The Lakeland Prep High School Boys and Girls Cross Country Teams made school history on October 29, winning the TSSAA Sectional Championships and earning qualification to the State Championship for the first time in the program’s history.
This year’s State Meet carries special significance, as it will be held at Shelby Farms in Memphis — marking the first time in the 55-year history of the event that the championship has taken place in West Tennessee. The course also serves as Lakeland Prep’s home course, giving the athletes a familiar setting as they compete against the top 40 teams in their division from across Tennessee.
The Boys Team includes runners Maxim Adriano, Sebastian Buder, George Elkins, Cameron Miller, Matthew Normand, Gabe Russell, and Charles Snyder. They will compete at the State Meet today, November 6 at 2:00 p.m. The Girls Team — consisting of Elaine Fabacher, Cristina Fernandez, Maci Hale, Amelia Mackus, Tatum Madden, Victoria Santayygo, and Lisa Spagl — will take the course at 2:50 p.m.
To celebrate and send off the teams, Lakeland Prep held a school-wide clap out ceremony at the end of the school day yesterday, with students and the marching band lining the halls to cheer on the athletes.
Boys Coach Grady credited the depth and unity of his team for their success, telling Lakeland Currents, “The boy’s team was the largest it has ever been. We had the two bookends of committed and knowledgeable upperclassmen on one side and a spirited and competitive freshman class on the other. From the start, we felt we had something special. Having missed qualifying for state by just 16 seconds last year, the boys never took anything for granted. In my years around runners, I’ve seen a lot of individual talent, but this is definitely the best running team I’ve ever seen coalesce and excel.”
Girls Coach Kelly highlighted perseverance and growth as the driving force behind the girls’ remarkable season saying, “The girls’ team was definitely a Cinderella story this year,” he said. “At the start of the season the roster was sparse, but little by little more girls came out. While the boys had a steady trajectory, the girls were finding their feet. What positioned them to win the sectional and qualify for state was that they peaked at exactly the right time — every last one of them. Some girls were running up to eight minutes faster at the end of the season than at the beginning.”
Both teams hope to take their momentum, hometown support, and an already historic season behind them into the State meet this afternoon.
