School+and+Sports+2

I felt my legs hurting of sore pain. My felt like I had a potato in my throat, it was hard to breathe. I was on my second lap of the 3 km run. Before that I recently swam 200m and then biked around Nitchada Lake twice.
 * Triathlon, by Erika **

I started to think of something else so maybe I wouldn't feel so tired. I thought to myself, c//ome on Erika, do it for Patrick//.

The slimy saliva in my dried out throat started to really bother me. I just wanted to drink water, because it was uncomfortable to have a slimy dry throat. Suddenly I could hear my mom cheering me on. "Go Erika, come on!".

I could see the sky blue track and lots of people were crowding around it. People were cheering and the excitement was in the air. I did not know what place I was in at that point. There was only 100 meters left so I sprinted as fast as I could. I did not think of the pain. I wanted to reach one of the top three places. I did not care if my legs were hurting so I pushed my self until I reached the finish line.

I began walking around to get my blood pressure down. I was extremely thirsty, I got water and poured it all over me. That felt splendid. My mom came up to me and told me I did a great job.

“What place did I come in?” I asked my mom straight away.

“I don’t know," she said.

As the other competitors raced towards the finish line. The ceremony started. “1st Place is Anna Stanley," said the man speaking into the microphone. I clapped, waiting to see who came second.

I was talking to my friends when I heard, “Erika Tellmann.” I went to the front where the stage was, not understanding why someone called my name.

"Second place is Erika Tellmann," said the man speaking into the microphone. Inside I exploded with happiness. I wanted to dance my happy dance, but that would be weird to do in public.

I walked up on the stage, and got the medal. I felt so proud of myself. I had accomplished my goal of coming in the top three. I learned that as a competitor I need to set my goals high. Then I try to reach my goal and be super proud of myself. Even if I hadn't made my goal I would be even more eager to try to reach my goal in the next triathlon.

** PSIA Winning Zone, By Sam. ** //How am I going to pass that test?// I was scared, It was the day I needed to take a test about World Geography. From what I heard, you have 1 hour, and 40 minutes to complete the test. A parent volunteer came and took my group, filled with people who were from my school, and people from other schools too. After about 5 minutes we reached the room. There was another parent volunteer there. When we sat in the seats, the parent that was in there explained what we needed to do and how they are going to grade us. Finally, when the test started, the room was dead silent, except for the sounds the pencils made. The test was filled with questions that we learned about World Geography. There were empty continents, questions about the continents, and also questions about what they did in the continents.

The room was quiet, when I started the quiz. Very, very quiet, it was too quiet to be true. Normally I knew that my friends would at least laugh over something or someone would make a really weird sound. Midway through my test, I heard that someone already finished their test. I was worried that I wouldn’t complete the test in time. By the time I finished I looked at my watch and it said 9:30, which meant that I had 30 minutes left before the test was over. I looked around, looking who was still completing their tests. I saw about 2 more people who needed to complete their tests before the volunteers were going to escort us out back to the main gym, where all of our parents were waiting for us to complete the test with excitement and courage.

It was 30 minutes later, when I heard a parent speak out in front of everyone. They said, “You all have completed the tests. It is time for you to go back to your parents, but before you can, I have to say that it will take about 4 hours before you get your scores. If you get the top 3 in this group, you will compete in the National Challenge, where kids from other states will come. The next competition will be in another state. You will be only notified about the next challenge if you get top 3.”

Suddenly I got a boost of adrenaline, I knew that I was going to get top 3, and there were medals that you get for top 3. The Gold Medal was First Place, The Silver Medal was Second Place, and the Bronze Medal was Third Place. Anything below that was a metallic coin.

2 hours passed, and I knew that I was going to get in the Top 3, I just knew it! I was extremely excited about the scores, I told my parents to stay at the gym, instead of going home and then coming back an hour before they gave the scores and medals to everyone.

The 4 hours passed like a rocket, it felt like only 10 minutes passed by. I was excited, too excited that I nearly screamed! A few minutes later, it was the time, the time I waited 3 hours for! They were announcing out the winners and the places people got. They started calling out for people to come up and get their certificate and medals. They didn’t announce my name yet. I was waiting and nervous, thinking they didn’t check my quiz, or maybe that I failed.

Finally, after 10 minutes, I was announced as FIRST PLACE!