First Place At the Holiday Night Lights

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Luke Chipley

Three North Point athletes place 1st in their age groups at the Holiday Night Lights 5K in Wentzville.

Luke Chipley, Writer

On the Sunday of December 5, three of our students, Thomas Whitehead (’25), Raegan Clercx (’25) and Caleb Simms (’24), participated in the Holiday Night Lights 5k Run, and each got first place in their age groups. It is a big accomplishment for our students and is an awesome achievement.

Tall three managed to get the highest places for their age group. They had some good thoughts about the race as well.

“I was exhausted from racing,” Whitehead said.

The race drew a pretty good crowd so this was quite an accomplishment.

“I was surprised that I won,” Clercx said. “I didn’t realize that I had won.”

Whitehead had run 5k’s in cross country and has no intentions of doing a 10k. Clercx had run in the Turkey Trot race in the Thanksgiving season and does not want to do a 10k.

Caleb Simms also won first in his group.

“I was shocked,” Simms said. “To think that I won was crazy.”

Simms has participated in fifteen 5ks in his life, and has thought of doing a 10k before, although has never done one in his life.

As mentioned, this race took place in Rotary Park, which is a park in Wentzville, Missouri that has many sources for entertainment such as a trail, a lake for fishing, archery stations, playgrounds and also supports yearly events every season. These events include their Christmas events like the Holiday Night Lights, a yearly display of Christmas lights that you can drive through. There’s also the Renaissance Fair, an event where everyone comes to celebrate the Renaissance era with costumes, food and staged shows.

Of course, one of the events this year was the 5k run, where instead of driving, people would have to take turns racing around the lit road of holiday cheer.

It is quite an accomplishment to get first place in a 5k race, and we are very proud of our North Point students for reaching it.