City High Girls Cross-Country finished eighth at state in the 2024 season and is looking to improve their standing and maintain the first place conference finishes in the JV and Freshman-Sophmore division.

“I would really love for us to get top three at State. I think that’s a really high-reach goal for us, but it’s something we should strive for,” Abigail Burns ‘26 said. “I also want us to win the conference in all three divisions. We won it in JV and Fresh-Soph last year, and then we got second in varsity.”

Burns is a returning varsity member and team captain. She was one of the fastest runners on the team last season and placed 24th in the 2024 state race. City High JV and Fresh-Soph have both been conference champions in the past two years. 

“We get a lot of JV runners that come and put in work in the summer, and it pays off. When the gun goes off they’re going to take care of business, they’re going to race hard and get themselves up into the front,” Coach Ryan Ahlers said. “Girls that maybe aren’t scoring on JV, they’re working hard and trying to hit PRs.”

The first meet of the season is the Hillcrest Invitational on September second. In 2023, City High won the Varsity race with a 37 point margin and in 2024, they won by 45 points.

“I’d love to win it again. That was really nice to have the team just totally dominate. It’s just really fun to see that and it especially helps motivate us for the rest of the season,” Burns said.