No. 1 ranked Drew Hunter won his third straight Virginia State Cross Country Championships title on Friday morning, but not in the time he wanted. Last year, the Loudon Valley student-athlete set a state meet record time in 14:41. He managed "just" 15:04 this year and talks about the race as the wind audibly whips around his face.
Talk to us about the race and how brutal it was compared to last year.
Going in, I'm in better shape but as soon as I hit the first 800, I felt like I was running through the jungle. It was super windy and I knew I was going at a decent pace so I was like, I'll stick it out for the first 800 and then I'll see after that.
Once I hit the mile in 4:40, I was like, 'I'm gonna race for the win' at that point, save it for Foot Locker South.
I hope we got the team title, our No. 3 runner's back acted up in the middle of the race, so he didn't have the race he wanted but hopefully Peter and Cole made up the slack by going 3 and 6.
So is it official? Are you going to Foot Locker?
It's nothing official or on pape, but I'd like to go to Foot Locker again.
What are your goals for regionals and nationals?
If it's nice weather and everything, I'd like to run fast. I'm in shape, I'd like to do it today, but I realized conditions were not in my favor. Still, toughed it out and ran a pretty tough race, so I'm pleased with that. But yeah, I'd like to run somewhat fast.