The girls with a tenth place finish competed in their final race as a team at the regional meet because only the top five teams advance to states. Although their journey as one unit ended, the girls’ accomplishments deserve an outstanding amount of pride. They grew from not having enough runners to place as a team in their first meet to taking top spots, shaving minutes off of their times and making it all the way to the regional meet.

Although the team did not make it to states, sophomore Annalise Grammel and freshman Regan Cornelius will continue on to run as individuals because of their top twenty spots at regionals. Grammel in third and Cornelius in tenth blazed the trail and earned places in front of over one hundred other runners.

Despite the intense competition and chilling weather, the boys showed off their hard work and snatched second in the region out of sixteen teams. This is especially impressive because Leesburg Fairfield and Mount Gilead, which also compete in CA’s region are ranked second and fourth in the state, respectively.

Seniors Nick Robie and Nick Watson clutched the first spots for the Vikes, taking third and eleventh, respectively. Snatching nineteenth, freshman Luke Nester ran in next and followed Watson across for the finish less than ten seconds later. Junior Liam McCann in thirty-third and senior Chris Heermann in forty-third secured the team’s title as second in the region.

Although the boys did not take the victory, they still demonstrated immense promise for states. The team only trailed Leesburg Fairfield—the first place team—by nine points, and the boys’ average time of 17:05 was just one second slower than the average of the winning team.

The boys team along with Grammel and Cornelius travel to National Trail Raceway on Saturday, November 4, to compete in the State Finals.