Liberal High School Cross Country runners Sofia Lucena and Caleb Zamora traveled to Lawrence Kansas on Friday to compete in the 6A State Cross Country Championships at the challenging Rim Rock Course. Sofia, who had limited practice all week long due to sore legs, was determined to compete in her final appearance at state in her Senior year. Sofia ran first in the 6A Girls final at 10:35 am with temperatures in the mid 30’s. Sofia started off well and was ahead of her previous mile split from an earlier meet at the same course. However at the 1 1/2 mile mark the soreness became too much, slowing her down. Bound and determined, the gritty Senior, finished the race in tears and went directly to the trainers tent. The trainer assessed her injury and said she probably should not of run that morning. Sofia stated, It’s my Senior year, and this is State, there’s no way I wasn’t going to run. I kept telling my coaches I was fine, it wasn’t that bad and that it didn’t hurt when I ran.” Sofia finished with a time of 23:58, just a few seconds slower than her previous Rim Rock time.
Caleb Zamora, competing in his first State Meet, was up next in the Boys 6A Championship at 12:20 pm. Caleb had previously run the same course earlier in September and finished with a time of 19:07 for the 5K distance. Determined to beat that time, the hard working Junior took off fast, and had a first mile split time of under 5:30. He was able to maintain that pace for most of the race, kicking it to the finish line with a time of 18:08, PR’ing by almost a minute. The coaches were extremely proud of both runners, and the season overall, and are excited for the prospects that next season holds.
