Peoria, Illinois: a very familiar place for the girls cross country team. For the past four years, the team has qualified to compete at the state championship to be known as the best Girls Cross Country team in Illinois.

Police sirens could be heard five minutes away from Vernon Hills High School (VHHS). Parents, siblings, friends and classmates all waited outside the front doors of the school for the team to arrive.

When the first police car pulled into the VHHS parking lot, the place erupted with clapping and shouting. Signs were immediately lifted into the air reading, “WE R SO PROUD OF U.” 

Once every runner stepped off the bus, the parents flipped their signs, revealing the faces of their child. This was met with loud shouts and cheers from everybody at the school. A few of the runners started to cry as they ran up to their parents to hug them.   

Everybody eventually made their way inside where they were applauded by the entire cast for the school play; the cast wanted to congratulate their fellow classmates on their athletic accomplishments.

Dr. Guillaume, principal of VHHS, stood at a podium and waited for all the girls to take a seat around the podium while the parents took pictures and videos of the team being recognized. He gave a speech recognizing the team’s accomplishments over the past four years and then passed it off to coach Curry.

After Curry spoke, it was the team’s turn. Every four year senior on varsity stood up and talked about what cross country meant to them. Ryan Schofield (12) was one of the four-year seniors on varsity in cross country.

“When we got to state, we realized that all the workouts and all the hard days paid off,” Schofield said.

It was an emotional time for some of the girls. Tears shed, powerful words were said, and an overall feeling of pride and accomplishment filled the foyer. After all was said and done, one last group of pictures were taken by all the hardware the girls received over the past four years.