The cross country team made history at Regionals in Norman this past weekend.
Only the top seven teams are allowed to compete at state, however both teams made huge strides towards the top position.
Last year the girls’ team placed 29th at Regionals and this year they placed 9th. This makes HCP a top 10 school in cross country in all of the 4A schools in Oklahoma City.
“I think that we are making good progress as a team,” said junior Allegra Knight.
The boys’ team placed 8th this year at Regionals. This is the best that the boys have ever done in HCP history.
“They are proud of one another but are disappointed at the same time because they were one place from getting the team to state,” said cross country coach Steven Stefanick.
Three individuals qualified for state. Juniors Allegra Knight and Stephanie Moreno both qualified from the girls’ team. Knight had the best time in all of the 4A-6A schools in the Oklahoma City system with a time of 13:03 for the two mile run.
“I think that it would be great if both Stephanie and I did well enough to both get medals,” Knight said.
Senior Chase Busick qualified for state from the boys’ team. Busick also had the best time in the OKC school system with a time of 17:45 for the 5k run.
The team also had some personal bests from individuals from Regionals.
“With more people joining the team, it makes it more competitive which leads to huge improvement,” Stefanick said.
The boys team made huge strides forward this year thanks to the hard work from Busick, Roberto Barcenes, Josh Anderson, Isaac Kabrick, Jorge Chavez, Bryant Colin and Patrick Irwin.
The girls’ team also excelled this school year with the hard work from Knight, Moreno, Aneesha Moore, Alexis Ozment, Katelynn McLaughlin, Vanessa Hernandez and Claire Widmer.
Busick, Knight and Moreno will run at Edmond Santa Fe High School on Saturday, November 2 at noon and 12:45. The cost to attend the race is $5.
