011 at the Paisano Baptist Church Camp (between Alpine and Marfa.)
See the gallery here.

By Kimberly Morton - September 19, 2011

On Saturday, the Pirates travelled to Wink for their first cross country meet of the season! Everyone did pretty well for the first meet of the year, Ignacio Santillan got 26th out of about 60 junior high boys, Cayenne Webb got 68th of about 70 varsity girls, Rye Webb got 89th, Daniel Garnsey got 63rd, Aaron Morton got 29th and Lathem Garnsey got 25th out of 90 varsity boy runners!

They ALL agreed to do better each meet, GO PIRATES!! Next cross country action is Saturday the 24th in Marfa.

- Check out the Gallery!

By the Daniels (Koch and Garnsey) - September 13, 2011 Daniel K: Are you looking forward to this years Cross Country Team? Coach McWilliams: Extremely, we have some excellent runners who are very dedicated. Our runners for the boys are Latham Garnsey, Daniel Garnsey, Aaron Morton, Daniel Koch and Rye Webb. Our only girl runner for this year is Cayenne Webb. Daniel K: Do you think that they have a chance at making it to the Regional Meet? Coach Mac: Of course. They have a good work ethic, and they do all of our training formulas to the best of their ability. Daniel K: Do you think it will be fun and exciting? Coach Mac: Most certainly. Everyone on the team has a real good personality, especially Rye. He's got an artistic sense of humor.

Month	Day/Date	Site	Time
September	09/17/11	Wink	TBA
October	10/01/11	Alpine	TBA
October	10/26/11	Balmorhea (Dist. Meet)	TBA