Rock Ridge High School pulled off a rare feat this fall when they sent both their boys' and girls' teams to the state meet in Northfield on Saturday, November 5th. And when they arrived, they made the most of it.
“It was the craziest thing ever,” says boys’ team member and all-state honors recipient Jake. “There’s just hundreds, if not a thousand people just going crazy… I had a really big PR (personal record) by 35 seconds.”
“More experience helped me this year,” says Lexi who was running in her second state meet – she qualified for the 2021 meet as an individual.
In the end, their efforts nabbed the 2nd place trophy for a senior-led boys' squad and a 7th place finish for a girls' team that will see all five top runners returning next year. The core of the girls' team consists of four freshmen and an 8th grader.
The future looks bright for both teams, but the immediate future for the squads means saying goodbye to at least a few runners. For Coach Ismil, the memories will have little to do with trophies won. “Our priorities are for them to grow as young people... For those that are leaving it's going to be super hard for us to say goodbye and it isn't because of their running ability.”
