It’s a memorial time for Cross Country runner Hannah Swanson as she finishes off the season with a great race at Boardman Regionals meet.
She finished with a time of 21:18 placing 96th out of 189 division 1 girls.
Hannah Swanson states, “I had a goal since the end of last season to make it to regionals. It involves a lot of hard work and determination, and I’m so happy to see it pay off. Running the race was one of the coolest experiences of my life. I’m happy my team came to support my success!”
From a fellow teammate’s viewpoint, I was overjoyed that I had gotten the opportunity to go and watch Hannah run. It looked like a really close race, almost as if it was over in a flash. I remember arriving and just in shock by the number of people I saw, not just runners but also parents and friends there supporting one another. It was cool to watch as everything went quiet and then as soon as the gun went off you would see every spectator running back and forth along the course just to cheer on their runners and get those amazing pictures we’ve all grown to love.
As I quote Hannah she was so thankful to have her teammates there that day to support her and felt accomplished that she had finally reached her goal of making it to regionals. I’d like to give an honorable mention to Holly Adkins, Aiden Smith, Hunter Darkhorse, Luke Gordan, myself, and the coaches for the support Hannah had that day, I know it wasn’t stated Hannah but you’ll get it next year.
Cross country is definitely one of the hardest sports there is and it’s a huge deal when you see runners make it to regionals and state. It gives runners a sense of confidence that they are ending the season right. My favorite part about meets is when runners who aren’t even on your team cheer you on and tell you a great race at the finish line, sometimes you may even receive the occasional support during the race when another see’s you struggling to hit that finish line.
I can definitely say from my own and my teammate’s experiences that cross-country runners are some of the nicest, most respectful, and most supportive people out there.
It is our team’s goal one day for all of us to run in regionals and then move on to state. This year I can confidently say has been one for goals and we plan to train hard so that we can achieve them and all come back as a team running next year.