On Friday, November 4, the varsity girls Cross Country team travelled to Carrollton to compete for the final time this season at State, where they eventually placed twentieth.  

Coach John Huff calmed the girls’ nerves before the race, reminding them of the pride he takes in calling them his athletes and what they needed to accomplish that make it to the state championship.

“We’ve worked so hard this season and it truly paid off. I was so excited”, freshman Sydney Armitage said.

Following a restart, the ladies began strong, but slowly fell off their pace as the heat and stress started to affect them. The rigorous course challenged the runners, but did not defeat them. The eight hills that the athletes conquered compared to upstanding, rocky walls.

A mile into the race, one of the NC runners collapsed and could not finish out the race, but maintained a positive and supportive attitude for her teammates. The remaining six finished strong and ended up placing twentieth out of thirty-seven teams.

“I am glad to have such amazing team-mates, hard work really does pay off” sophomore Daisy Dunlap said.

The girls accomplished their main preseason goal:  making it to State. While their place in  the race failed to overly excite the runners, the season ended in triumph. Each runner pushed their limits and together the seven girls made the new head coach, John Huff, proud.

“They are, and forever will be, the first team that I have taken to state. They should be proud of what they did this season and know they are all amazing”, Huff said.