By MAYAN PAZ
Tiger Media Network
The FHSU cross country team concluded its season last week, competing in the Central Region championship. After both the men’s and women’s teams finished 6th in the MIAA Conference Championships, they entered the regional with hopes of earning a top-5 finish to qualify for the national meet as a team.
Facing tough competition, the men and women both finished 10th; however, senior Emily McCullough made history for the Tigers, becoming the first-ever FHSU runner to win a regional cross country championship title.
The two-time MIAA champion bested her competition by 10.1 seconds, finishing the 6-kilometer course in 20:32.6 minutes. With this win, she guaranteed her spot in the national championship race this weekend. She remains unbeaten against Division II competitors and hopes to maintain her incredible form in the national championships.
“After winning conference, I feel like it made me stronger mentally, and I went into regionals really confident with myself, knowing how and what I need to do to be able to compete and win with some of the top girls in the nation,’ McCullough said.
Preparing for the national championship, McCullough spoke about how this season improved her self-confidence going forward.
“I try not to put a lot of pressure on myself, and I just try to stay as confident as I possibly can,” she said. “This year has been a really big confidence booster with my successes, so that’s kind of helped me going into all of these races.”
She will try and keep her perfect DII season intact in the national championship race at Kenosha, Wisconsin, on Saturday.
For the men, Christian Darrah led the way for the Tigers, finishing 44th in the 10-kilometer race. FHSU Head Coach Jason McCullough spoke about his impressions of the team’s performance.
“It was not bad. I mean, it’s probably one of the toughest regionals. The men’s qualified seven teams out of the region, which was the most of any regional,” he said. “So decent performances, although I know we’re capable of finishing a little higher than we did.”