Eastbluff students run away with marathon medals

NEWPORT BEACH — Eastbluff Elementary School’s running club put on a performance this month that was impressive — even to an Olympian.

On Jan. 7, 104 Eastbluff students won medals in the Orange County Marathon, more than tripling the school’s total from last year. To honor the young athletes, the school held an assembly Friday in the multipurpose room and invited a special guest — Julie Swail, a silver medalist for water polo in the 2000 Olympics and professional triathlon runner.

Each of the students, having run at least 26.2 miles between practice and the marathon, stepped to the front of the stage and got a medal and a firm handshake from Swail. She may have appeared larger than life to some, but she was a little in awe of the students, too.

“When I was a kid, I couldn’t stand running,” Swail told the crowd. “My mom tried to put me in soccer, and I ran halfway around the field and said, ‘Take me out.’ ”

Unlike the young Swail, who preferred swimming to running, Eastbluff’s runners were more than willing to sweat it out around the track. The school sent 113 total students to the marathon this year, with nearly all of them completing the marathon distance. Even for those who didn’t make it all the way, Principal Charlene Metoyer said, it was achievement enough.

“We had 113 of our students running on a Sunday during winter break at 7 in the morning,” she said at the beginning of the ceremony.

The running club reached some other milestones as well. According to parent Diane Daruty, the head coach of the program, 95% of students improved their running time by at least 7% from training to the day of the race. And the 113 students who entered the marathon on Sunday were up from 58 a year before.

Daruty launched the Eastbluff running program in fall of 2005 and sent teams to both the marathon and the Spirit Run in Newport Beach. Sixth-grader Thomas Sweeney said he planned to enter the second race as well — but he’d wait a while before starting warmups.

“I’m giving it a rest right now,” said Thomas, 11. “The first few days after the race, my legs were really sore.”