State trophies are nothing new for the Russellville girls. The boys joined the party this year as the Indians swept the Class 1 team titles.
The Russellville girls won Class 1 titles in 2010 and 2011 before finishing runner-up last year. They added their third title with 66 points, 54 points ahead of runner-up Lutheran-Kansas City. The boys captured their victory Saturday with 87 points, earning the school’s second boys’ title. The previous victory was in 1985.
“They feed off each other – the boys especially,” Russellville coach Craig Miller said. “They’ve seen the girls’ success the last four years and they wanted a piece of it. Last year they got a taste getting here and finishing 10th. And I brought all the guys back. We didn’t graduate anybody.”
Miller said the state experience from a year ago paid big dividends as the boys all improved their times by a minute or more. And freshman Anthony Bertucci had a chance to see the course during the Capital City XC Challenge in October.
Things began to look promising this summer when Miller knew he had all the girls back from last year’s squad. The boys began running in June in search of their own trophy and were determined to put in the necessary work.
“This is what they wanted – to be the last team on the stage,” Miller said. “My goal for them is to get to state and bring home a trophy. Their goal was to win it all, and they did.”
The girls had a strong 1-2 punch in Miranda Hill (first, 20:15) and Grace Young (third, 20:37). Taylor Young also earned all-state honors in 23rd (21:41).
The boys got all-state performances from juniors Alex Thompson (fourth, 17:14) and Jamie Porter (23rd, 17:54).