This is a printer-friendly version of an article from Zip06.com.
12/13/2023 03:43 PMThe small Connecticut middle school that graduated UK and Tennessee Titans quarterback Will Levis has now produced three equestrienne sisters, who raced on Dec. 9 in Louisville in the Junior Olympics National Cross Country Championships.The event was expected to draw about 3,000 youth runners from across the country to Tom Sawyer Park.
Representing the Litchfield Track Club, all three were Country School students from Madison. The athletes were seventh grader Tillie, fifth grader Liv, and third grader Lexie Killam of Madison. The sisters were joined by schoolmates of Country School fourth grader Harper Merrill, and third grader Luke Ouellet.
All five teammates ran their personal best times in the qualifying competition in Lake George, NY, by finishing among the top 30 athletes in their age brackets.
The runners are coached by their Head of School, John Fixx, son of Jim Fixx, the famous author who revolutionized running and road racing in the 1970s and 80s with the number one best selling book, The Complete Book of Running, and then its sequel, Jim Fixx’s Second Book of Running. Fixx and his family, from 1998 to 2003, lived in Lexington, where he was the headmaster at The Lexington School.
When not running and racing, Tillie, Liv, and Lexie ride horses and muck stalls near their home, and they are particularly excited to go on a tour at Hermitage Farm. They are part of the girls’ cross country team that last year won the Connecticut State Cross Country Championship, and this year took second place, defeating all the public and private schools.
Tillie, Liv, Lexie, Luke, and Harper are part of The Country School’s successful running program that has sent more runners over the last decade to the National Junior Olympics (49), Connecticut Junior Olympics (149), and the Northeast Junior Olympics (132) than any other school in New England. The school’s optional cross country program begins in kindergarten, with racing, doughnuts, and laughter. The Country School has produced a national champion, a runner-up champion, and six All-Americans.
Former Country School runners are racing at the high school and college levels, including varsity runners for such programs as Notre Dame and Holy Cross. Most are captains of their teams, and, after having been recruited to colleges and universities, some have earned college scholarships.
Where Premier running club coaches see their athletes maybe once a week, and some communicate only by email and phone, the Country School coaches see their runners many times throughout the day on their small campus of 215 children from preschool-eighth grade. That proximity allows them as coaches to monitor the student-athletes’ moods, health, sleep patterns, recovery, and address any injuries or stress.
The goal of Country School’s cross country program is to have students learn to care for their health, enjoy the sport and team spirit, get faster as individuals, and eventually do their best running in high school, college, and beyond. The coaches guard against runner burn-out, and are always seeking that balance that pushes their athletes hard enough to gain satisfactory improvement, but not to dread the sport. The kind of discipline and delayed gratification that cross country requires transfers well into the classroom, allowing students to push themselves to complete assignments, labs and papers, even when fatigued.
Founded in 1955, The Country School serves students in preschool-Grade 8, on its 23-acre campus in Madison. The Country School honors students’ creativity, sense of wonder, and intellectual curiosity. The school’s integrated curriculum, successful athletics program, and robust arts program provide opportunities for character and leadership development.