The Cardinals girls cross country team will head to the state championship meet next weekend after placing second at regionals Saturday.
The team will defend its three-straight state titles. Senior Hanna Keltner led the Cardinals, dominating the Blue Valley Southwest course to claim first by 13 seconds. All seven girls runners finished in the top 25.
Senior Lizzie Baker was the next Cardinal to finish after Keltner, claiming 13th place. She credited the team’s success to having so many good runners all pushing each other to improve.
“The most important thing is having that competition push you and make you get better,” she said.
Keltner has been a key force for the team. The senior has claimed wins at major races all season.
“She’s a really great senior,” Baker said. “I don’t really know how to explain it. She just knows what to say to get us ready and she knows how to keep us happy.”
The boys just missed out on qualifying as a team, but freshman Grayson Masterson and junior Max McCleary qualified as individuals. Masterson, after running in sixth place early in the race, jumped ahead to finish third.
Masterson said he stayed further back at the beginning and used the conserved energy to push ahead of a few runners later in the race.
“I was just mainly running for all the team, all my teammates,” he said. “It was the motivation that I really needed.”
McCleary finished 15th, just high enough to advance to state. Masterson said he was excited McCleary was able to snag a qualifying spot.
“I think Max is one of, like, the best teammates I’ve ever had,” Masterson said. “He runs for the team, not for himself. A lot of people run for, like, their own PRs, but he also runs for everybody.”
McCleary knew he was on the verge of qualifying for state and kept focused as he pushed through the course.
He praised Masterson for how the freshman has impacted the team in his first year.
“Right when he came in, like, at the beginning of the fall, he just started pushing people,” McCleary said. “And instead of running, like, a 7:30 pace, he’d be running a 7:00 pace. He just pushes us to run faster.”
He said he is ready for his first state race and the competition that awaits him.
“I’m just ready to, I mean, mainly bond with the team there,” he said. “And, I mean, it’s my first state race, so I’m excited to compete against good competition.”
Reach reporter Cuyler Dunn at [email protected]
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