Following extremely successful races in the Regional Cross Country Meet on Oct. 19, senior Drew Seidel took first place, and junior Tiya Chamberlin took second place, qualifying themselves for the Colorado Cross Country State Championship. For both Farmers, it was their second time appearing in the State Championship.

Seidel, who appeared in his first year of Cross Country last year, said, “I felt really good this year compared to last year.”

Seidel talked about how he came with a different mindset to this year’s State Championship compared to last year. “I had a plan going into the race and I executed it. My goal was top seven, and I got sixth. Overall, I’m really pleased with how I performed.” Appearing in the state championship for the second time, Seidel said that he didn’t have an issue with seeing many new faces at the competition. “When you tend to perform against other elite athletes, you start to become pretty good friends with them. They’re all really good guys and they’re great competitors to go up against.”

Finishing sixth in the state, Seidel earned first team All-State honors and earned himself a spot in the Nike Cross Regional Race in Casa Grande, Arizona. “I took a couple of days off after State just to rest and recover, but as of right now, I’m turning it up and staying focused on being prepared for regionals.”

Chamberlin, who was expected to be a top competitor in the State Championship took a slight backstep, finishing 12th and being diagnosed with the stomach flu all in the same day. Finishing 12th and qualifying for 2nd team All State honors, Chamberlin was grateful for her achievements, but seemed struck on not getting the performance out of herself that she was expecting.

“I knew something was off the night before the race,” stated Chamberlin in an interview this past week. “I just refused to acknowledge that I was sick. I was focused on the race and nothing else.” Despite fighting the illness, Chamberlin started off on her normal mile pace of  five minutes and fifty seconds. “I tried to hold onto the pace, but my legs were gone, and I just felt like I needed to lay down and go to sleep. I kept going though, and tried to stay in a positive state throughout the race.”

Similar to Seidel, Chamberlin mentioned that she had a set mindset going into a race and a plan that she visualized to execute. Like Seidel had stated, the runners in the state championship knew each other and were pretty good friends. Chamberlin touched on that piece as well: “Being friends with the other runners makes it a lot easier to know what to expect. I do have a specific plan coming into each race. It’s relatively the same over all my races, but it changes and molds around the type of competitor I’m up against.”

Mentioning that she knew she had more in the tank, Chamberlin was extremely grateful for the achievements she received in this race. Second team All-State honors is something that she is very proud of. “I knew that I definitely had more in me had I not been sick, but I’m still very grateful that I was able to make that kind of mark.”

Along with Seidel, Chamberlin will also be attending regionals after her performance in the state championship. Like previously mentioned, both runners have a set plan that they bring into each and every race. Chamberlin explained that she will be studying the girls from other states so that she can effectively execute her plan.

In the words of both runners, Chamberlin and Seidel believe that the state championship was a very successful race for them. They look to take this performance and use it to fuel them in their next race to perform even better.