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Recently: Washing cars for running money

Posted on July 17, 2008July 28, 2008 by Staff

Cross country runners of Carrboro High School washed cars Saturday  
with assistant coach Sara Hallenbeck (in black shirt) helping out. Photo by Valarie Schwartz.By Valarie Schwartz

Even the abundance of recent rain could not remove the grunge from our drought-dirty vehicles, so the car wash at Carrboro High School last Saturday brought an easy clean and helped the school’s cross country team raise funds for camp, travel and supplies.

A new school builds a reputation on many levels, and according to assistant coach Sarah Hallenbeck the cross country team started its first year out on the right foot.

“We had a very successful season even without seniors,” she said Saturday while taking a break from helping the students clean the perpetual line of cars that arrived during their four hours in the sun on the school parking lot. Coach Jay Crocker was out of town, but Hallenbeck happily spoke for the team. “We had some strong showings, with one student making it into the state meet,” swiftly carrying the new school’s name out of the region.

It’s a small team, with only 45 on the roster, which for some students provided appeal. Rising junior Jacob Carl transferred from Chapel Hill High School, where he had found cross country too competitive because of the team’s size.

“Carrboro gave me a chance to run more,” he said, adding that another reason for joining was to help him stay in shape for swimming and lacrosse, where he also participates. “I like running. It’s good exercise to continue.” He has running role models in his father and grandfather. “My dad runs marathons — my grandpa ran two marathons this year.”

Hanna Miller, also a rising junior, started running in eighth grade. “I like being part of a team,” she said. She also came from Chapel Hill High, where “it was really hard to get attention from the coach with 70 people on the team.” As one of 15 girls, she has enjoyed building the team. “There are no divisions or cliques, it’s a good team.”

Even with parents and car owners observing them, the students seemed relaxed and comfortable with each other as they worked together under the blazing sun.

Rising sophomore Josie Hollingsworth said, “I used to prefer solitary running by far over running with a group, but in the past season with cross country I’ve found group running to be much more enjoyable as well as challenging. People that do cross country are known as ‘the loners,’ but training with the Carrboro team has proven to be quite the opposite.”

They were looking forward to next week when 22 members of the team will travel to Brevard for camp in preparation for a state meet in Clemmons. The car wash, which raised $630, will help pay the transportation costs of those trips as well as competitions in Greensboro and Charlotte later in the school year.

“Cross country running is an efficient way for busy kids to exercise — one hour of daily practice as opposed to the usual two-plus hours of other sports,” Josie said. “As much as we’d like to say that the team has all different personalities, it takes a certain breed of person to want to run three miles as hard as they can and call it fun.”

Contact Valarie Schwartz at 923-3746 or valariekays@mac.com .

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