COLUMBIA -- St. Joseph's girls cross country coach Marie Kernell watched her team win its sixth consecutive Class A championship Saturday with two runners who were pretty much new to the sport this season.
Photo by Zoe Wade for scrunners
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Freshman Katherine Uprichard was injured at the beginning of last season and never had the chance to compete, and seventh-grader Caroline Linen had never run before.
Uprichard finished ninth (20:37) and Linen 10th (20:38) in the state meet at Sandhills Research Center.
"Both of them are mentally tough," Kernell said. "They're soccer players. They have athletic parents."
Ah, heredity. Can't beat it.
As is often the case, running was passed on in the Linen family.
"Both of her parents ran cross country. Her grandparents ran cross country," Kernell said. "When
Caroline's mom came to our first meeting, she said, 'I ran cross country and was on a couple state championship teams, and then my dad ran cross country,' and I was like, 'I'm signing her ...