Lucy the Soccer Player and Homerun Hitter

Soccer season is almost over.  Lucy the defender! No goals for the other team.  This was a victory for Deer Park. 

What's wrong with this picture?  Can you do that?

HMMMM!

I missed the actual kick! 

Throw in!

The team!

This isn't my picture but it is a good one!  Soccer is hard, lots of fast running and incredible endurance is required.  Lucy has it all!  

Who doesn't play two sports at a time!  In addition to soccer Lucy's club softball team is going strong.  This is Lucy's homerun ball.  We wish we would have been there to see it!  Lucy is a go getter and a great athlete.  

Love this!!! Love Lucy!

LC Invitational Post Race

The excitement was running high after the race.  We all wanted to congratulate Layne! We were all so excited for her.  She was pretty excited too.  Picture time is a requirement.  Here is the dynamic duo! Layne and Lucy! Two amazing humans!  

Kristin and Layne! 

Smiles all around!

The freshman stars!

High fives from me! 

Love this picture! Look at grandpa's face!  He was full of joy! 

I had to get in the picture action! 

Coach Ken, her high school coach, came to watch her run.  He said it was so worth getting up early and making the drive to Lewiston. I agree completely. 

Coach Ken was trying to be taller to match Layne's height! 

No more pictures and time for a cool down.  I think Layne mentioned a 5 mile cool down.  Really?  Not sure what they did but I am sure it was a long one.  After the cool down or in the middle of it they took time to cheer on the men's team. 

As we were getting ready to leave we were talking with Layne and her teammates.  We were sharing how they all did such a great job at the meet. They jumped right in and talked about Layne and the improvement she made.  These are some pretty special young women just like Layne.  It was great to know she was surrounded by such special teammates.  What a blessing! 

It's hard to put into words what it is like to share in experiences like this with our grandchildren.  More to come for sure!  It is definitely a gift from God!  They are all so precious.  

 These are the words that were written about Layne on the Montana Grizzly website.  So very special.

Freshman Layne Lathrop finished fourth for the Grizzlies in a time of 18:24. In her third collegiate race, the Deer Park, Wash. native improved by nearly a full minute from her previous best of 19:21 in Missoula last month.

"It's a key thing when your number four runner has to sit out because of a little injury that Layne steps up," Fraley said. "She's beginning to solidify her position on our team. A young lady who was a walk-on who just continues to get better and better and proves she is going to have a good future in our program.”

"For freshmen like Layne and Kaden to come in and take chunks like that off of their PR's, it shows you that they are integrating well into the training program and getting used to being a college cross country runner," Fraley said. "It bodes well for our team."

LC Invitational Cross Country Meet, Lewiston Idaho with Layne!

Finally, we get a chance to see Layne run cross country with her college team.  The University of Montana Grizzlies.  We left Spokane about 6:15 AM and headed to Lewiston.  The drive was a little over two hours and so worth it!!!  We have missed seeing Layne run cross country.  Well, truthfully we have must missed Layne period.  We parked and started walking to the meet and who did we see warming up.  The Montana Grizzlies Ladies! 

There they go! What a fabulous setting.  

Lucy was bothered with the bugs in the area.  We thought she was trying to avoid getting her picture taken but it was the bugs. 

Not sure how this was helping avoid bugs!!!  

While we wait for the completion to start we had some gymnastics entertainment.  

Here they go, the women's race.  I wasn't sure where the Montana crew lined up but as they got closer Kristin told me they were on the side way from us.  

A beautiful backdrop!  

I did manage to find Layne in this picture and in the next picture.  Lucky. 

Kristin and I positioned ourselves close to the finish line. We didn't want to get too far away from it and miss the finish.  These young ladies are faster than we are.  They looped around 3 times so we got to watch Layne's progress closely.  

I took pictures of her teammates when I could!  

Teammates!

Layne looked so strong throughout the race!  

Teammates. 

I grabbed a couple of pictures from the Grizzly website.  

Layne's goal was to finish sub 19 minutes.  As you can see she crushed that goal.  18:24!!!  Kristin, Justin and I were pretty excited.  Mike was in another spot but I know he was cheering her on.  High fives and SHE DID IT all around!!!!  There were some teary eyes too.  This was a great moment!!!  So proud of Layne and how hard she works to achieve the goals she sets!

Here are some more teammates.  Sorry I don't know their names.  

Some pictures contributed by Kristin and Mike