Paly Cross Country finished their season strong in the CIF State Championship on November 27th. With an 11th place team finish for boys, and a 6th place individual finish for junior Elizabeth Fetter, the team was very proud of their performance. 

“A lot of people were sick and the team’s morale suffered a little bit, but we all pushed through the hard course and are happy with our success,” Fetter said. Overall, they had a very strong season with they boys winning CCS for the first time since 1989. Fetter, along with fellow junior star Hillary Studdert, qualified for states and the team had many first and second place meet wins throughout the fall. 

Most impressively, Paly junior Fetter placed 16th out of 977 girls across the state, and 6th in her division at the CIF State meet in Fresno this past weekend. Fetter has come out as a natural leader for the team after many notable performances the past couple years. One of the most impressive was at the state championship meet where she broke the Paly 5k record with a time of 17 minutes and 43 seconds. 

“I was not expecting to do that well to be honest, I owe a lot of praise to everyone who was involved,” Fetter said. “My coaches, teammates, and family were all factors in my performance, and are ultimately the reason I will push myself harder next season,”

Studdert got 5th at CCS at a very difficult, hilly course. This placement transferred her into the state competition where she continued her dream of placing well at the biggest stage any runner could get to. She ultimately placed 138th out of 977 in division 1. Impressive performance to say the least.

After winning CCS and SCVAL, the boy’s varsity team qualified to run at states and brought back an 11th place win in division 1.

“I think going into it the boys team was a little nervous since a lot of us were sick,” Fesslmeier said. “Overall, we are all proud. We really rallied together despite the setbacks and just went out and tried our best and ended up doing pretty well.”

After a historic season filled with limited meets and practices, Paly Cross Country boys and girls worked hard throughout the season and achieved their goals of winning CCS and running at states. We are all excited to see what the team is capable of doing next year after their impressive season this year.