Last Thursday, the Sunlake cross country girls won a regional championship for the first time in school history. They won by 30 points, completely destroying their competition. Freshman Leah Foster was the fourth finisher on the team, helping to lower the team score and secure the win. She explains that, “The Regional meet was at Holloway Park, one of the most difficult courses in the state. Going into the meet I felt really nervous, because I had no idea how the meet would turn out, but I was also excited. When the race started, I felt good. After the first mile, I started to pick up the pace. When I got to the second mile, I knew I only had one mile left to go and I had to push myself. On the last straightaway, I gave it all I had. Overall, I think I did pretty good.” For a majority of her race, Leah was racing beside two of her teammates, sophomore Kailyn Ford and freshman Kaitlyn Zabrocki. She says “I feel good when I’m racing with my teammates. They encourage me to go faster and remind me who I’m racing for.” Leah did “…face some challenges during the race, all of us did. The hills at Holloway Park are the worst, and you just have to power through them.” Leah finished with a time of 20:29 and got 17th place in the region. Without Leah’s strong finish, her team wouldn’t have been able to win. She exclaims, “Our team did really good! We got 1st. I’m so proud of all of the girls and their performances!”

Now Leah is getting ready for her first high school state championships, and she is very excited. Leah has been running for 5 years. She tells us, “I got into running because I’d run with my dad, and I really enjoyed it. Running helps me clear my mind of the stresses of the day. Now, as a part of Sunlake’s team, I’ve become close with all of my teammates. Running with the girls everyday is an amazing feeling. Everyone is so sweet and nice to each other. And even though being on the cross country team is hard and a lot of work, it is really rewarding.” And the rewards come in the form of championship wins. After their regional performance, the girls are ranked 2nd place in the 4A state. Leah says, “Our team’s goal is place highly in the state championships. I feel excited for states and confident that we will do amazing!”