After months of grueling runs at practice and countless miles logged, the cross country team finished its season with a bang. The team’s dedication paid off with strong finishes at the region, sectional and state level. The boys team placed 1st in the region, 3rd in sectionals and 10th in the state. Noteworthy individual finishes at the State Championship included, a Hayes Parsa 10th place finish and a Lee Donahue 13th place finish for the boys and Cora Fannin 16th place finish for the girls. From breaking personal records to finishing strong as a team, this year’s cross country team proved that hard work really can go the distance.
“I think we all put in a good effort at Sectionals this year. We all ran our best. So, it’s just nice to see everyone and the team do their part,” senior Zach Kimani said. “Our expectation was to podium, so just get top three, and we met those expectations. We didn’t win, but I think we had a solid performance for what we were expected to do at Sectionals.”
Star runners share their thoughts on their personal performance at Sectionals and State.
“I did pretty well. I went and competed hard and beat a few guys that had faster PRs than me on the season at state. So it felt good to end the season on that,” senior Hayes Parsa said. “It is bittersweet that my highschool career is over now, but I’m pretty satisfied with my whole career. You know, I work pretty hard and had a lot of good progression over high school.”
The year had a tough start for some runners as they battled injuries, but perseverance through the season led to success.
“I was a little disappointed in the start of the season because I was injured for the first half, so I didn’t get to run a lot of the races. But, towards the end of the season, I started to stretch more adequately, and I was able to perform better and cut down a lot on my times,” senior Caroline Knight said. “I think that the girls team did well this season. The combination of Cora having a pretty strong season and the new runners we had come out and run well was really exciting to see.”
The preparation for the season started with running during the summer and has continued through the season and into November. The long season has come with lots of exciting moments and races and runners share their favorites.
“My favorite memory from the season was running at a race called the Asics Invitational. It was at a big farm in Fairburn, Georgia. It was really fun and where I got my PR. So, that’s the fastest I’ve run in high school,” Kimani said.
Seniors share their favorite memories from their high school careers as their last season comes to a close.
“The freshman year trip we took to Orlando and Disney was my favorite memory from my high school career. We also went to Universal this year and stayed in the same house that we did our freshman year and that was definitely nostalgic. It was really fun to bond with my team,” Knight said.