Girls cross country team wins state championship
Senior Katie Schwartzkopf took first overall, freshman Charlotte Caldwell took third overall and sophomore A.J. Vega took 12th overall
November 1, 2021
The girls took first place and became state champions with senior Katie Schwartzkopf taking first place overall. Additionally, sophomore A.J. Vega and senior Chase Schieber competed at the state meet that was held in Wichita Saturday, Oct. 30. Vega took 12th and Schieber took 17th, both placing for the team.
Schwartzkopf expressed her feelings of excitement and how proud she felt for the team in achieving their goal.
“I think that everyone put in 100% and gave it their all,” Schwartzkopf said. “I feel like all we can ask is for everyone to have fun and do their best and whatever the outcome is what happens and we were fortunate today to walk home with a state title.”
Looking back, head coach Chris McAfee described his thoughts about the race.
“It’s hard to be better than winning a title and having a couple of state medals on the boy’s side, we’re very, very happy,” McAfee said. “One of the beauties of athletics is that there is always something you can do a little bit better, but I think today we’re gonna just enjoy the win.”
Thinking about her race, Schwartzkopf reflected on what she did well.
“I fought really hard, my mental toughness was good. I told myself, ‘You’re tougher than this girl, you can get her and this is your last race.’ I’ve been training for this moment, I need to take it,” Schwartzkopf said. “I tried to just keep it simple and do what I always do and just try to not stress out over it too much and keep my head on straight and tell myself that I can do it.”
McAfee expressed the feeling of having a state winning team.
“I am very excited,” McAfee said. “You go through a season with all the ups and the downs and I know it was important to the girls and it was one of their goals and I am so very excited for them and proud of them for setting the goal, getting after it and achieving it.”
Girls Results: First Place Overall
Katie Schwartzkopf – first place – 17:51
Charlotte Caldwell – third place – 18:47
Meghan McAfee – 15th place – 19:34
Laura Hickman – 31st place – 20:06
Logan Pfeister – 46th place – 20:46
Bridget Roy – 53rd place – 20:53
Kynley Verdict – 56th place – 20:59
Boys Individual Results
AJ Vega – 12th place – 16:25
Chase Schieber – 17th place – 16:30
Full meet results can be found here
