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Cross Country
What a crazy fast season the 2023 Cross Country was. This running family is made up of a wonderful group of young ladies that grew stronger as each week went by, becoming closer both in times and in friendship. Yesterday, in Natchitoches at the State Championship Meet for the Division II race, Academy of the Sacred Heart put on a performance of what it means to race the entire 3 miles together and for each other.
Three new Personal Records from first-time runners at State, one Season Best time, and two All-State Runners helped capture the State Runner-Up Title in a very competitive division, all while having fun together. Leah V. '26 continued to lead the Cardinals to the finish line, pushing herself to the top and finishing 5th overall to earn All-State Honors for her 4th year in a row by running 19:24. Courtney H. '28 took off with the lead pack, fighting her way to stay in the top 10 all race to claim 9th overall and earn her 2nd All-State Honors with a time of 20:02. Molly O. '28, running in her first State Meet, was fighting nerves before the race and ended up having her best race of her career. Molly ran a very smart race to pass runners along the way, earning valuable points for the team by finishing 3rd for Sacred Heart in 20:52 for the 19th place overall. Molly sprinted her way around the track to finish with a new personal record time. Lucy M. '26 was also running in her first State Meet for the Cardinals and she did not disappoint. She ran hard the entire race, passing a number of Vanderbilt runners to finish 4th for the team while setting a new personal best of 20:54 in 21st place. Colette E. '27 ran a season's best and her fastest time ever at the State Meet in her third attempt, finishing in 21:02 for 24th place. She sprinted down the hill and continued running hard around the track to help the team to the finish. Lily V. '28 really came through on the 3rd mile after finding her second wind to push herself to the finish to sprint past more runners to end in 28th with a time of 21:05, her second-fastest time of the year.
Rosie V. '28 was also running her first State Championship race and finished with a New Personal Record of 21:10, which was for 30th place and ran her heart out around the track to the finish line. After the conclusion of the meet, the Cardinals thought they had finished 3rd overall because the results online had the team finishing behind Vandebilt. After a few minutes, the Cardinals realized that they actually accomplished a huge task by beating out Vandebilt to earn the State Runner Up Title. A big celebration erupted, and there were jumps of joy from all of the runners as they began running to the trophy presentation.
125 Total Runners:
5th ~ 19:24 ~ LEAH V. '26 ~ All-State
9th ~ 20:02 ~ COURTNEY H. '28 ~ All-State
19 ~ 20:52 ~ MOLLY O. '28 ~ Personal Record
21 ~ 20:54 ~ LUCY M. '26 ~ Personal Record
24 ~ 21:02 ~ COLETTE E. '27 ~ Season Best
28 ~ 21:05 ~ LILY V. '27
30 ~ 21:10 ~ ROSIE V. '28 ~ Personal Record
Team Standings: 17 Teams:
1st ~ 40 ~ St. Thomas More
2nd ~ 67 ~ Academy of the Sacred Heart
3rd ~ 77 ~ Vandebilt
4th ~ 112 ~ Leesville
5th ~ 130 ~ St. Scholastica
6th ~ 155 ~ Teurlings Catholic
7th ~ 185 ~ Belle Chasse
8th ~ 250 ~ The Willow School
9th ~ 261 ~ West Feliciana
10 ~ 264 ~ Caddo Magnet
11 ~ 289 ~ Archbishop Chapelle
12 ~ 355 ~ Cecilia
13 ~ 387 ~ Iowa
14 ~ 406 ~ North Desoto
15 ~ 410 ~ Ben Franklin
16 ~ 420 ~ Academy of Our Lady
17 ~ 496 ~ Breaux Bridge
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