Running at Rim Rock Farm on Saturday, Oct. 29, the cross country team competed at state level for the 11^th consecutive year. Out of a total of 12 teams, the boys team placed eighth and the girls team placed 10^th.

The girls team went to state for the first time in three years and earned a top ten finish. The team was led by sophomore Bailey Parke who placed 32^nd out of 104 runners and ran her best race of the year in a time of 16:45. Following Parke was senior Kati Strickland, placing 61^st with a 17:38, and was closely followed by sophomore Mariah Kalma who ran just under 18:00 and placed 72^nd.

The boys team failed to achieve its goal of placing in the top three, but still managed to place in the top ten. Leading the team was junior Stephen McEnery who placed 38^th out of 102 runners with a personal best of 17:44. Trailing McEnery was sophomore Graham Wilson who ran an 18:03, good enough for first place. Behind Wilson was senior Connor Mehalovich and junior Andrew Eigsti who both placed in the top 70 runners. Sophomore CJ Meeks was a substitute runner who placed 67^th with a time of 18:20, fifth on the team. Overall the team was somewhat disappointed with its overall finish, but proud of their season as an entirety.

“I was disappointed with our team finish,” McEnery said. “We were ranked fifth in the state and were expecting to get top three. I didn’t expect us to run the way we did.”