On Monday morning, November 14, the Episcopal campus community received from athletic director Jim Cheyunski an email which read (in part), “Congratulations to our Michelle Krueger and our girls cross country team! They are the 2005 class 2A Florida state champions, and have been invited to participate in a  race on the west coast by Nike as one of the top 20 teams in the country!!!!”

Parent Linda Ingham continued the good news with her message: “We are back from state, and the girls won!!!!!  They are state champions!  Maggie Traylor was second, Katie Traylor third, Laura Steel fourth, Leslie Blackshear 11th, Emily Ingham 14th , Brooke Hardington 16th, and MCI was 66th . It was a hard race on a hard course. We were very proud of all of them…Everyone ran their heart out!!!!  A special thanks to the fans who have supported cross-country all season - some even came down to state! Also, Charley Zimmer and Jim Cheyunski came to cheer us on at the state meet.

In addition, on Sunday Nike National extended the Episcopal girls’ cross-country club a bid to nationals!!!!! We are the first team from Florida to receive such an invitation. The girls will fly to Portland, Oregon, for a December third race to determine the top high school cross-country teams in the nation. It’s really exciting, and coach Michelle has done an incredible job! Our hats are off to all the girls and to Michelle!”

We’ve also been informed that Nike is sponsoring a pep rally at Episcopal on Tuesday, November 22nd, to honor all sports, but especially cross-country. Nike annually chooses four schools in the country to host these pep rallies, and EHS was one…quite an honor! Details will follow when available.

Eight Episcopal students were honored recently by the Exchange Club of Jacksonville as part of their “Student of the Month” program. The effort is designed to increase public awareness of outstanding local young people;  students are chosen based on their academic achievement, school involvement, and community service activities, and are then interviewed by a member of the Exchange Club.  Four girls and four boys were interviewed based on the above credentials, including Lucy Bridgers, Molly Davis, Jennifer Efstathion, Molly Lester, Randy Drew, Brian Griffin, Riley Klicker, and Lucas Pappas.  Congratulations are due Lucy and Riley, who were named Episcopal’s Students of the Month.

 

The selected students, their parents, and their guidance counselor will attend a luncheon presentation at the Radisson Hotel in downtown Jacksonville during the Exchange Club ‘s November 10th luncheon meeting.  The students will then compete against other students of the month from Duval County for the Exchange Club “Student of the Year” award for Duval County, which will be announced in May of 2006.