runners who took part set personal-best times, and the 10th, Lynsie Fehr, had her best time of the season in the girls race.
“I knew all of them were capable of the PRs.,” Iola head coach Brittany Daugharthy said. “All season we have been talking about peaking at the right time, that all the work they were putting in was all for them to sparkle and shine at the end of the season.
“It’s so fun to watch them run their best after watching them through all the highs and lows of the season. I can’t brag enough about how hard they worked this season, and today it paid off.”
Moyer and Hill agreed.
“I hadn’t PR’d since regionals my freshman year,” Moyer said, “so it had been a while.”
In fact, Moyer’s goal for this season wasn’t necessarily to qualify for state, but to set a new personal record.
“Getting to state was definitely the icing on top,” Moyer joked. “Or maybe it’s the cherry.”
Hill, ever the perfectionist, was “pretty happy” with setting a new personal record, “but I was hoping to get a little lower,” he said.
Blame the nausea — Hill guessed it may have been attributable to the candy he ate on the bus ride to Richmond.
The state race at Rim Rock offers a challenging series of hills and valleys. Both runners fared well earlier this year on the famed course.
To prepare, Hill often camps at hilly destinations, such as the Big Hill Reservoir in Wilson County, and the Cross Timbers State Park in Toronto to prepare.
“I like the challenge,” the sophomore said. “You can make up time on the downhills.”
“Honestly, the best part for me is just being able to see guys like Keegan do so well,” Moyer said. “Keegan’s a star. And runners like Brennen (Coffield) have improved so much, which has been awesome. To see that from the guys around me makes me happy. As a team, we’re about as close as we’ve ever been.”
Coffield finished 24th at 18:40.50, a personal-best mark. Also earning PRs on the boys side were Ruger Boren, Brett Heinrich, Alejandro Escalante and Otto Malloy.
On the girls side, Mahailie Genoble, who took 25th, finished with a personal-best time of 23:04.1. Blayke Patterson (52nd), also set a new PR. Fehr took 47th with her season-best time of 25:15.40.
