The girls’ cross country team has had a successful season because all members of the team has set new personal records.

The ‘Cats took first place at the Alleghany Invitational meet with an average time of 21:15 minutes, two minutes faster than last year’s average time.

Junior Mallory Keeley and sophomore Sarah Torrence placed first and second respectively. Torrence, a new member of the team, is ranked as the number-one runner on the team.
“Running has always been my second sport, and this year I decided why not give cross country a try,” said Torrence. “I love running. It just relaxes me. Training makes me happy.”

Torrence’s personal goals are to break 19:30 minutes and go to states.

The team also placed first at the Blue Ridge Invitational and had five runners placing in the top ten. At the Runnin’ with the Wolves Rocktoberfest meet, the girls placed fourth out of 15 teams.

Coach Chris Bowring has seen a significant advancement in the team’s ability from last year.

“[It’s] perhaps the best season we’ve had in 20 years,” said Bowring. “It has gone very well. The team has improved, plus we have new talent. We’re hoping to win the conference. We host the regions here, so it would be an advantage for us to be on our home course.”

Sophomore Faerin Dick ran last year and believes the team is better this season.

“Last year we did really well and we made it to states, but this year everyone’s getting faster times, I think we’ll probably make it to states again,” said Dick.

After becoming Conference 31 champions and placing fourth in the region, the team will advance to states for the second year in a row.

“[We have gone] to States back to back,” said Bowring. “I don’t lose a single one of these runners here. I think three-peat is certainly within our grasp.”

Bowring’s goals for states is to make it on the podium as a team.

“We started out hoping we would go to states,” said Bowring. “I think it would be very exciting for the girls to get up on the podium. That hasn’t happened since 2002, and we have a chance to do that.”