A Central Iowa girls’ cross-country running team is headed to a national meet for the first time in the program’s history.
The Johnston High School varsity team will compete at Nike Cross Nationals in Portland, Oregon, on Saturday, Dec. 7, after qualifying at Nike Cross Regional in Sioux Falls, South Dakota, in November.
Athletes who qualified for Nationals are Payton Crabb, Audrey Dummermuth, Jayna Lamping, Aubrielle Tousey, Ele Wharton, Lexie Wisham, and Alyx Woodley.
“We all started crying in disbelief and hugging each other,” said Dummermuth. “We just kept repeating to each other: ‘We made nationals!’ Every single time we said it, it was just so exciting.”
“I was so shocked — my first reaction was tears of happiness,” Woodley said. “Seeing my time and running to hug my teammates, knowing what we had accomplished was the best feeling in the world.”
Read more about the team’s road to Nationals here.
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Zachary Oren Smith
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