XC State Recap

The Lancer boys cross country team placed third over the weekend in the state championship race. The third place finish marks the first top three appearance for the team since 1967, ending the longest drought in school history.

The team had seven runners race in the meet, all finishing in the top 100. Junior John Arnspiger led the team with his 12th place finish, followed by junior Jack Young at 13th, and senior captain Lance Meng at 15th. Sophomore Sam McKnight finished at 44th, followed by freshman Griffin Keeter at 49th. Juniors Mick Wiggins and Will Clough ended up at 57th, and 77th, making it one of the best teams in Lancer history.

“It feels pretty great to overcome such a large barrier,” Young said. “We lost a lot of great seniors last year, and we came so close to winning then, so without them everyone figured we’d be done. But we tried hard a got a great result.”

The team will only be losing one runner who competed at state, meaning next year’s team will have the potential for another state finish, according to senior Sam McDonald. McDonald was the alternate runner, who would’ve run if anyone had gotten hurt.

“Next year we are going to be really good and we will have some young runners so we will be the frontrunners to win state,” McDonald said. “Our main goal was to place in the top three, So when we got up there, it felt amazing.”