The Hellgate Knights cross country team (HKXC) has always been considered one of the best teams in the state, and this year will be no exception as the girls team is poised to bring home yet another trophy from State to add to the collection. 

     For years, the Hellgate girls team have been in close competition with Bozeman XC, trading wins at State for the past few years. This year’s competition is tight, however, Hellgate has managed to beat Bozeman for the past two meets and hopes that they can continue this success into the final meet on Oct. 22.  “We’ve been going back and forth with [Bozeman] all season, but we’ve beaten them the last two races which gives us lots of confidence going into state,” junior Rose Wiltse said.

     Last year at the State meet, the Hellgate girls lost to Bozeman in an extremely close race, coming down to just four points. This year, the Knights are looking to redeem themselves and take home first place once again. “I think if we’re able to work together we’ll perform really well at state,” said Wiltse. 

The state meet will also be held in Missoula once again, which the athletes are looking forward to. “I’m very glad it’s in Missoula so we’ll be familiar with the course and hopefully have lots of people out cheering,” said Wiltse.

     Some notable moments this season have included significant improvements for some runners, including Kaitlyn Skinner bringing down her personal record by 39 seconds to make her 5k time 19:21. After overcoming injury, Wiltse achieved a personal record (PR) for the first time since her freshman year. Wilste’s freshman PR was 19:38 and she brought it down 18 seconds to 19:19. 

     All in all, it has been a very good season for the girls cross country team and they are very excited to be working with each other to make the team the best that it can be. “Spending time with teammates is always my favorite part of cross country, whether it’s training, at meets, or hanging out outside of running, my teammates are what make cross country so fun and memorable,” Wiltse said.