The boys’ team went to compete in state for the first time in all of West’s seven years of being open. With pinnacle seniors like Lily Brewer and Braxton Theel and newcomers like freshman Adyson Burton, the group was ready to make history… and that is exactly what they did.

In the early morning hours, the cross country team arrived at Rim Rock Farm. The anticipation was high, but intensified due to a small lightning delay. This delay caused the 6a girl’s race to be pushed back from 11 a.m. to 11:15 a.m. and all other races to be pushed back as well.

The girls began warmups at 10:20, an hour before their race, unlike many other schools who were camped out under canopies. The rain had stopped briefly and the girls were set in box eight, nerves settling as they knew the course well from competitions before. Freshman River Cheney had high hopes for the girls regardless of the muddy tracks.

“This course has a lot more like humongous hills,” Cheney said. “And it’s more scenic because you’re running through woods. But there’s two humongous hills that are 200 meters long and they’re really steep.”

While the course was daunting, the girls had no trouble winning their fifth consecutive state title.

Senior Lily Brewer finished first for West followed by Senior Liz Browning putting them in an excellent place on the scoreboards right next to Washburn Rural. The girls finished with steady strides and hopeful smiles.

“Today was super fun,” Brewer said. “I remember the first mile was kind of hard and then I got a cramp, but I was just like, just stay locked in. I really want to win. This is a goal we’ve had our entire year.”

And they achieved it.  

“We raced and then we thought we got second and so it’s really sad, and then someone came up and was like, wait, you guys maybe won like they’re not sure it’s a tiebreaker and stuff. It came down to our sixth runner. They usually only score the five. So that was so exciting. I was bawling my eyes out and stuff,” Brewer said.

After the emotional race the track was even more slippery and runners’ shoes were caked with mud and fall leaves. Freshman Adyson Burton had her first year running and even competed at state where she had a great race fighting to keep West’s victory saga.

“It felt amazing and I loved it and I had so much fun because I ran with all of my new best friends and we won for a fifth year in a row,” Burton said.

After the girls’ state win, the boys’ began warming up. The track was slippery but the rain had stopped. Five minutes into the race it began to downpour. The boys had mud splashed on their legs and uniforms soaked in cold rainwater. The faces of the highschoolers passing by had turned white and their breath had become visible.

After a heroic effort, Braxton Theel finished first in the entire boys’ race getting the team a new trophy to add to the growing collection.

“I got first in the 6A race,” Theel said. “I was trying really hard to accomplish that and I was kind of scared with the rain and the course conditions going into the race, but I ended up getting ahead and finishing strong and it paid off.”

The boys placed fifth overall with awards following the race in the pouring rain. Coach Carbajo is extremely proud of the team’s work since June.

“I thought that both teams performed really well and one word that we’ve talked about all year is trusting in themselves and trusting in their teammates and I think that that comes back to the friendships that they have outside of running and just it’s fun to go and do something as a team,” Carbajo said.

Theel has been a member of the team for years and has watched the team’s success grow. After his battle against endurance and weather at Rim Rock Farm, Theel’s athletic feat was one of the best ways to finish a high school cross country career.

“Me and my teammates have built up trust with each other over years of practice and team culture, our trust in each other is crucial for team success, and our season wouldn’t have been the same without it,” Theel said.