Saturday morning the Indians Cross Country teams traveled to Taylor University for the sectional cross country meet with hopes of advancing to next week. Unfortunately like many other runners the season came to an end for Kara, Campbell and Jackson but not before running great races and making the season a great one. Ava Jefferis lead the way for the Lady Indians placing 20th overall with a new PR of 21:16. After running her best time last week and a great week in practice Jefferis felt great going into the meet and after the first mile you could tell she was all business running with the second pack of runners. After mile two Ava was still on the gas and making her way to the front with one mile to go it she took off and after she crossed the finish line she became the first 4-time Regional Qualifier since the great Reagan Hoggatt achieved it in 2018. Kara Walser was the next Indian to cross the finish line for the Indians placing 86th with a time of 32:37. Walser has been dealing with patella tendinitis for the last couple of weeks we knew it was going to be a tough day but she battled her way to her fifth best time of the season. After crossing the first mile both Kara and Campbell Kerns had just ran their fastest first miles of the year and looked great running near the pack. At mile two Walser began dealing with the knee hurting once again but was able to deal with the pain and have a great last mile to finish the race. Campbell Kerns was the next Indian to cross the finish line placing 87th and having one of her best first two miles of the season. As she headed into the wooded area for the last mile the end was getting closer and once crossing the finish line her first cross country season had come to a close. Asking how the last mile was she let me know that she was not sure why "But it was the longest mile of the season"! Jackson Liss lined up for the boys race and like every other runner his season was on the line with hopes of having a great race to advance. Jackson ran a great race with possibly his best first two miles of any race he's ran this season. Once it was all finished Liss crossed the finish line in 97th place with a time of 25:00. It was Jackson's second best time of the season and just missing out on his PR that he achieved last week. The season may be over for Jackson, Campbell and Kara but the progress they made in the short amount of time is amazing. Kara came into the season having ran in junior high had no high school distance experience. From the beginning of the season until the end she was able to take an impressive 7:09 off of her time! Jackson Liss is another freshman that had to transition to the high school distance and another one that took an impressive amout of time off his best taking 7:21 off of his time from the beginning of the season! Campbell Kerns having not ran cross country the last two years came out this season and like the rest of the team with her hard work was able to take 3:14 off of her time from the beginning of the season! It was a great season and I'm proud of all of the runners and look forward to what they will do next season. But next up we have a Regional Cross Country Meet next Saturday morning at New Haven and would like to see as many people there as possible to support Ava as she goes for another PR and a chance to make it to the State meet!