Whiz Kid: Molly Kosma

On Sunday, with a time just under 29 minutes, Molly Kosma proved herself to be the fastest of Quaker Hill Elementary School’s .

The group has been meeting after school once weekly for 12 weeks to run together. The point was to get fit, but also to build confidence and camaraderie among the 45 fourth-and-fifth graders who participated, Principal Glenda Dexter said.

The group ran in the Quaker Hill 5K on Sunday. And while Kosma, a fifth-grader, finished first among the club members, she was not the only winner.

There was Mikayla Carson, who beat her father, Quaker Hill Fire Chief Matt Carson, by a wide margin. There was Dexter herself, who finished the race and impressed parents with her dedication to the group. And then there were the girls who finished near the end, but got the biggest applause, because there were more girls on the sideline to cheer.

After the race, Kosma said she felt prepared. Then she went back to her group of friends and cheered the rest of the girls.

The Quaker Hill 5K starts and ends at Quaker Hill Elementary and had 125 participants this year.

The course is particularly difficult, filled with peaks and valleys. The last leg of the run features an incline: Old Mill Road, a road with a hill so steep most people refuse to drive down it,  never mind run up it.