For the third straight year, St. Joe’s Girls Cross Country team brought home both the Varsity and JV trophies at the South Bend City Meet. Ending the meet in a high-energy 1-2-3-4 finish, the girls are looking forward to the rest of the season.

The girls started training in early June and have not slowed down since. The team is built with a blend of new talent and seasoned experience. City Champ sophomore Meg Baxter is a first-year runner for the Indians and she shared her thoughts for the rest of the season.

“I’m excited to see what we can do, the team has such amazing chemistry and everything is always so fun.” She says that the “girls are ready to push themselves and hopefully go to state”.

Junior Tess Collins echoed Baxter’s State aspirations when she shared her goals for the rest of the season. “I missed out on the opportunity to compete at semi-state last year and I think since our team has so much depth and strength this season we can make it there again and potentially even go to State.”

Collins also shared insight on the depth of the team, “I’m excited to see who our top 7 runners will turn out to be since so many of us are so close in time”.

Mary Clare Elliot, a senior on the team, was feeling good after the girls’ outstanding performance at city and hopeful for the rest of the season. Elliot shared “Erskine is a challenging course but many of the girls still got personal best times and had great races.”

Elliot is really excited to see what the team will be able to accomplish these next few weeks.

Fellow senior Grace Yuhas shared Elliot’s view on the challenge of the city meet course. Like many others on the team, Yuhas is working hard to reach [her] goal of getting a lifetime Personal Best. Because of a three-year injury, this is something the four-year runner has not done since Freshman year.

The girls are looking to have a successful second half of the season and continue that momentum into the state series. The girls’ next challenge will be a regular-season meet at Oxbow County Park this Saturday morning 9/11. Make sure to come out and support the team!