The Varsity Girls Cross Country team can, without a doubt, look back on their season and celebrate their successes.

On Saturday, November 13, the girls came in tenth place at the state meet. While their ranking did not pass them through to nationals, the girls were happy with their personal performances.

“We were excited for it because it was a reward for doing so well in Regionals,” said sophomore Maddie Wittich.

One factor in the good performances of the girls was their ability to work together. They each had running buddies during the race which helped them to push one another to do better.

“The strategy of using running buddies really helped us because we were able to help push and encourage each other,” said Wittich.

To get as far as states, the Cross Country girls put in an extraordinary amount of training during their season and were able to place fourth at Regionals.

After the first runner for the Cross Country Varsity girls, Wittich, crossed the finish line, the next four placing girls came within 50 seconds after Wittich’s time.

Such a tight spread between them gave them an advantage over the other teams competing at the regional meet. Their ranking at Regionals was nonetheless well deserved.

“This year, the Cross Country team put in an immense amount of work, knowing we were the underdogs from the beginning,” said senior Lauren Blackburn.

Their season started early on in July. Not only did they have captains’ practices, but they also attended a couple of running camps. These camps, although were enjoyable to the girls, required a lot of hard work. They ran up a four mile mountain, a timed seven mile run, and two-a-days. Their summer training prepared them for the work ahead of them when school started.

“Once we got into the season, we were really motivated to go far, and I feel that we trained really hard and well as a team,” said junior Kyle Rushton.

When it comes down to the overall success of these girls their team chemistry plays a big role. Since they run as a group every day, they are able to work together to improve individually but more importantly as a team.

“When you step on the line for a race, you have to realize that you aren’t doing it for yourself, but for the six other girls standing on the line with you,” said Blackburn.