State X-C

The last weekend in October, Katie and I had the opportunity to go to State with our girls' cross-country team.
On Friday, we both woke up early so that Katie could go into driver's ed. and so that I could finish packing. Fire trucks escorted the bus out of town as we left for the State Championship course in Soda Springs later in the morning. We reviewed the course in the afternoon. The course in Soda Springs starts out in a grassy field, then loops up and down through a few hills into a long downhill stretch. The loop almost completes itself, but instead it veers away into a foresty-marsh-like area. From there, the course takes you on a loop which my teamates called "The Desert Loop", because the first time we ran there it was so hot. At the end of this loop is the finish line, in the same field as the starting line.
The race on Saturday had us all nervous. Some of us were worried it would snow! Thankfully, it was only a bit windy. The boys' team came in first by so far that all the other teams were basically competing for second. The girls' team was less certain. There were a few teams in the state(including ours), that could realistically take first. We didn't know who had won until results were posted. When awards were handed out, we ended up three points away from third.(Every runner earns points depending on what place they get. 1 point for first, 2 points for second, and so on. The scores of the first five on each team are added up, and the team with the lowest culumitive score wins.)
I really enjoyed going to State because it was fun to see the boys' team acheive their goal of becoming State Champions, and also it felt good to know that all of us on the girls' team did our best and had a good time.
~Emily Bates