By: Cooper Hyldahl
January 18, 2021
The Hoggard cross country teams swept the 4A East Regional competition on Saturday, January 16th, with both the girls and boys teams finishing in first place. The Hoggard girls are no stranger to winning, having won regionals last year and gone on to place first at states. The boys won via tiebreaker as their sixth place runner, Luke Ward, was able to edge out the sixth place runner of Millbrook High School. This will be an improvement on last year’s performance. Additionally, it will be the first time in school history for both the boys and girls to simultaneously claim the winning title at regionals.
The teams could not have accomplished this feat without the help of their seniors, Paige Phillips, Sloane Flemming-Hickey, Erin Johnson, Drew Thomspon, Andrew Whitehead, Zach Knot, and Brennan Pierce, many of whom have plans to run in college. Additionally, the hard work and dedication of Molly Parker, the sophomore who placed first among all the girls, should not go unrecognized.
This cross country season, like the year as a whole, has been defined by Covid, as the runners have had to change their practice habits to accommodate Covid restrictions. With preseason workouts starting in May, this cross country season has been much longer than usual with the first Varsity race being held on November 19th due to health protocols.
All of the athletes will go on to run at states this weekend where the girls will have to defend their first place title. Both the girls and the boys are in serious contention to take home the gold but do not want to rule out any of the other teams just yet. Best of luck to all of our Hoggard runners!
1/25/2021 edit: Hoggard's Women's team won the 4A State Competition, with Molly Parker placing third overall. The Men's team placed second, just two points away from first. We are so proud of you!