As the 2024 cross country season came to an end for the Damascus High School runners, two individual runners competed at the state championship meet on Nov. 8. TJ, a senior at Damascus Highschool, placed ninety-six out of two-hundred with a time of 18:09.59, and Bella, also a senior, placing sixty-first out of one-hundred and sixty runners with a time of 22.04:90. They both ran close to personal bests for such a hard course.
Both runners prepared for the final meet and it paid off. The runners were not alone. The whole team came together to watch them both compete at Hereford High School last Saturday. When asked the runners what the biggest struggle was to prepare for this meet, TJ responded, “The hardest part was running good at regionals since it was such a hot day and not a good run day.” Even with the tough regionals meet, they still managed to pull off a qualifying time. Bella added “Getting those long miles in was tough, and also going the extra distance on my own time.”
Hereford State CHampionship meet Nov. 8, 2024 – Sreekar Gogineni, Everett Minars, Tj Gottesman, Ryan Chidakel, Aidan Ahn.
Lots of new runners joined the team this year, including many fast freshmen who are a threat to make states in the upcoming years. Their end of the year banquet is slated for Wednesday Nov. 13 to close out a great year for all the runners, and hoping for a bright future for the Damascus High School Cross Country team.
