The last time the girls cross country team won the state championship was in 1993; that changed this year on Oct. 29 as the team won the Michigan High School Athletic Association Division 1 championship. The girls said they felt good getting that win for their school and themselves.

“It was honestly a dream come true,” junior Abby Kerr said. “I’ve been dreaming about this since I was in eighth grade just starting to run track and cross country.”

The team started practicing back in June.

“It was really cool because we’ve been training for such a long time,” sophomore Lauren Monaghan said. “We thought we were going to win, but we weren’t really sure. It just made us all really happy, and it proved that we can do what we put our minds to.”

Due to the training schedule, the girls had time to get to know each other.

“We spent a lot of time on the road doing road trips and going to different meets,” senior Hannah Palomino said. “I think it’s a bonding experience. We’re really close as a team and we push each other.”

For five months, cross country has been pairing various exercises with their running, which some feel has improved their performance.

“In the week, we’ll run between 35 to 40 miles,” Kerr said. ”We’ll do workouts, which is like 800’s or 1,000’s, and we do long runs and short runs before meets.”

The girls say that the coaches have been vital to their success and that they are thankful for their support.

“The coaches were probably the biggest part,” Palomino said. “Our coaches are so passionate about running and training, so they definitely pushed us and made us believe that we could.”

For junior Katie Scoles, winning the state championship was extra special. Back in 1993, when Troy High last won the state championship, Scoles’ mother was a member of the team.

“[My mom] was really excited, and my grandma was delighted,” Scoles said. “My grandma was at the race too, and she was so proud because she saw two generations of state champions.”