Six seniors lead Wayzata girls cross country team to national tournament win
The Wayzata, Minnesota, girls cross country had an amazing season: they won the state championship, the regional competition, and then qualified for the Nike National Tournament, which they won.
Six seniors and one freshman runner from Wayzata proved they are the best in the nation. Out of 22 teams across the country, seniors Chloe Kissell, Addison Neitz, Lila Golomb, Miley Clark, Maddie Gullickson, Jazleen Malherek-Osorio, and freshman Alissa Ledman took home first place on the biggest stage of cross country.
"I would kind of put it in perspective of the Superbowl in the NFL kind of," said senior Maddie Gullickson. "Where all the teams are building up for the season and finally that's your end goal."
They came to nationals as the top-ranked team and held onto that title, all while battling Portland's rainy and muddy terrain.
"We were slipping everywhere and there's some pretty gnarly hills out there, but that's what we love. That's what we think makes it fun," said senior Jazleen Malherek-Osorio.
Senior and North Caroline State commit Gullickson finished seventh individually in the nation. The best out of the Trojan pack, but all their speed put together earned them the team win.
"We can all do hard things if we work together and come together and do something for a cause bigger than ourselves," said Gullickson.
"To have this powerhouse of seniors and to have them just continually improve year after year, this was a culmination of years and months and hard work, which was really cool," said Kalsey Beach, Wayzata girls cross country head coach.