10/27/2025
Arlington Youth XC State Championships!!!
I don’t even know where to begin, pause, or end….it was just that incredible of a weekend. Most of the weekend played out like a story your parents read you as a child and you dreamed of being in the middle of it. If you have time, read the whole post These athletes deserve it, I promise
We work and grind so hard through the season fighting injuries, heat, homework, and the world around us. And on some special days, all the hard work comes together at just the right time. That’s what State Championships felt like this year.
So many successes- So many PR’s - So many medals - And just a reminder, we are running against the best in the state.
Here’s a list of great performances. AMS Boys team ran with 3 of the 7 varsity runners being 6th graders and we placed 13th out of 33 teams. These guys are already ready for next year.
Mateo Ortiz (6th grade) medaled at state finishing 24th out of 300 runners.
William Egbert (7th grade) just missed a medal finishing 35th overall.
Our AMS Girls had 3 qualify and - two 7th and one 6th grader. They are ready to help lead the whole team back next year and we should be loaded.
Liv Benton (7th grade) finished 32 out of 288 runners, just missing a medal by 4 seconds.
And then our Elementary teams had their turn and did they seize the moment.
Elem Boys JV flew through the rolling 1 mile course and placed 4th in state. The following JV Boys received medals for their placement.
William Woodruff - 7th overall
Ty Nemeth - 16th overall
Truitt McLaughlin- 25th overall
Easton Fry - 28th overall
The Varsity Boys were up next. Although we didn’t have the absolute fastest runners in the field, all year we placed high (2nd in district championships) because all of our varsity boys were extremely fast and placed so close together.
Conner McCool placed 23rd overall receiving a medal.
Mason Haynes placed 31st and missed a medal BY 1 SECOND.
Our Elem Boys placed received a plaque for placing 4th in the state out of the top 29 teams in the state!! What an incredible year.
Special shout out to Collin Rowland who fell 2 times in the race and still placed 3rd for our team. If he doesn’t get up and grind it out - we would not have been on that stage as top 5 in state - it’s that competitive- it’s a race of seconds.
And then our Elem Varsity Girls had their shot. They were great last year, but this year we started the season knowing they had a shot. But, we don’t say it out loud. Everything you could think of seem to happen. Our #2/3 runner from last year decides not to run this year. Injures from growing pains and miles of training. Another top 5 runner sideline for what we thought was the whole year. But, they kept fighting, resting, rehabbing. (I know - it’s too much for elementary, I agree). We finally told them on race day. Ladies, if you run like you can run, if you do what we do, you can be the best at state. What did they do….they flew and when it was over, they left no doubt who the best team in the state was this year. They were just that good!!!
On top of being #1 in the state, the following young ladies received medals for their placement.
Mia Pearce #3 overall
Riley McCool #7 overall
Charlotte Lundy #8 overall
Congrats to so many athletes. Congrats to the coaches who do all of this for free for these athletes and this community.
So thankful for our team, but you can see from the first pic, we are much for than a team. Thankful for our Arlington XC Family.
Stay tuned to the next chapters of Arlington Youth XC!!!
