Lincoln’s girls cross country team placed fifth in the state, behind performances by sophomore Kyla Becker, sophomore Kendall Accetta, senior Annika Steele, junior Ellie Kobak, sophomore Bridget Price, senior Abigail Dalke, and sophomore Mary Skakel.

The team finished in that order at the 6A State Championships at Lane Community College in Eugene on Nov. 5. Becker placed 15th overall with a time of 18 minutes, 57 seconds over the 5,000-meter course while Accetta placed 31st in 19:36.

“Everybody ran their hardest at state,” Price said. As for the season as a whole, she says it went “very well- everybody improved in some aspect of running.”

In the boys meet, senior Carson Cohn, senior Dominic Arce, senior Spencer Hutchinson, junior Ezra Berg, sophomore Jalen Javurek, freshman Ethan Harper, and sophomore Connor Campbell led the way to seventh place.

Cohn placed 27th overall with a time of 16:25 while Arce and Hutchinson were close behind with times of 16:28 and 16:29 respectively.

Both teams won the PIL, which they had not done for eight years.

While the season overall was a success, girls and boys head coach Suzanne Parry hoped for more from her runners at state. “The boys lost to several teams they had beaten in more difficult environments and the girls missed an opportunity to be on the podium,” Parry said.

While the girls finished ahead of all the other PIL teams in the meet, the boys trailed two teams they beat in league competition: Franklin and Wilson, which finished in fifth and sixth, respectively.

However, Parry  said, “both teams learned a lot.” She fully expects they will have a stronger showing next year.

In terms of next year, Parry is excited to see how the younger runners who dominated this year’s teams develop. “I hope they will learn to push themselves and demand more of themselves in ways they have not yet been able to do,” she said of the 2017 season.

The success of this year’s JV teams perhaps offered a glimpse of the future. “Our JV girls were a true powerhouse, winning nearly every race they were in,” Parry said.

But the team will have to say goodbye to its seniors. Parry will miss the inspiration that Cohn and Arce brought to the boys side, while Abby Dalke was a “rock” for the girls over the past four years.