At noon on Halloween, we were all dressed up as runners. Seven AHS girls stood at the starting line of the Cross Country State Championships at the Norris-Penrose Event Center in Colorado Springs. With six of the seven girls being seniors, the team is going to look a lot different next year, so we were excited to compete all together one last time.

Junior Dara Schenk, AHS’s top runner, finished 50th out of 147 runners in the 3A division. Senior Nina Beidleman was less than a minute behind Schenck finishing in 70th. Right behind, were seniors McKenna Woodrow (76th) and Kelsey Fitzgerald (99th). Seniors Tierney Sutton, Anna Belinski, and I also competed. The team finished in 16th place in the 3A division.

“The best part of the race was being able to run with our team and the seniors for the last time, “Schenck said. “This year, our seniors were amazing and they really lead the team and created the team spirit that we needed to qualify and compete at States.”

We qualified at the 3A regional meet on October 23rd in Pagosa Springs finishing fourth just ahead of Basalt. Unfortunately, the boys placed 8th, and did not qualify for the State Championships. The State meet was a great end to the season as well as high school cross country for many of the girls, including myself.

“I loved being able to run with the such wonderful people for the past four years,” Beidleman said. “Chris Keleher has been the best coach because he cares for each individual person.”