Girls Recap
The matchup between Maria Coffin and Abbey Green was the big story heading into Saturday's 4A State Championships. Coffin was the defending state champion, but Green had closed the gap, beating her at the Manhattan Invitational earlier this year.
Within the first 400 meters of the race the two had already taken the lead. With every step they created more of a gap between themselves and the rest of the field. This was truly a two-horse race. Coffin and Green went back-and-forth for the first two miles before Coffin finally created some separation heading back up the dip for the last time.
Coffin's final time of 17:49.40 broke her own course record of 18:09.10 that she set at last year's Bull Run Invitational. Green clocked in five seconds behind her. Now, the new Hereford course (opened in 2014) is obviously a bit faster than its predecessor, but Coffin's time was nearly 30 seconds faster than the record set on the old course by Hannah Oneda in 2011.
Photo by Debbi Persinger
While Coffin got the individual title, Green led her Wildcats to their fourth straight state title. They scored exactly half as many points as the next team (Thomas S. Wootton) by putting their top five runners among the first 22 finishers. They will be the favorite heading into next year, as well, as six of their seven runners will return.