Senior Alex Castenada had a strong finish and qualified for states in cross country at WPIAL Championships on Thursday at White Oak Park.

“For me personally, a big moment was being in 60th place at the 800 mark and working my way all the way up to 15th to qualify for states – even though the cutoff was 28th this year,” he said.

Castenada also made states last year, and now he will return for his final high school cross country race.

WPIALs is a highly anticipated meet that the team has been preparing for all season. 

“This was the meet we all looked forward to and built toward every practice and workout,” Castenada said.

Sophomore Cheyenne Trout, meanwhile, led the girls team, placing 33rd. 

“As a sophomore, she has been our top runner. She did not qualify for states, but she still had a really good race,” Bowen said.

The boys team placed 11th out of 30 teams, and the girls team placed 17th out of 26 teams. 

Castenada is happy with Baldwin’s performance. 

“The team ran really well overall. We showed how much we’ve grown since the start of the season and beat several teams we weren’t even close to earlier in the year,” he said

The Highlanders are comfortable running this course, Bowen said.

“White Oak is Baldwin’s home course, so we run there very frequently, including preseason workouts,” Bowen said.

Despite the familiarity, WPIALs is always a difficult meet to compete at, Bowen said.

“There are so many people on the line, so that start is always difficult,” she said.

States will take place on November 1st in Hershey.