Mills Godwin had quite the tandem of runners at the XC state meet this year and it looks like that those performances could be just the beginning.
First up was the girls race where Landin Bostian made it very clear from the start, this was going to be her race. Ultimately though she fell just short of winning with her second place finish in 19:02 on Oatlands not-so-easy course.
What is impressive though about her performance is the fact that she had not raced in cross country since 2017! Yes, this Mills Godwin senior took two years off before finally making her return to the XC course. She also dropped an impressive two minutes off of her times run back in her freshman year.
Bostian did her 19:02 the hard way though by leading the entire race until roughly 600m to go. She clocked a 5:31 opening mile and then passed the two mile mark in 12:01.
Hopefully we will get to see her on the track this spring where she could very well run well under 11 minutes in the 3200m run.
Next on the course was the boys race featuring Mills Godwin's Berkley Nance. He too ultimately would finish second with a time of 16:33. His splits were 4:58 and 10:35. What is most impressive about his performance is the fact that he is only a freshman.
After an impressive win at his regional meet it became very clear that this freshman was a name to watch. It actually has us looking back to see when the last time a freshman won a state title. The short answer is we think it could have only happened once. We do know that there has only been one four-time champion and that was John Handley's Bobby Lockhart who won 1998-2001.
Though he did not grab that elusive freshman crown, he did put himself very close to doing so. If he were to go on and win three titles though he would also be joining some elite names such as Alan Webb and Drew Hunter.
Both of these Mills Godwin runners had a breakout state meet and could be in the headlines more this year as we inch closer to the post-season.