Cross country is a sport in which teams and individuals run an open air race on natural terrain. Three members of Timberland’s cross country team qualified for the state meet in late November.

The team had been practicing and working hard all season. Finally, Junior Tyler Freiner, senior Jonah Mchaffie and senior  Trevor Peimann qualified. Peimann took second place.

“I was super excited once I crossed the finish line. It was just an adrenaline rush of knowing all the hard work had finally paid off this season and everything that I had been training and working for finally came,” Peimann said.

Freiner placed 17th and Mchaffie, 85th.

“To see these kids do that, see them improve, and see them feel so good at the end of the race and feel so good about their accomplishments is what makes it all worth it for sure. As a coach it felt really good to see Peimann be successful, because he is a phenomenal kid, he works really hard and he is a great team leader. With cross country, the training is so difficult. To run a 5k super fast is one of the hardest things a human can do,” Coach Dan Staples said.

The cross country success stretched throughout the district. Liberty junior Ally Kruger took first place for the girls at the state meet.

“Going into it I knew it could be anyone’s race, so it ended up being really cool to win, because I wasn’t actually expecting it. It felt super cool, because I wanted to do that for so long, but I never thought I actually would,” Kruger said.

For more information and updates on the cross country team, follow them on twitter @THSCrossCntry.