The Olympia Bears Girls Cross Country team is finishing their season strong with a third place finish at the League meet, and an eighth place finish at the district meet. 

Recent Student Athlete of the Week, Makena Graves, was the girls top finisher, finishing with a time of 19:50.5 for a 5,000 meter race. Her time has earned her 24th overall runner and she has qualified for the upcoming state meet.  Also qualifying for state was Madison Frazier who finished 26th, Cece Wallace-Berry who finished 29th, and Carolina Schilter who finished 47th.

The girls finished their District meet with a total of 183 points with only 6 points separating the eighth place Olympia Bears from the fifth place Puyallup Vikings. The Bears will be sending these four amazing runners to represent Olympia High School at the State Championships on November 4th. 

Graves enjoys running on the team as well as the community it brings. She reflected, “it doesn’t matter how fast or slow [someone is]. People are always spread all around the course cheering you on.” She attributed the team’s success to the camaraderie that they have amongst the team. She expressed that her “favorite practices are the ones [where] [they] stop and do something fun [at] Pioneer Park or at Tumwater Falls to see the salmon.” This community focused on motivation and determination gives the girls what they need to perform when it is race day.

The girls have had a very successful regular and postseason, and they hope to drop even more time at the State Championship meet this Saturday.