After months of running up to 60 miles, dedicating dozens of hours and working hard to break personal records, the girls and boys cross country teams advanced to state, competing on Nov. 4 at Old Settlers Park.

They have been preparing for the season since the end of last school year and have continued to prepare up to their state meet. The team has been running almost everyday in hopes to have the opportunity to compete at the state meet. However, the last two weeks leading up to state were very stressful, according to senior Travian Holst.

“There was a lot of pressure on me and the rest of the team,” Holst said. “I ran the workouts that my coach gave me with my best effort and it turned out to be the right equation for me and the rest of the team.”

The boys took a spot on the podium for the first time in five years, receiving third place. The highest ranking runners of the boys team include Holst with a time of 15:54, taking him into ninth place and junior Alden Yi, who took 24th place with a time of 16:08.

“I was overjoyed, yet determined after the state meet because I was happy for our team getting third with all the effort we had put in since the summer,” Yi said. “But the state gave us another goal to hit, as it gave us motivation for us to do well at the Nike National Qualifier Meet.”

The girls also had many placing, including freshman Kaitlin Childress who got 35th with a time of 19:06 and sophomore Gracie Hall who placed 37th with a time of 19:08.

“I was impressed with the way we did because of all the hard work it took to get there,” Hall said. “We still have next year and a lot of room to improve.”