Lyla Plaisier Earns All-State Honors and Girls Cross Country Team Finishes 14th at State!

The girls cross country team wowed us and beat all expectations and season goals last weekend in Peoria at the state meet. Ranked 24th in the state heading into the meet, this group ran amazing races and finished in 14th place, the best finish our school has had in over 20 years! Incredibly, every single runner ran the fastest race of their lives, making this accomplishment all the sweeter.

We were especially thrilled for our two seniors and co-captains Sienna Azzinaro and Ella Potoshnick. Sienna ran her last race of her high school career a minute faster than her season best time from last year, and Ella broke 20 minutes for the first time in her career, running a 37-second PR and finishing in 19:44. The team devotion they led the night before the meet focused on Philippians 4:4-6 and served as the perfect reminder for the team to run with joy, show gentleness, and to not be worried or anxious.

State returning sophomore Maddie Turner dropped 19 seconds off her time compared to her race on this course last year. Sophomore Addison Butler was new to cross country this year and finished her season running over 3 minutes faster than she had in her first-ever 3-mile race in August. Junior Eden Moore also was 3 minutes faster than her first race of the season and stepped up into the varsity runner role with ease. Likewise, sophomore Phoebe Leppink, who ran faster each time she ran the 3-mile distance this season, ended up running 75 seconds faster than she had just three weeks ago at the conference meet!

Freshman Lyla Plaisier, ranked in the top 25 in the state for much of the season, ran a smart and smooth race, getting into the top 15 early on. With about 400 meters to go and in 13th place, she made one final strategic push up the straightaway, picking off two more runners and finishing the race in a school record time of 17:08. She finished in 11th place in what turned out to be the fastest 1A state race in history, making her the first Timothy girl to earn All-State honors since 2010. Lyla was the fastest freshman in the race (only juniors and seniors were in front of her) and was one of only two freshmen in the top 25!

Aside from these many accomplishments, we are most proud of our entire girls team for being humble, kind-hearted, and encouraging. There is no sport like cross country, and teams are very special. They become like a family. This amazing group of young women have laughed and prayed together, planned team devotions, completed hot and hard workouts side-by-side, run many miles through parks, on streets, and along the Prairie Path, and cheered their teammates and others on all season. We feel very fortunate to have had the privilege to be their coaches. Congrats to this outstanding group of athletes!