Teagan White is a student at Valley Christian and is a member of the AIA Student SID Program

On Wednesday, October 23rd the Trojan runners ran in the division three sectionals. This race was important for both the boys and girls cross country teams, because this was the race that allowed the teams qualify for the state meet. All the Valley Christian runners ran well, despite the hot weather and mid-day race. With hard work and determination both the boys and girls teams qualified for state.  

The girls team won second place in sectionals, with our first-place runner, Ellie Phillips (11), coming in with a 20:21 and a second-place spot in the race.   When asked how she felt with the turnout of sectionals Ellie said, "I was really happy about how we ran sectionals; we placed very well. Even though we didn't win, that was our strategy, so that we could save it for state and give it our all." 

 For the boys team, they won ninth place this year at sectionals. All the runners ran tough, racing in the 90-degree October weather.  Valley runner Micah Newkirk (11) won second in the boys race with a time of 16:31. When asked how he felt about the boys team qualifying he stated, "I was very excited that we were able to qualify, since we weren't guaranteed to qualify for State as a team. It's also a great opportunity to be able to run State together." 

Going into the race, Coach Brecht advised the cross country team to run carefully, only to run fast enough to qualify for State. The strategy was to not go all out so the runners could not be sore or tired for the State race. The girls team has a good chance of placing high at State this year. To achieve this goal running every race and workout with specific intention is very important for the runners to succeed at State. 

This season the Trojan runners have had tough training to compete at their best. From early mornings, intense workouts, and heat training. The Trojans are prepared to put it all on the line at State this year.