Local girls compete in Junior Olympics cross-country meet
Josie Gibson (left) and Emily Glynn (right) – both from Castle Pines competed in the Junior Olympics cross country nationals meet in San Antonio on December 14.
By Elean Gersack; photo courtesy of Lesley Gibson
After months of practice and an exciting season, two girls from Castle Pines headed to San Antonio on December 14 to compete in the Junior Olympics cross country nationals meet.
The girls, Josie Gibson, fifth grader at Buffalo Ridge Elementary School, and Emily Glynn, fifth grader from Timber Trail Elementary, began the season in August as part of the Parker Panthers team coached by Ross Cargo. The team consists of boys and girls ages seven through high school who practice four to five times each week in Parker and Lone Tree.
The team participated in about six local meets in preparation for the state meet. At state, the 9/10 year-old girls took first place in the 3k and advanced to regionals in El Paso, TX in mid-November. At that meet, the girls placed third and advanced to nationals.
“This is my first season running. I never dreamed I would have made it to nationals my first year!” said Gibson.
At the nationals event, there were 308 girls competing in the 3k run. Glynn came in 37th with a time of 12:09.08 and Gibson finished 252nd with a time of 13:00.15, beating her previous best time by 46 seconds.
“Before I joined the team I liked to run, now running is my passion,” said Glynn.
