Over the past cross country season, seniors Bella Stosich, Alexis Abney, and Ellie Reese made school history by breaking the girl’s Shadow Ridge school record for the 5k race. The 5k race is a 3.1 mile-long event where cross country athletes from schools all around Las Vegas race against each other for the fastest times. The previous school record was held by junior Julia Pack in 2014 with a time of 19:54.

To earn the school record, Stosich, Abney, and Reese had to train hard during practice. Their runs included speed workouts, long distance workouts, and hill workouts, often being as long as 6 miles. They had to find the fine line between being able to train hard and push themselves without getting injured and losing their season.

Cross country may not garner the attention of sports like football, but the cross country runners manage to push through races that are extremely painful nonetheless.

Stosich, who holds the current school record with a 19:28, says, “I remember that pain is temporary and victory is forever.”

Although Stosich was able to take the school record at her race, she had to push herself like never before. She would have typically been able to easily earn a medal and earn a point that goes towards her letter.

Stosich says, “I was excited but it wasn’t as climatic as it seemed.  We ran in sweepstakes (which are some of the fastest girls in the nation) so I barely made top 60%.”

Reese and Abney were able to break the school record together. They both got a time of 19:31.5 in the last race before the team would split and the varsity teams would go to the regional meet and eventually to state.

Abney says, “I was so excited, me and Ellie passed the finish line together and we both were over the moon about breaking the previous school record.”

Thanks to Stosich, Abney, Reese, and the rest of the girls varsity team, Shadow Ridge has a new regional win. The season isn’t over though, the girls varsity team won 1st place by a large margin in the regional meet, landing them a place at the state meet along with the boys varsity team. They may be able to lower their records further at the state meet in Reno.