West High School provided the surprise of the 2018 State Cross Country Meet.
The Rebels weren't at the State Meet last year. This year, they didn't only compete. They won.
West coach Patrick Gildea was pleasantly surprised.
In fact, he was completely blown away.
"I was just as shocked as everyone else," he said.
Not bad for a team that didn't even qualify for this meet last year.
"Halfway through I thought we looked pretty good...our objective was to try and be the top regional team from region two," Gildea said.
They achieved that goal. And then some.
The Rebels averaged 20:06 as a team. Not only was that the best in the division, it was the second-best in the entire state, regardless of classification.
West was led by a quick group of underclassmen. Freshman Marley Townsend came in ninth to lead the way. The lone senior on the team, Elizabeth Babb, was second on the team in 15th.
But the difference came by a couple of juniors who had big races.
| WEST HIGH SCHOOL | ALL RESULTS | ||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| EVENT | PLACE | ATHLETE | GRADE | RESULT | POINTS | ||
| F 5000m | 9 | Marley Townsend | 9 | 19:08.63 | 5 | ||
| F 5000m | 15 | Elizabeth Babb | 12 | 19:26.71 | 10 | ||
| F 5000m | 28 | Emma Dewalt | 9 | 20:01.59 | 19 | ||
| F 5000m | 48 | Elisabeth Bernard | 11 | 20:35.82 | 34 | ||
| F 5000m | 83 | Macy Kraslawsky | 11 | 21:17.27 | 62 | ||
| F 5000m | 120 | Sophia Medley | 9 | 22:14.17 | 94 | ||
| F 5000m | 130 | Cassandra Robbins | 12 | 22:28.79 | 104 | ||
"To not be here last year and to be on the podium today is pretty fantastic," he said.
Expect big things from the Rebels moving forward.