Ready, Set, Go! 

  The cross-country team made it to the state championship! The boys placed second at the regional meet, and the girls placed fourth, qualifying both teams for the state championship. 

  Both teams worked extremely hard for months to reach this goal. On the boys’ side, I talked with Dylan Smith about what the hardest part was during the journey leading up to state. He said, “As a team, we definitely had to be motivated to do our best this season. There were some races we would’ve liked to do better on, but we made sure to never let off the gas and just keep pushing, and it paid off in the end.”

  At the state meet, the boys’ team finished in 12th place out of 20 teams. Dylan Smith finished with a time of 16 minutes and 11 seconds. Following him was junior, Jaxon Weber, who ran a 16:23, and senior, Josh Chadeyene, with a time of 16:40. The guys had a strong performance and will now continue to train hard for this year’s track season in hopes of bringing home yet another championship. 

  On the girls’ side, I sat down with Maddie Lange, a freshman who had an incredible first season. I asked her what she thought the highlight was for this season for the girls, and she said, “I feel Liberty Bell was a very strong meet for us. A lot of girls on the team got really good times, and I was proud that I was able to run a sub-17 5k ” 

  At the state meet, the girls finished in 17th place. Maddie came in at 18:37 with junior, Jade McDaniel, following up with a 19:38. 

  Both teams had a great season this year, and they will both look to make a statement this upcoming track season.