Sophomore Owen Comes, sophomore Amelia Lynch, senior Everett Lynch and junior Penny Sidel competed in the cross country state championship Saturday, Nov. 1 at Obetz Stadium.
Comes finished 74th with a time of 16:42 and Everett finished 98th with a time of 16:51.
Sidel finished 111th with a time of 20:01 and Amelia finished 134th with a time of 20:28.
Sidel said she didn’t think her performance was fully representative of her capabilities.
“I definitely didn’t have my best race at states because I was coming off being sick, but that didn’t take away from the fact that it was an amazing experience,” she explained.
Comes explained although he didn’t have his best race, he is proud of the progress he and the team have made this season.
“Everyone did a great job at competing for places and as a group made large steps from where we were last year,” he said.
Comes added despite there being room for improvement, he did meet some of his individual goals.
“I was able to beat many of the competitors that I have been focusing on beating this season,” he said.
Amelia said although she wasn’t satisfied with her time, she was grateful for the experience overall.
“I’m hoping that we qualify as a team next year and I can take the lessons I learned this year moving forward into the next cross country season,” she added.
Everett said he thought his experience at states was a good final race. He added he appreciated what he learned throughout the season from being a captain.
He explained he was able to do things to help the team get better, such as setting up pre-season summer practices.
Head Coach Eric Acton said he was excited that both the boys and girls teams qualified for regionals.
Comes explained he had a memorable experience at regionals with his teammate.
“With nearly half a mile left, Everett and I passed over eight people,” he said. “It was really cool because we pushed one another to advance onto states.”
Acton said he hopes the team can build on this year’s success by keeping up attendance at summer events and preparing for the season in advance.
“[We will] continue to welcome all who are interested in this sport, encourage athletes to train throughout the summer and set new goals for 2026,” he said.
Sidel said she appreciated the encouragement from others because it helped her and her teammates be more successful during the race.
“So many people came out to support and it was sort of surreal to get to race in a huge crowd,” she said. “It had to be my favorite meet of the season, and we hope to do it again next year.”
Published and digitized November 2025.
