This story was originally published in the third issue of The Bear Truth (December 16, 2019).

The WSHS Country team has strived for years to win the Cross Country State Championship Title and this year the Girls’ Cross Country team brought home the win in Tallahassee, Florida. 

This season was definitely one for the books because the team had won the triple crown; Seminole Athletic Conference Championship, Districts, and Regionals before going to take the State Title. For this team to succeed they had to go through many practices which they had run about 5 to 6 miles per practice. 

During this year the team had multiple key injuries so preparation was quite hard before each meet. Seniors Elayna Bahr came back from having an ankle injury and Mackenzie Czurak returned from a stress fracture just in time for October’s postseason run. Coach Clark had “to keep his number one runner Caroline Wells hungry” for the win.

FHSAA was able to catch a video of her right after she came in at states saying “ [she] really wanted to be good for her team so they could have a chance to win.” Wells definitely had done that with finishing the race in second place. Wells had covered 5,000 meters in 17 minutes. 

Sarah Turner was one of three alternatives for the WSHS at States. Turner said that being an alternate does not change your training, you still train like you are going to race. Sarah is proud to be part of a States Championship team hopes to go back next year and defend their title. 

After taking a break from Cross Country Coaching for many seasons, Coach Clark came back better than ever. The most monumental part of the season he said was winning “Regionals.” They were ranked third in their region. Coach Ocky Clark said, “They upset both teams and knew that they were on their way.” 

At the moment the team has not formulated a plan on winning states because summer is going to be wild. Coach Clark has opened up his summer training camp so runners won’t have to pay thousands of dollars for a University Coach, who may even have less experience. Under his leadership, Clark is certain to bring home another victory.