Teammates, coaches, parents and fans cheered fervently at Rim Rock Farm in Lawrence on Friday, Oct. 31 as junior Derek Meeks finished 15th in the 5A state race. For Meeks, this finish meant an All-State classification.

Meeks said that the beginning of the season came as a challenge.

“All the returners from last year made varsity, as did two freshmen,” Meeks said. “It was a bit hard to adjust to the new team at first.”

As the season progressed, the runners worked on technique and running as a team and ended up winning league, according to junior Kennedy Hoffman.

“There were some meets that we should have won, but we didn’t,” Hoffman said. “I think since we worked on our problems we were a lot better by the time we got to league.”

Hoffman said the regional meet happened to be the most competitive in the state, which translated to both the boys and girls teams’ seasons ending there.

“[At regionals], Blue Valley Southwest and Blue Valley West stayed together during the races and got a lot better times than us,” Hoffman said. “It made it harder for us to place and less people qualified for state.”

Meeks, along with senior Kurt Loevenstein and juniors Garret Fields and Amber Akin, composed the state team. According to Akin, who placed 16th in the girls race, competing alone felt different than competing as a team.

“It was kind of sad, since I didn’t get to run with my team,” Akin said. “[State] was still fun in the end, though.”

Meeks ran into some difficulties during the boys race that almost cost him his placing.

“During the last 400 meters, I began to lose consciousness,” Meeks said. “I fell down during the last 200 meters, so a lot of people passed me, but I still feel I did pretty well.”

At the end of the season, Hoffman attributed the team’s bond to facing adversity together.

“We all did well in the end,” Hoffman said. “Especially when it came to working as a team and doing our best.”