With high stakes and a tough season, the John Carroll women’s cross-country team competed at-the-end of the season championships.

Although the team did not win a meet, a “great improvement” was made among the team according to Head Coach Robert Torres.

Each team out of the IAAM A Conference was invited to the championships in Hunt Valley at the Center for Agriculture and Farm Park, on October 25.

Before the meet, Coach Torres said, “If everyone performs well, then that is a success.”

One of Coach Torres’ goals for the championship was to beat at least one other team.

With many runners being new to the sport, championships provided a benchmark to help show progress among the athletes from the beginning to the end of the season.

The course was tough compared to others throughout the season, but the girls had faced hard courses among the season, like NDP and Maryvale.

Even though each team in the conference got invited, Coach Torres still felt like the girls earned their spot.

The girls didn’t end up beating a team, so they placed last in the A conference. They also had top runners out since they were sick or injured.

Maddie Wassin, who has had the fastest times for JC this season, got a PR of 20:40.

Elery Shetzer and Victoria Novak were also top runners during the season itself.

Freshman Kira Jenkins did really well and stepped up since some of the top runners were out during the championships.