With over 200 athletes on the line, junior Ava Crews stood on the starting line of the Division 2, State Finals on the grounds of the Michigan International Speedway as the lone TKHS cross country runner. Although the team did not advance, Ava qualified for her third straight state finals as an individual.

She went into the race with a solid plan, good fitness, and with her sights on performing well enough to earn All-State honors. 

I asked Ava to share with me her vision for how the race would go and she had an ambitious, well thought out plan. I knew everything would have to go her way to nail what she had in mind, but I believed her plan to be appropriately aggressive to try to achieve what she wanted. 

The field of 250 was stacked with the first five athletes crossing the finish line in under 18-minutes and the next 30 running under 19-minutes, which is an outstanding field of runners! In comparison, albeit under different conditions, last year's times featured nobody running under 18 minutes and 30th place finishing in just over 19 minutes. So, it was a much faster race this year.

Ava carried out her first mile to plan, but started to feel the effects of her efforts not long after. Nevertheless, she powered on giving the maximum effort she had on the day. Ultimately she crossed the line in 19:27, which was a few seconds faster than her regional time, and much faster than her 19:55 she ran here the previous year.

When it was all said and done, Ava placed 59th place, which put her in the top 22% of the field and earned her Academic All-State honors, which requires an athlete to have a GPA of at least 3.8 (Ava’s in 3.9+) and to finish in the top half of the field (Ava, as noted, finished in the top quarter).

Ava had a fantastic season and should be proud of what she has accomplished and put together this year. As much as she enjoyed being a part of the state finals as an individual, her bigger goal is for the entire team to be on the starting line with her next year. Her team and coach were proud of Ava today and are proud of her in general.