After a tense and riveting season, the cross country team was up and ready for the GAC meet. They were off to a great start as the varsity boys won their first race of the day.
“The plan was to stick with the first place runner for the first 4k and the last 1k outkick the first place runner and I think I executed the plan very well,” Aydan Taylor (12) said.
Taylor executed that plan perfectly, sticking with him and out kicking him for the title of varsity boys champion with 12 seconds between the second and first. Not only did Taylor take that win, but the rest of the boys ran strong with many top 15 finishes. All of them stuck together until the very end, ending with a varsity boys champion.
But the varsity boys were not the only ones who won the championship. Next in the day was the varsity girls and saying they ran well would be an understatement. Most of the girls were packing up and pacing beautifully while the girls in the front of the race were pushing limits and running hard.
“I feel like I did as good as I could on this course but I feel pretty good, I can’t believe I did that,” Bella Navarro-Sanchez (10) said. She placed second but the first place girl was in another division, so Navarro-Sanchez ended up winning the race in Liberty’s division.
Next up was the boys JV race, which was fast considering it being JV. At the end of the race the Eagles had seven boys in the top 15. It was entertaining watching so many of the JV boys right next to each other pushing each other at the front of the race. It was truly a sight to see Landon Pfeiffer (11) winning the race with an 18:01 so close to his goal of sub 18.
“We planned to stay behind the big group of guys in the front cause they went out too fast,” Pfeiffer said. “We knew they were going to go out too fast. Noah Green (10), Owen Greer (11) and I moved up towards the end and we got the dub,” Pfeiffer said.
What an outstanding performance from all the boys in that race.
To finish up the day the JV girls ran their last and toughest race. There were two girls out for injuries so the remaining girls had the race on their shoulders. Two of the girls medaled for the top 15. For both Mirra McSpadden (11) and Ava Mincher (9), this was their first time medaling.
“I thought I did pretty good today, I think the team did really well,” Mincher said.
The JV girls did not end up winning the meet but they kept their heads held high. They had a hard course and injured teammates but pushed through to the end as a team.
“I thought we ran well. We had some people who ran really really well and some people who maybe had a little bit of an off day, but that’s the way it goes. I thought we completed well but we’re still growing,” Coach Webster said.
The cross country team won the meet overall and will continue to prepare as a team for what comes next.
