Both the girls and the boys cross country teams have qualified for regionals as they placed top three in district at Myers Park in McKinney on Oct. 19. The boys won district for the seventh time in a row and the girls took third place. The regional championship meet will be held in Grand Prairie at Lynn Creek Park on Oct. 26.

“I definitely think that the team feels ready and is more than capable of qualifying out for state,” junior Grant Tiff said.

There were six runners for the boys team who finished in the top 20. Tiff finished second in district with a time of 16:40. Behind him was freshman Cole Hinton who finished sixth with his time of 17:25. The girls had three runners who finished top 20. Senior Ariaan Cnossen finished in seventh place with a time of 20:37, and freshman Carson Hockersmith finished right behind her at eighth with a time of 20:38.

From district, the runners who finished in the top 10 for both the boys and girls team will go to regionals. Then, seven runners will race in the meet, the ones whom head coach Greg Christensen thinks are running at their best.

“The focus for this meet is different than the district meet,” head coach Greg Christensen said. “All we have to do is finish in the top four teams. However, to win the regional title would provide some momentum going into the state meet.”

With the heavy rains from the weekend, it will make for muddy grass and wet streets on the course. But Christensen said the weather should not affect the schedule for the meet.

“We have 5/8” spikes and 3/4” spikes to use if [it’s] really soggy,” Christensen said. “It will be more important to get in position early as it may be more difficult to pass late in the race, which is one of our team strengths as a result of our mileage through the summer/early fall.”

The chance to keep to continue the season for one more week is fueling the runners, Hockersmith said.

“Our main focus for this meet is to run our very best and to work together so that the team can qualify for state,” Hockersmith said. “I feel like the team has worked very hard this season and is ready to run.”