The Washington Interscholastic Orienteering League (WIOL) has been introducing the sport of orienteering to juniors in western Washington for over 28 years! WIOL was established by Dan Waugh in the fall of 1982 and the first WIOL Championships were held at St. Edward State Park in 1983. The 2011 WIOL Championships will be held at Lord Hill Regional Park, a completely remapped venue, on February 19th. Each WIOL season runs from November through February and consists of seven regular season meets plus the WIOL Championships. Due to recent popularity amongst high school students, starting in 2006, WIOL events expanded to six courses: elementary, middle school, girls junior varsity, boys junior varsity, girls varsity, and boys varsity. Over the past seven years, WIOL has averaged over 1000 starts and over 200 registered participants per season. Starting in 2002, WIOL participants have competed in the annual United States Interscholastic Orienteering Championship. In that time, WIOL participants have won 24 national championships and 58 medals. The money raised from MoboGoGlobo! helps WIOL juniors travel to the this annual event, which is the first A-meet for many of kids. They get the chance to meet juniors from other parts of the country for the first time, and it's like an introduction into the larger orienteering world. WIOL alumni have also shown success on the elite national and international levels as well. Holly Kuestner, Tori Borish, and Kelsey Breseman are currently on the US Junior Orienteering Team. Eric Bone and Leif Anderson earned spots on last year's US Orienteering Team. In 2009, Holly, Tori, Kelsey and Eric competed at Junior World O' Champs in Italy and World O' Champs in Hungary. |