Cross Country State Meet Recap

Story by Abbey Euritt – Co-Assistant Editor/Sports Editor

  On November 4th, the cross country team attended the state meet at Gans Creek, bringing one runner from both the girls and boys team. The boys state qualifier, Asa Johnson, junior, took this opportunity as a time to push himself and go for a new PR. 

   “I wanted to go under 16 minutes and be in the top 30 which I got close to getting,” Johnson said. 

   After Johnson ran the season with teammates in each race, running by himself at state created some difficulties. Without his teammates pacing him and providing encouragement, he had to make due with the situation and focus on the race.

   “The hardest part was the start because I was super far out to the side, so it took a lot more effort than normal. I didn’t have any teammates to pace my start which made it more difficult too,” Johnson said. 

   Finishing the race in 67th place and setting a new PR left Johnson with a positive outlook after the season. Not only did LSN have a boys state qualifier, but on the girls team, Grace Cronk, freshman, ended her first highschool season with an impressive race at state, ending in 113th place. 

   “I wanted to get under 20 minutes which I didn’t meet, but I got a new PR,” Cronk said. 

   Cronk was also the only runner at LSN during the meet, so she was met with challenges to overcome. Over the season, she strengthened her mentality during races which helped her overcome the difficulties. 

   “[Running by myself for LSN] was weird, because normally there are at least five other people in the box with me. I think I probably would’ve ran better if I had a teammate to push me,” Cronk said.

   Although there were some challenges, Cronk overcame them and finished with a positive outlook on her season. She stayed strong during the race and maintained her pace even during the tough times.

   “I think I did a good job for mentally telling myself to not slow down and get after it even if there were a lot of people in front of me,” Cronk said. 

   Along with Cronk, some of her teammates accompanied her in Columbia and helped prepare her for the meet. 

   “It was a lot of fun, I went down with teammates and they helped me train; it was a really good experience overall,” Cronk said.

   Both runners that qualified for the state cross country meet left LSN proud and created new goals for themselves and the rest of their team for next season.

 

Photo by Mke McGurk