Rapidly sweating and taking short breaths focusing only on crossing the finish line. On Saturday, November 1, Noblesville cross country runners Abigail Little and Abigail Crouch had the chance to represent NHS in the cross country State competition that took place in Terre Haute at the Lavern Gibson XC golf course.

During her senior year of high school, Crouch says she dreamed of making state finals.She fufilled that dream by making it into a reality.She gives a lot of credit to her teammates for the success she had this season.

“My teammates always inspired me to go the extra distance and keep me motivated,” Crouch said. Crouch ended up running a time of 18:36, good for 38th overall in the meet. Crouch had plenty of support behind her to keep her going. “My coaches and teammates cheering me on definitely helped the most at state,” Crouch said.

Young runners, such as freshman in cross country, typically only compete on junior varsity, and are often found at the bottom rung when it comes to expectations. Freshman Abigail Little clearly proved that myth to be false, making it all the way to state in her first year of competing.

“I had a lot of success my eighth-grade year, and I had high expectations as a freshman for myself,” Little said.

With all those expectations, Little got off to a rough start at the beginning of the season. Her speed was inconsistent and not as impressive  as it was in the previous years. Preparing to get back to the level of consistency she was once at seemed like an impossible task.But with hard work and lots of support from other teammates, Little did just that. She ended up finishing the season strong with a state result of 29th overall.

“My awesome teammates really encouraged me every step of the way,” Little said. “They were a blessing. I will truly miss the seniors, they were great role models for the team.”