On Saturday, November 8, three Cross Country runners, junior Chase Powelson, senior Ariel Kirkpatrick, and freshman Heidi Hauptman, competed in

the Jefferson City annual MSHSAA Cross Country State race. This meet was held at Oak Hills Golf Center where many schools around the state gathered together for this extremely fast paced race.

“The entire state environment was just so energetic, but it also was very tense and intimidating at the same time,” Hauptman said. “ There were so many people there including the national guard and military people, and it was just so crowded and packed with runners, and there was so much nervousness going around that you could just feel it, but you could also feel all the excitement in the air.”

The three runners plus the coaches, Kimberly Krieger, Joe Brocksmith and Sean Fowler, all headed down to Jefferson City after four hour Friday to get a head start and walk the course to prepare the athletes for the big day ahead of them.

“My goals were to beat last years times during state,” Kirkpatrick said. “Last year I was in the 22’s but this year I got a time of 21:08. I was pretty relaxed during state when I was racing just because I have ran the course before and it’s hard and I didn’t want to get myself stressed out plus it was my last race, which was a little emotional for me, so I was just going to enjoy my run and take it in that I made it to state.”

The girls race was held at 10:05 AM with a total of 168 competitors. The girls were held up with four false starts before the race actually began. Senior Ariel Kirkpatrick placed 137th with a time of 21:08 and freshman Heidi Hauptman placed 78th with a time of 20:18. The boys race began around 9 o’clock with a total of 172 male runners at the start line. Chase Powelson, North’s only Varsity boy to qualify for state, placed 109th with a time of 17:24.

“It was an honor to compete at state but it was also kind of a bummer that I was the only qualifier,” Chase said. “ I love running with my teammates so I missed that.”

The three all agreed that the meet had its difficulties. The last stretch seemed to be the hardest for them all due to a an uphill finish.

“ By the last .1 of a mile you are just so physically tired so it was a hard finish for me,” Powelson said.

Hauptman, freshman qualifier for state, has mentally prepared for this race since sectionals. Staying positive and having a mindset that she will do good, including having mental toughness helps her perform the way she does and helps her overcome the nerves of surrounding competitors and gets her ready for whatever the course has to throw at her.

“Crossing the finish line was probably my favorite memory,”Hauptman said. “ Everyone who had come to see me run came over to me and gave me hugs, said good job, took care of me, and told me they were so proud of me. Just the fact that so many people came to watch and support the three of us just made the trip so much better and so much more fun.”

Cross Country has officially ended their season after their trip to state for the runners competing. According to the team they ended the season on a high note and are looking forward to what the 2015 season has in store for them.

“State was amazing,” Chase said. “ It was so intense and crazy and was definitely a challenge and i just went out and performed my hardest.”