JEDDAH, 30 January 2008 — The cross-country runners from the American International School of Jeddah braved the hillier and chillier environment in Dammam successfully. AISJ sent 13 runners to Dhahran Aramco to compete with 175 athletes from 10 different schools in the Saudi Arabian Intra-Kingdom Tournament.

The AISJ Falcons’ contingent consisted of 8 boys and 5 girls, grades 6-12, which were formed into 3 teams for the age and gender-divided competition.

First out of the gates for the Falcons was the 7th grade boys’ team, led by fleet-footed Jobair Jaber. Jobair bounded over the 1.5 mile course in a very impressive 9:28, finishing a strong second out of 29 runners, and winning the silver medal. Anton Briones also ran a personal best time of 10:01, garnering 7th place. Faisal Mirdad chugged in at 12:48, in 22nd place.

The composite score of 31 was good for third place among the 8 schools represented. Jobair broke up the impending sweep of Ras Tanura, led by gold medalist Andrew Issa in 9:23, whose 8 points earned RT school a runaway first place.

AISJ entered a young team of girls in their quest to defend their title of SAIK high school champions.

Led by last year’s gold medalist Briza Bohne, the girls achieved their goal. In an exciting duel, Briza finally succumbed to Dhahran’s star Nicolette Wolny’s stellar 9:54. Briza’s second place time of 10:09 fell short of her 9:57 performance last year as an 8th grader. But the Lady Falcons’11 point first-place finish was secured by the nice pack of 7th graders Danielle Taylor (11:57), Nurain Rafee (12:03) and Alma Jathan (12:07), who finished 4th, 5th and 6th respectively.

The AISJ boys high school team had also hoped to repeat as SAIK champions, without relying upon any of last year’s runners. It was not to be, as Dhahran High School steamrollered the competition. Led by Migual El Khouri’s remarkable 8:54, Dhahran’s first 4 runners all finished the 2400 meter course in under 9:30. Only the effort of Dammam’s Mohammed Al Tamini, who battled Migual with a 9:06, staved off a Dhahran sweep.

Nevertheless, the AISJ harriers worked as a team to capture places 6-9, to finish as runners-up with 21 points. Ninth graders Ahmed Ramadan and Arturo Salazar ran 9:59 & 10:09, while upperclassmen Nico Reyes and Nadim Meskaoul finished in 10:04 & 10:08 to win the red ribbons.

AISJ head coach Brian Bohne lauded the valiant efforts of all the runners in the brisk 11 degree Celsius weather. Also deserving of commendations was race coordinator Mark Finager, who not only set up a fine course and well-run race, but groomed many of the event’s outstanding runners. Bohne also expressed appreciation for the MacDonald’s Corporation’s generosity in providing the snazzy AISJ Falcons’ uniforms.