Laramie is Ready for the 2024 Cross Country State Championships

Laramie High School will be one of 15 teams competing in Class 4A at the 2024 Wyoming High School Cross Country State Championships on Saturday in Cheyenne. This is the competition they’ve been training for all season. Both teams finished third at last year’s cross-country state meet. This year’s competition is at Little America Golf Course starting at 10:30 a.m. The 4A girls’ race is at 11 a.m., and the 4A boys’ race is at 12:30 p.m.

LARAMIE COMPETES AT THE 2024 CROSS COUNTRY STATE CHAMPIONSHIPS

Head coach Greg Schabron says they’ve prepared so well this year.

“We discussed how we changed the training schedule throughout the season in preparation for this event. A lot of kids early in the season were saying how they hate this course. We had a team meeting a couple of weeks ago and told them they may not like the course but you sure are ready for it. I kind of saw it in their eyes, and they understand it.”

Sophia Gonzales and Keiran Giraldo just finished in fifth and sixth place, respectively, at last week’s conference championships. KOWB’s David Settle spoke to the duo at practice on Wednesday to discuss how they’re feeling going into this race, how they describe the course, how they must push up the big hill, and the competition they’ll be facing.

Coach Schabron said the course is deceptively challenging. “It doesn’t look like you have a lot of hills and inclines, but going out on the course, there are a lot of those. You have a nice little bump up probably 600 meters into the course, and then right at mile No. 1, you have a really good climb, which you see again at mile No. 2 because it’s a two-loop course. It also climbs one more good time before they can finally get to relax and push it in.”

Coach Schabron knows how they have to plan for this race

Schabron says they will visit with the team about strategy on Friday night and again Saturday morning. “We’ve really emphasized going out aggressively. That doesn’t mean too hard; just place themselves in a good position and stay in contact with where they should be.”

The favorites on the girls’ side are Natrona County, Cheyenne Central, and Jackson. Star Valley and Sheridan are the favorites in the boys’ division. Individually, Laramie’s Gideon Moore could be in the mix in the 4A boys’ race.