Westside cross country had a dominant showing at the District meet with the girls coming in first and the boys finishing third, but most importantly both teams punched their ticket to the state meet.
The girls became back to back district champions led by the trio of seniors Claire White and Stella Miner and sophomore Mia Urosevich. With White coming in first and Miner and Urosevich not far behind coming in second and fourth.
Urosevich ran one of her best meets of the season finishing in 19:38.72, her fastest time this season.
“I think it gives me more confidence because I feel like I haven’t been frequently running like this,” said Urosevich. “So I guess it does put a little bit more pressure, but I feel really a lot of confidence.”
The team has dealt with some adversity this season with some minor injuries, but they’ve been able to stick together by looking on the bright side of things.
“It feels really good because I feel like it just shows how hard we’ve worked this season, and that even though cross country is a hard sport, you can enjoy the good things,” said Urosevich.
Urosevich plans to keep this good outlook to keep her lazier focus on the state meet.
“I feel like I do better at the most important meets,” said Urosevich. “The last few weeks have been big: Metros, Districts, and State. I feel like I’m more locked in.”
The boys also had a great performance finishing third at the meet. Senior Jayden Wall and Junior Ryan Kugler came in fourth and fifth in the meet. Junior Conor Gross, who’s been battling an injury, wasn’t far behind finishing in ninth place.
However, the boys weren’t exactly satisfied with their finish.
“Can’t complain with third, it gives us a ticket to state, but on a good day I think this team could’ve gotten first or second,” said Kugler.
The team focused on staying relaxed, and rose to the occasion during the meet.
“Heading into the District meet I wasn’t worried or anything like that,” said Kugler. “I knew the team was going to make it and I just wanted to run fast and have fun.”
Though Kugler is confident there is a bit of anxiety heading into the most important meet of the season.
“Definitely have more nerves going into state,” Kugler said. “It feels like this one really matters.”
Westside cross country will compete at the State Championship Friday. Based on their performances from these past couple meets, the sky’s the limit for their last meet of the season.
