On Saturday, both the boys’ and girls’ varsity cross country teams ran their hearts out and swept the state championship race, returning with some hardware as proof.

Cross country, like golf, rewards those with the least amount of points. The boys’ varsity team finished in first with 77 points, far above Pope High School, who ended in second with 106 points.

The first bear that crossed the finish line was junior Jack Filan. He finished in sixth place with a time of 16:47.95.

Not long after him, senior Chris Anderson finished in eighth place and sophomore Anders Law in 12th place.

The girls’ varsity team finished first by a much smaller margin, scoring 59 points to beat Creekview, who finished in second place with 68 points.

The first lady bear to finish was junior Delaney Goodell. She finished seventh with a time of 20:23.93.

“The race was unbelievable,” said Head Cross Country Coach Brad Coulter. “One of the best that I have ever seen”

According to Coulter, the Bears were racing with tactics to specifically beat Pope High School, who had beaten them at the region meet.

One of the tactics the girls’ team used was to run in packs. This was done so that they could finish many racers back to back.

“The team performed nothing short of phenomenal,” said senior runner Zach Ellison.