The girls cross-country team made Banks High School history on Nov. 8, winning their first team championship in school history.
The Braves defeated top-ranked Enterprise, winning the 16-team meet held Saturday at Lane Community College in Eugene.
It was a flip from last year, when the boys team did the exact same thing.
"Last year, boys won the first time in state history and the girls got fourth, and this year the boys got fourth and the girls won for the first time ever," said Coach Kendall Schoolmeester.
She coaches both teams and has two daughters in the girls program.
Senior Sophie Schoolmeester led Banks' team, coming in third individually with a time of 18:51.6, according to the OSAA results (.pdf). Her sister was right behind her, as Molly Schoolmeester came in fourth individually, with a time of 18:54.4.
"We knew coming into the season that we had an outside shot," Schoolmeester said. "Sophie did a really good job of being a leader this whole year. The girls talked about it, they started training this summer, because you can't cheat fitness, and they were working from July on together as a team to get to have a chance," she added.
Junior Lydia Shellman came in seventh with a time of 18:59.1, Rachael Kelly, a sophomore, came in 20th with a time of 19:53, and Meaza Wilson came in 37th with a time of 20:46.8. Rounding out the team's runners were freshman Aurora Goodwin in 44th with a time of 21:02.7 and 85th place runner Mayli Taylor, a freshman, with a time of 23:27.9.
"They worked so hard, and they worked well together as a team, and they're just such great teammates to each other. It kind of feels like they manifested it, they worked the summer, they worked the fall, and they made it happen," she said.
The boys team, in fourth, had a good race after losing two of the top runners to graduation last year. See the full results here (.pdf).
"If they hadn't had good days, they wouldn't have been on the podium," she said. She noted that just three points separated Banks from a second-place finish.
"They really came together in their final race," she said.
Leading the team was senior Alejandro Abnal, 8th place, 16:16.5; followed by senior Amin Diani, 9th place, 16:29.0; senior Omar Diani, 13th place, 16:42.6; junior Douglas McConnell, 42nd place, 18:01.4; junior Mark Anunsen, 52nd place, 18:26.9; junior Caplin Lipscomb, 56th place, 18:37.0; and junior Nate Bair, 86th place, 20:06.5.
Ultimately, she was proud of all the runners across the Braves program.
"They're really good kids, they worked really hard, and they showed that hard work pays off," she said.
