Maddie Woods named Indiana USATF Youth Female Athlete of the Year...

Here are a few highlights of Maddie’s 2009 accomplishments:
USATF XC Association (IN) Meet Nov 2009, Carmel, IN 3rd place 11:55 Midget Division 3KM
USATF XC Region Meet (IN & IL) Nov 2009, Carmel, IN 2nd place 12:02 Midget Division 3KM
West Noble XC Invitational September 2009, Overall Champion 11:16 3KM
Big 11 Conference Champion October 2009, 11:19 3KM Ox Bow Park
Schmucker Middle School, XC & Track record holder.
National Honor Junior Honor Society with a 4.0 GPA.
Accomplished Violinist as 1st chair, in the Schmucker Orchestra.
Team Bird mentor of our Elementary Girls to run and train.
AAU National Indoor track 3000 meter champion and AAU National Indoor track runner up 1500.
Volunteer at her church to serve lunches and related activities.

Team Bird at AAU National Championships...
February 20-21...
   MaddieWoods, a 7th-grader at Schmucker MS, won the AAU Northern Indoor National 3000m in the sub-youth age division with a personal-best of 11:11. Woods' title came Saturday, February 20th, on the campus of Illinois Wesleyan University in Bloomington, IL.
   "I got bumped around a lot, but got used to it," Woods said in a telephone interview with RunIndiana.com.
   Woods had to jockey for position because race officials decided to combine two age divisions. At one point, Woods moved to the lead over all other runners but was eventually passed by two others competing in the next higher age division.
    "Maddie ran wonderful," said Coach Gary Bird. "These kids are really learning how to race."
   Brooke Werstler, an Indian Springs 8th-grader, was runner-up national champion in her intermediate age division with a time of 11:36. Werstler cut 10 seconds off her personal best set two weeks ago.
   Madison Miller of Wawasee MS and Ryan Smith of Central Noble HS also set PRs in their 3000m races. Miller ran 12:04 and Smith posted a 9:54, the first time he has been under 10 minutes.
   A mix-up with the officials almost cost Hannah Wilczynski a chance to compete. She had a 1.5-hour wait for her race under direction of the clerk but was then told she missed her event. After protest by Bird, Wilczynski was allowed to compete in the next higher age division and set a six-second personal best.

In other action, Jillian Woods competed in 800m and clocked 3:12.2 for 6^th place, 1500m in 5:58 for 4^th place. Jillian set a personal best by 20 seconds .

Delanie Bame mastered the 3K with a 4^th place finish in PR fashion with a time of 13:30. Delanie also ran the 800m in 3:10.2 andplacing 8^th.

Maddie Woods came back Sunday for the 1500m race. She finished just one tenth away from the runner up position and good for silver in 5:10. 

Jaxon Bame, a 6^th grader at Wawasee MS, set three PRs during the two day event, posting 11:13 in 3000m and earning a 7^th place medal.  He later ran the 800m in 2:42 and 5:34 in 1500m.

   The meet provided some competitive challenges from several teams.

   Long-time nemesis Elgin Sharks went right to work against the visiting Bird runners with a very large contingent of runners. However, Team Bird surprised the 11-team field by jumping to an early lead.  When the team left, they had a comfortable hold on fourth place.

"We had three runners best previous times in two of the three events they participated and two were less than three seconds in making the hat trick," said coach Gary Bird.

Brooke Werstler lowered her marks in 3000m with an 11:45.36 and in 800m with a 2:43. She just missed a PR in 1500m after a very long day, posting a 5:35, and was enough to place first.

Madison Miller was not to be outdone by her fellow middle school competitor and smashed her previous 3000m time by more than a minute, crossing the tape in 12:39.97 and placing second. Then in 800m, she lowered her PR to 2:51.94 and won the bronze medal. She topped the day off running a 5:56 in 1500m, tying her best mark.

Ryan Smith, coming off a slight injury, clocked 10:03 in 3000m and set a new PR. He posted 2:20 in 800m. Although not his best in 1500m, Smith was able to run a good 4:48.94 to take the blue ribbon.

New Team Bird members, Jocelyn and Sydney Willis, became the third pair of sisters to join the squad. Jocelyn in the youngest division clocked an 800m time of 3:18 for third and 6:41 in 1500m for fifth. Sydney started the day in the 3000 with a 12:33, just 3 seconds off the coach's goal of 12:30. In 800m race, she ran 2:58 after a really bad start but quickly learned from her mistake and ran a near perfect 1500 in 5:48 for a sixth-place medal.

The Woods sisters opted to help the team by running some of the more shorter events, including the 400m and 800m combo. The duo took earned bragging rights in the 400 by out-running many of the sprinters. Jillian clocked a 1:28.47 for fifth place, while Maddie turned the heat up by running a 1:13.82 in a 400m dogfight. Both came back to more comfortable distance in 800m with Maddie taking third in 2:41.35. Jillian matched her previous PR in 3:08.

Next meet on the schedule is the National AAU Championship in Bloomington , Illinois.