For the eighth year in a row, the Leopard cross country team traveled to Round Rock Texas on Nov. 7 to run in the Texas 5A State Championship. The boys finished second in the state as a team and senior Ariaan Cnossen finished 48th individually out of 151 total runners in the girls division.

“Our plan was to not get food poisoning the night before and not to slip and fall into the mud [during the meet],” head cross country coach Greg Christensen said.

Cnossen was the only individual state qualifier for the girls after finishing 20th at the regional meet and the boys team made out after a second place finish at the regional meet. The boys team included junior Grant Tiff, senior Noah Landguth, freshman Cole Hinton, sophomore Ryan Brands, senior Hunter Joiner, senior Will Wise, freshman Brett Pederson, sophomore Christian Sutter, sophomore Ryan Spruell, senior Jacob Myers and junior Nate Hartter.

“Since last year, I’ve been seeing myself improve throughout each workout,” Tiff said. “Thanks to my coaches’ training plans, I have felt much stronger and confident this year.”

Tiff was the top finisher for the boys and finished fifth overall in the 5A division with a time of 16:39 for his 5K. Wise, who is committed to Presbyterian College, ran the team’s second best time with a 17:13 to finish 19th. Cnossen ran a 20:35 for the girls.

“It felt really good placing fifth especially since I got to have so much fun racing on the muddy course with my team,” Tiff said.