LHSAA State Championships 2013

Coach Greg and Coach Jenny have developed some traditions throughout seven years of winning state.  We started practicing in mid-summer, and the workouts got more intense as we got closer to state.  The Friday before the state meet, the top thirteen girls and Coach Greg and Coach Jenny piled on a bus and hit up a few thrift stores that we raid every year. 

The Saint Paul's journey to state begins two days prior, as our team met early Sunday morning for a mass at a local monastery, St Joseph's Abbey. We have done numerous training runs through the overgrown trails of the Abbey, so I found it fitting that we should return here one last time before our final race. After the service, my teammate Michael Burke and I spent a great deal of effort trying to put our art history knowledge to the test and to discern whether the church was of Byzantine or Romanesque styles. After intensive thought, we decided it was a little bit of both. We all then went to Kraemer's house, got in our run for the day, and went home to prepare for the next day's trip. 

Coming into this year, team wise, we only lost one major contributor, Brandon Lewis.  He was fourth at the state meet last year and left a big spot to fill.  Over the season, our team has stepped up and brought their “A” game every single race.  We are undefeated two years in a row and I couldn’t imagine running with a greater group of guys. 

It was Sunday, the day before state, and I had just finished my last high school cross country practice.  I went home right after practice to start getting ready for our state dinner.  I’d been going to state dinners since my freshman year, and it was hard to believe it would be my last one.  State dinner was always a fun time for the seniors, senior parents, and runners to get together one final time before the end of the season.  I left for my teammate Ben Maas’s house for my last dinner.

The State Meet is the most important cross country meet of the year. With this in mind, the days leading up to the state meet were full of nervous excitement. I had ran my best time the week before on my home course at the Metro meet, with a time of 18:19. This PR was just what I needed to get excited and pumped for the state meet approaching in only 6 days. 

Top 50 composite boy's times from the 2013 State XC Meet.

Top 50 composite girl's times from the 2013 State XC Meet.

Photos of the state champions from this past Monday and Tuesday's state meet.

The 2013 Louisiana State Cross-Country Championships began in Natchitoches yesterday afternoon with the running of the small school classifications (B,C,1A, & 2A). 

Taylor Werner, Evan Stifel win NXN Midwest! Efraimson and Anderson dominate NXN Northwest.  Gig Harbor (WA), Bozeman (MT) win team titles.  Also NJ, MA, VA State Champs and NY Feds.