XC State: Boys XC takes sixth place at state, Girls XC takes eighth

Boys and Girls Varsity cross country competed in state on Nov. 2 at Rim Rock Farm. 

Boys placed sixth overall out of 12 and Girls Placed eighth.

This was the first time that both the boys and girls teams had run at state in 15 years and they had a total of 7 runners per team in the competition.

There were six different races at State, with races for 3A, 5A and 6A schools. The boys and the girls competed in the 6A division.

In the boys’ race, sophomore Wyatt Pearlman placed 30th out of 102 with a time of 16:42.0 — one minute and 17 seconds behind 1st place. Freshmen Wyatt Haughton placed 33rd with a time of 16:43.1, followed by Freshmen Blair Ptacek who placed 34th with a time of 16:44.2. Freshmen Ben Rodriguez placed 37th and Senior Jack Fisher placed 43rd. 

For girls, junior Kate Kowalik placed 38th out of 103, running 3.1 miles with a time of 20:22.4 — 1 minute and 58 seconds behind the 1st place runner. Freshmen Scarlett Pearlman placed 48th with a time of 20:35.4, junior Kelly McAlister placed 61st with a time of 20:54.5 and freshmen Coleen McAlister placed 67th with a time of 20:59.8. 

“For the girls, we were seeded 9th going into it and we ended up getting 8th,” Senior Brooklyn Beck said. “I think everyone went out there and gave it all they had and had no regrets.”

According to Beck, training for state gave both teams a chance to get to know each other well, despite having people in different grade levels. 

“I really enjoyed the feel of the season just because we had such a diverse team in terms of grade levels,” Beck said. “The boys had four freshmen on varsity and the girl had two. It was really fun getting to know people from different grade levels, especially at state.”