Both cross country teams competed in the 5A state meet Saturday, Oct. 29, with the girls placing 4th and the boys placing 11th. 

During the state meet, freshman James Schultz and senior Gray Blevins ran personal bests, with Schultz running an 18-minute race and Blevins running a 21-minute and 6 second race. Additionally, senior Torie Whitbeck, senior Olivia Fosbener, and junior Maggie Kirt all ran season bests. 

“I was really excited, it was my last cross country race,” Whitbeck said. “I was just going to go out there and put everything I had out, and I got my best season time.”

At the meet, both teams had seven runners compete. Other members of the girls team included senior Kathryn Hadrava, sophomore Coffey Collier and freshman Alessandra Grella. In addition to Schultz, the boys team included seniors Will Leonard, Henry Ison and Nico Cuzalina, junior Andrew De Keratry and sophomores Joe Hoch and Oliver Gumerson.

“We’re mostly seniors this year, which is really special,” Whitbeck said. “We had a huge team of leaders, and we’re all always helping each other out.”

A week prior to the state meet, both teams competed in regionals. The girls placed 2nd and the boys placed 5th, qualifying both teams for state.

“We did really well at regionals, we got runner up,” Blevins said. “We beat Noble, who we knew would be tough competition so that set us up to know that we could beat them at state.”