The Hinton girls cross country team won their second-consecutive War Eagle Conference championship on Thursday night in Marcus.
After last year’s strong group of seniors, the Blackhawks were not entirely sure what they would have with this year’s team. Head coach Craig Hoffman says that changed as the season went along, and the girls continued to run better times.
Ava Lang won the individual title with a gap of more than a minute over second place. She says the continued growth has been very encouraging to see.
Lang was able to get in front of the next-best runner early in the race and never look back. She ran a time of 21:43.22 because she says she focused on just running her own race.
With all the seniors that graduated, Lang had to become the lead runner for the Blackhawks and show the way to success. That move was not just made physically on the leaderboard, but it was also a mental shift for her in many ways. Coach Hoffman says that may have been a hurdle early on, but her confidence has continued to grow.
Lang says that confidence comes from taking every race as it comes and not letting herself get to far ahead of things.
The Blackhawks now prepare themselves for the state qualifying meet next week in Orange City. They are looking to get back to state for the second year in a row after last season’s inaugural trip for the program. Coach Hoffman says the girls are peaking at the right time and seeing some low times.
The state qualifying meet in Orange City is set for Thursday, October 24. The races are scheduled to begin at 4:00 PM.
