The girls post-season cross country team ran at the OHSAA Division 1 Regional meet in Youngstown, Ohio last Saturday, Oct. 26. Now for the first time in Solon’s history, the entirety of the girl’s postseason cross country team has qualified for the 2024 OHSAA Cross Country State Championship meet.
The team includes Camryn Cayne, Morgan Hillman, Sydney Lader, Josie Howard, Marin Howard, Julia Klein and Varshini Ganjikunta.
SHS head girls cross country coach and Honors Algebra II teacher Anna Guseilo said the team has put in a lot of work to get here.
“I think it was basically from our summer practices till today,” Guselio said. “Everybody has shown up everyday, done what was asked of them, and no one has made excuses. I think they have all individually put in the work.”
The team has had the closest split, the distance of time from the first runner to the fifth runner, in their team’s history.
“People have really worked with their teammates to make the entire team better and not just focus on their performance,” Guselio said. “They focus on how they can help their teammates out, and that’s really been beneficial.”
The day before the team had their regional meet, their top runner Ava Miller was declared unable to run due to a stress fracture. The team had to put in one of their alternate runners, SHS freshman Varshini Ganjikunta.
“I found out I was running the day before, and I wasn’t really that prepared, and the course was really hard,” Ganjikunta said. “I think I tried whatever I could. I didn’t do as well, but I am glad I made it.”
Marin Howard is one of only three freshmen, along with Gunjikunta and Klein, that are apart of the team who qualified for the state meet.
“It was very exciting when I found out I was going,” Marin Howard said. “Last year, it was hard to start running later than most people were starting. It was really cool to see how much I could progress throughout the season. I was really excited to go as a freshman knowing I can keep getting better, and I have four years to do it.”
All seven girls qualified for states and will run at Fortress Obetz and Memorial Park this Saturday, Nov. 2. The team runs this course for their preseason race every August.
“I’m really excited,” said senior Josie Howard. “It is really cool to get to do this my senior year. It was the goal all season, and it’s just really nice that it all worked out.”
The team was on a taper, meaning they had a lower mileage, at practices this week in order to make sure they are not sore and feel their best for the upcoming state meet.
“I am confident,” Guselio said. “I think the fact that we went through a lot of adversity to just qualify– this is just the icing on top. I know that everybody is ready to run, ready to race. I think as a team we will be pretty close together so hopefully they will push each other to help our finish be as high as possible.”
