SALT LAKE CITY -- Instead of hardware, the St. Joseph High School girls'cross country team walked away from the state 1-A championships with hard lessons.
"That's how running sometimes is," said St. Joseph coach Javier Chavez on Wednesday morning.
At first it appeared that the girls would at least walk away with the second-place trophy, when they announced a tie with Wayne High, but there are no ties in cross country. After adding in the scores of the sixth place girls on each team, the Jayhawks ended up third, a surprise for the four-time defending team champion.
During the first mile of the 3-mile run at Sugarhouse Park, St. Joseph was in position to repeat its championship. Junior Lyna Garcia was leading the pack and had buried the first mile, opening up an 11-second lead over Dugway's Katie Nielson and the rest of the field.
"I got lost on the course on the pond on the first lap," said an obviously dissatisfied Garcia. "I was just freaking out, yelling my coach's name. My coach directed me back to the course, but it was really hard."
Chavez estimated that Garcia ran an extra 400 meters before she got back on the course. By that time, Nielsen was feeling good and had opened up a 20-second lead, which she maintained to win in 19:35.
Panguitch's Catania Holman passed Garcia in the final 400 meters to take second, leading her squad to the team title.
"When Lyna came through, she was broken because she had gotten lost," said Kaylie Pulver, St. Joseph assistant coach. "She gets so focused on the race that she sometimes loses other stimuli."
Pulver said that despite the team not meeting their own high expectations, she was proud of how the team performed.
"I think the girls are going to be able to draw together and do well next year," she said. "This will reignite their desire to become state champions again."
Garcia also said that her third-place finish will give her motivation for next year.
"I'm going to have to have a better sense of direction," she said, pushing away her tears. "I'm going to win next year."
St. Joseph's Emily Brandt (20:40.6) and Kate Weil (21:10) placed sixth and seventh overall, with Christiana Behnken (22:20) placing 16th and Danielle Stanley (25:21) running 49th,
In the boys 1-A race, St. Joseph's Sam Weil (17:25) was fifth and Conner Letendre (18:41) was 20th as the Jayhawks battled to a 20th place. The defending 1-A champions ended up third overall behind Monticello and Bryce Valley.
In the 2-A ranks, North summits' Erica Birk won her third straight girls medalists honor in 18:23. The Rowland Hall girls and Parowan boys won the team titles.
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