Northridge’s Evelyn Cook recently captured the Region 5 girls individual championship for a second consecutive season, and for the first time since a stress fracture ended her track and field campaign last spring.

How do you tell your body to keep going, even after the mental crosses over into the physical?

It’s not an exact science, Cook says, but the daughter of multi-time Ogden Marathon champion Riley Cook receives the same advice from her father before every race:

“He always tells me beforehand, you’re going to say no,” Evelyn Cook said.

Somewhere along every race, the younger Cook faces the same question: whether she really wants to keep running. Given her history, she’s succeeded in denying her conscience and putting one foot in front of the other.

“There’s a part of your race where you know you don’t want to do it anymore,” Cook said. “That’s the most important part of your race because that’s when you have to say no, and you have to keep going. That’s the most pivotal moment, because if you say no, you’ll keep going.”

There’s risk in ignoring your body in favor of the finish line. As many as 38% of high schoolers will endure one running-related injury per season, according to the National Library of Medicine.

Last spring, Cook endured weeks of pain from shin splints until that overuse resulted in a season-ending injury. Her father played a pivotal role in helping her back to the course, Cook said.

“I just low-key didn’t tell anyone and I kept running,” Cook said. “I’ve learned to become mindful of your injury and (how to) rest it.”

Cook (19:26.75) finished the Region 5 championships roughly 25 seconds ahead of the meet’s runner-up, Box Elder junior Brynlee Cragun (19:51.83), two weeks ago in Harrisville. Jeff Hazzard carried for the boys’ end with a winning time of 15:26.37.

Northridge, led by head coach Curt Bentley, is a high prospect for this year’s state races, slated for Oct. 27-28 at Sugar House Park in Salt Lake City. Seven combined 2025 state qualifiers (5 girls, 2 boys) appeared at the region meet earlier this month.

Cook and Hazzard, having run the state course a combined five times over their respective high school careers, know Sugar House and its challenges quite well. Last year saw the duo finish as top-three individual medalists.

“There are lots of hills in it, and it’s probably one of the toughest courses that we’ll do,” Hazzard, the 5A boys runner-up last fall, said.

“It’s got grass for the whole thing. Some meets have a lot of concrete, but this one’s all grass, which is nice for having spikes on and whatnot. … There’s a different vibe with it being the state meet. It’s always energetic.”

Like his teammate, Hazzard’s learned to take his conditioning quite seriously in his four years on the trail for the Knights.

Supplements, bone health, sleep assessments — Hazzard’s scoured the internet learning about them all as Northridge’s senior frontrunner. Originally from Utah, Hazzard and his family returned home before the senior started high school. He’d qualify for state as a freshman but fell short of the top 50; a year later, he’d place 16th, overtaking two seniors, including one who logged a personal best time.

Hazzard outpaced Daxton Coombs, now a junior at West Field, after learning of the former New Mexico state champion’s reputation online. To beat a runner he’s never faced, Hazzard says, was a unique challenge after weeks of familiarizing himself with some of the state’s best competition.

“It’s definitely interesting when you haven’t raced someone before,” Hazzard said. “When I race, there are some guys I’ve raced a lot before, but when it’s someone new, you don’t know what their strategy and their tactics are.”

The final two weeks of cross country season included the Region 1 championships at Layton Commons Park on a rainy Monday afternoon; Layton’s Parker Harris (14:54.05) and Ellie Dorius (17:17.15) emerged as the individual boys and girls champions.

Region faces and places go out the door later this month, though. Sugar House is a pleasant place to watch the race, but you can ask Cook, Hazzard or really any local runner about the state race: pleasant isn’t how they’d describe it.

“It’s really exciting to race against super-competitive people; 5A is super competitive,” Cook said. “The most intimidating part is the atmosphere; it’s just very serious.”

The 5A state championships are slated for Tuesday, Oct. 27, at Sugar House Park in Salt Lake City.

Connect with Standard-Examiner sports reporter Conner Becker via email at cbecker@standard.net, X @ctbecker and Instagram @standardexaminersports.