751.25 miles

By Kayla Ludovicy, Katie Fiore and Annie Lincoln
WARWICK — Warwick Valley Middle School students have a really fun time running around the track and earning prizes at the middle school Mileage Club.
Many students come on Mondays, Wednesdays or Fridays to run at the Tim Saint Lawrence track outside of the Warwick Valley High School and WV Middle School.
“It’s a pleasure working with so many enthusiastic runners," said Coach Kim Brady. "It certainly is amazing watching them progress and improve their attitudes and abilities.
"Most rewarding," the coach added, "is witnessing these young runners mature into high school and college athletes.”
The club is held in the spring and fall. On the assigned dates, students in grades 5-8 come to the Warwick Valley Middle School cafeteria to meet up with fellow peers to walk and run outside on the track.
Students get a card marked 1,2,3,4,5,6,7 and 8, each number represents one lap, or quarter of a mile.
Once a student completes eight laps, the finished card is hung on the school cafeteria walls for all to see.
At this time, students also earn a mini purple or gold foot figure on a necklace; each foot represents two miles run around the St. Lawrence track.
Thank you to the WVMS PTA for donating the necklaces and reward foot tokens.
Not just runningMileage club is not just for running. Some students prefer to run half and walk half, while others prefer to run the whole time or walk the whole time.
Many other high school and middle school students will be seen on the track, the two schools share the track.
Some students will get two laps in, while others can get an outstanding count of eight or more.
Many kids at the middle school may be seen wearing and showing off their many or track feet on necklaces.
Students can eventually get a bunch of feet to build up your necklace. Members keep their feet from year to year so they can already have feet for the new year.
Top runnersFor this fall, many outstanding students have tried their hardest and completed more than other kids.
The top fifth grade females were Ashley Fitzgerald, Kaitlyn Larney, Olivia Martino and Charlotte Wendt, who all completed 34 laps or eight and a half miles.
The top fifth grade male was Ryan Sullivan who completed 48 laps, or 12 miles.
The top sixth grade females were Natalie Evans and Siobhan Kelly, who also ran 48 laps, or 12 miles.
The top sixth grade male was Tyler Desotle; he completed 57 laps, or 14.25 miles.
This fall 121 students participated in Mileage Club; 108 of the students were able to achieve eight laps and got a necklace and a foot figure.
Together, all of the participants completed 3,005 laps, 751.25 miles.
Great job to all of the Mileage Club runners this fall. See you in the spring.

Kayla Ludovicy, Katie Fiore and Annie Lincoln are sixth graders at the Warwick Valley Middle School.