Boys and girls cross country traveled to Terre Haute to compete in the IHSAA State finals on Saturday, Oct. 31. The boys came in seventh place with a score of 233 points and the girls placed sixth with 227 points. For many senior runners, this was the last cross country race of their high school career.
“This [cross country] season I was hurt [most of the time]. [As a result,] I missed a lot of races and practices. Coming back in, I just wanted to give everything I had to this last race. I really put it all out there for my team that I worked really hard with for the past four years. I ended up doing my personal best,” Zachary Hupp (12) said.
At State, runners work to do their personal best along with pushing their team forward. This puts a lot of pressure on every member of the team.
“[When] I came out here, I was really nervous. I have been doing this for four years and it all led up to this moment. Not many people know a lot about cross country, but when you get top 25 at the State meet, you are considered one of the best around, and that’s what I came out here to do. I’ve accomplished that, and it was the best race of my life,” Kameron Konopasek (12) said.
Cross country runners train for the race at State all year, and it can be the most important race of their season.
“In the beginning of the season, I started my time with 25 [minutes]. Then I started getting faster, and [while] I may not have gotten the time I wanted, as a team we did really great,” Emma Weissbeck (12) said.
