Senior Audrey Shadle finished her cross country season, placing 51st out of 209 high schoolers at the state cross country tournament in Peoria, at 9:00 a.m on November 3rd. Shadle finished her first mile in six minutes her three miles splits in 18 minutes and 48 seconds.

Shadle explained how it feels to compete in higher stakes cross country meets. “I get really nervous days before,” Shadle said, “and I’m also a little superstitious. I have a lucky race outfit, and I have to eat the same breakfast. It’s definitely stressful, but it’s gotten more fun.”

Shadle has participated in cr since freshman year but became much more competitive in her junior year. During her season that year, Shadle qualified for the state tournament for the first time, much farther than in the past. She had hoped to qualify in the tournament for cross country but was satisfied with making it for cross country instead.

After becoming more invested in the sport, Shadle took one week off after the season and spent the whole summer training. Shadle attended preseason in the second week of August and had her first meet in August as well. During the season, there were cross country meets nearly every other week, finishing up with the ISL Conference Meet on October 11th. At this competition, Shadle placed 4th as an individual.

At the regional cross country meet on October 20th, the entire team qualified for sectionals, the next step in making it to state. At the sectional tournament on October 27th, Shadle placed 6th which qualified her for the state tournament.

For the state tournament, Shadle drove to Peoria the day before the race and went to the course to run it by herself. Shadle’s race was at 9:00 a.m. and was the 1A Girls division, with other races throughout the day, such as the 1A Boys race at 10:00 a.m., and the 2A and 3A races later.

Shadle described some of the things she has learned as a more experienced runner. “I’ve learned to take more risks and to not always be so conservative. I’ve learned to just run and see how fast I can go, but to also be strategic.”