Cross country team starts early

By Lyndsey M.

Although school has just started, cross country began a few weeks ago. A camp was run by Ms. Krisik. It met on Monday, Wednesday and Friday at the nature center. Practice started at 8:15 a.m. and ended at 9:30.

Since none of the other schools Peacock races against have a summer camp, team members hope that this extra practice will give them a head start.

At practice, camp members ran one, two or three miles. After running, they did sprints or ran up a hill to build endurance.

Camp members also went to the Itasca pool, bike riding and roller blading.

Ms. Krisik thought that the camp went very well. She thought that everyone worked their hardest. The only thing they needed to work on was endurance.

She also thought that the new sixth graders showed a lot of promise. According to Ms. Krisik, two camp members who worked very hard and did very well where Megan S. and Steven L.

Ms. Krisik said that she hoped everyone would try as hard as Megan and Steven.

If you didn't join the camp, you still have a chance to be on the cross country team. It is a no cut sport so anyone can join. Ms. Krisik said that she hoped to see everyone sign up for the team.

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Itasca Dolphins swim team offers great summer fun

By Kelly B.

Being a member of the Itasca Dolphins swim team is a wonderful summer activity. Daily practice, ten dual meets, a championship meet and many special events are a lot of fun.

New members in the nine and ten year old group must be able to swim a least one-pool length of freestyle and backstroke. Meets are held on Wednesday evenings and Saturday mornings.

There are age groups for boys and girls eight and under too, as well as for older children.

If you are ten and under, your morning practices are at 8:00-9:00 a.m. If you are eleven and older, you swim at 6:00-8:00 a.m.

At night, everyone swims at the same time, between 5:00 and 6:00.

Every now and again, we will have game day in the mornings, usually after Wednesday meets, which go pretty late.

For the past four years, our team has won the trophy for first place in the conference. We have really nice and cool coaches.

Swimming with the Dolphins is a great way to meet new people and have fun during the summer!

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H2O Nites: A review and survey

By Trisha H.

This summer, the Itasca Park District held six nights of all teen swimming at the Itasca Waterpark. H2O nites was a night of free swimming and entertainment. Teens, ages eleven through seventeen, were invited to join the fun.

Maryfran Leno is the director and coordinator of the H2O nites. Maryfran and her colleague, Dan Kompanowski, started working on the H2O nites when the Village of Itasca Youth Commission wanted to organize a activity for young teens to hang out at.

After many ideas, they decided to have a party with music and games at the pool. They ran it by the Youth Commission, who agreed to sponsor this free teen gathering.

In the summer of 2000, the H2O nites kicked off, and were a big hit.

The first night, over four hundred and fifty teens attended this event. As the summer of 2000 went on, more and more teens came out to the new party at the pool.

Maryfran explained that "the turnout was excellent!" The majority of teens who came were between eleven and fifteen years old.

In the 2001 summer, the Youth Commission sponsored two extra dates because it was such a hit.

Teens seemed to really appreciate the DJ because they were able to go up and request songs. They especially liked the game he led.

The live band was the least liked of all the attractions provided.

Other special attractions were the Pepsi company sending out there Mountain Dew truck to give away free stuff at the H2O nite.

Thanks to Dan, Maryfran and the Youth Commission we had a party at the pool to look forward to every two weeks.

Tell me what YOU think about the H2O nites this summer: E-mail me your suggestions at TrishCharger@aol.com or hand them into Mr. Travis.

- How many H2O nites did you go to out of the six that there were?

- Did you enjoy the H2O nites this summer?

- Did you like the DJ or would you like some other special attraction?

Any other suggestions or comments are greatly appreciated!

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