On Friday October 18th, both boys and girls Junior Varsity (JV) and Varsity Cross Country runners participated in the 2019 AVCTL Division 1 Championships, commonly known as league. Varsity boys took home first place, JV boys took home second place and Varsity girls took home sixth place.
Sophomore Gabriella Mayes led the Varsity girls team with a season personal record (PR) of 21 minutes, 51.2 seconds. Mayes has enjoyed the close, sister-like bond amongst the team this year. She awaits next year’s season with the goal of hitting her PR earlier in the season.
“I definitely think training hard during practice makes it so much easier in the race,” Mayes said. “The days I slack off, I can definitely feel it in the race. Putting all the work in at practice definitely helps.”
New to the team this year is freshman Drew Dillion. Dillion finished with a new PR of 20 minutes, 8.7 seconds. He also hopes to improve his PR for next years season.
“I enjoyed making new friends from the cross country team and just improving myself as a runner,” Dillion said.
Sophomore Ben Crawford was also able to set a new PR of 21 minutes, 0.6 seconds. A personal goal Crawford has set for himself for next years season is to break 19 minutes along with as a team making it to state.
“The running isn’t the best but it’s really gratifying when you finish your race that you know that you got through it, but the best part is definitely the teammates,” Crawford said. “Since I was on JV my season is over but the varsity boys have regionals on Saturday so good luck to them.”
On Saturday October 26th, Varsity boys and girls teams competed in the KSHSAA 5A Regional meet located in Great Bend, KS. Varsity boys took home second place and Varsity girls took home eighth place.