With the state meet less than a month away on Nov. 4, the girls’ cross country team advanced to the regional meet on Oct. 23 after placing first at the District 13-5A meet Thursday morning.

“Yesterday was a great meet,” head girls’ cross country coach Amanda Zambiasi said. “All of the girls ran a great time with several personal bests. The weather was great, the girls were confident, and that was a recipe for a successful District Meet.”

For seniors, this was their last district meet creating a more emotional experience.

“Honestly, it was a pretty good morning,” senior Peyton Groves said. “We all got to the school and loaded up the bus like a normal meet. It was kind of weird, it was our last time riding the bus to Warren Park. It was a big deal we all were kind of sad. It was the first time it really hit that our cross country season was coming to an end.”

For Groves, however, the meet took a turn just before the two mile mark.

“I think a lot of it was the adrenaline going from our final race so I think I didn’t follow my normal routine that I would’ve in the morning,” Groves said. “A little before the two mile I was in fourth place, we turned a corner, and I collapsed. I got up pretty quickly, so I had to wait for our trainer. They sent me back on the course to finish the race. They sent Carrie with me and she followed me for the last mile. I was glad that I got to finish and Carrie’s a great teammate. For the last mile she was told to do it but I think she would have done it either way. To have her there it made it a lot less stressful.”

Despite the circumstances, both girls crossed the finish line on Thursday with Carrie taking first place for varsity girls 13-5A.

“My goal personally was to get first,” senior Carrie Fish said. “So I mean that was good. Us as a team, I was very happy with our points. Three out of the seven girls on varsity all finished in the top 6 so that was really good. It was really fun seeing everybody step up and run their best races of the year so far.”

There is no time for rest with regionals on October 23.

“We will get back to the grind on Monday preparing for regionals,” Zambiasi said. “Our workouts will continue as they have been and we will emphasize on staying healthy. Regionals is going to be tough with a lot of great competition in the region. So we will have to be physically and mentally prepared.”