The Bishop Manogue Cross Country Team competed at the 5A Regional Cross Country Championships at Rancho San Rafael Park last Friday. Both the girls and the boys varsity teams ran their top seven runners, and both teams qualified for the state meet later in the season.

Throughout the season, the Miners frequently visited Rancho San Rafael to get a feel for the course, which is notorious for a large hill located about halfway through the five-kilometer route. After training there once a week for over a month, the Regional Championship weekend had finally arrived. To start the day off, the boys team ran first against the other 5A teams, where they placed fourth out of ten teams. The team scored 88 points overall, with scoring runners Grant Carman, Xavier Roodhouse, Erik Swanson, Matthew Johnson, and Ben Johnson placing 8th, 15th, 17th, 23rd, and 25th, respectively. Luke Swanson and Jack Gronek also competed, finishing 34th and 51st, but did not count toward the team points. The team finished just ahead of Spanish Springs and made the cutoff for state, which requires teams to place in the top five to compete at the state meet.

On the girls’ side, the Miners finished 5th overall against the ten schools in the 5A girls division, making history as the first 5A girls team to qualify for the cross country state championship in Manogue history. The team scored 113 points overall, with Emmery Scolari, Summer Roleson, Evelyn Roodhouse, Emily Azzi, and Riley Tolotti finishing 6th, 16th, 17th, 28th, and 46th, respectively. Brooklyn Kyler and Soray Jones also competed, finishing 51st and 56th, but neither of their scores counted for the team points.

Both teams made history as it was the first time in over three decades that both teams qualified for the state championship during the same season, which demonstrates the hard work put in this season. Both teams will leave for Las Vegas on Friday for the state championship, where they will compete at Veterans Memorial Park against the top ten teams in Nevada.