“Because we didn’t have our watches and we had no clue what we did, it was just a strange and hard course. “The three one-mile loops ended up being over three and a half miles, so it was a real shock,” junior Isabel Monks said. They ran the race with determination and worked hard despite all the changes, which included almost an extra half mile being added to the race due to the course being redesigned at the last minute. And that was our goal – to be able to have just another week together.” “We’re racing for those seniors and we were racing for tomorrow. “Before the race, I told them to just calm down, look at each other and to realize that we’re racing for each other,” Cook said. Celebrating after the Regional Meet was assistant coach Kimber Watson, Vivian Garcia, Melissa Flores, Lucy Foltz, Elina Bailey, Ray Hughes, Allie Jorgensen, Isabel Monks, Morgan Sagendorph and coach Cody Cook. Cook had the girls take off their watches, so they would focus more on passing as many runners as they could instead of worrying about individual times.

A positive was that the team often practiced on one mile loops however, the sudden change still added extra stress. Once it was announced that the course was changed, there were mixed feelings. The girls ended up running three times around a one-mile loop. The morning of the race, the course was changed to avoid some areas where the mud was too much for the runners to get through. Rain the day before caused race organizers to reevaluate the course. The runners leaned on each other all day as they faced one challenge after another. We’re all going as a family because that’s kind of what we are.” “It’s so amazing knowing that I finally made it. “I waited so long for this,” senior Ray Hughes said. Just a year ago, they finished eighth at Regionals. It is the team’s first trip to the State Meet since 2013. The girls edged out Frisco Reedy by just four points to secure the fourth and final spot at State from Region II. “In my 15 years, this was the gutsiest performance I’ve ever seen out of a group of girls.” “ tremendous grit,” coach Cody Cook said.

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