McDonald | Cross Country Heidi Hoffman

Winning the state championship as a team still seems unreal for McDonald’s Heidi Hoffman.

“It was unbelievable and it’s still unbelievable,” Hoffman said. “When people come up to me and say, ‘How was winning state?’ I just have to think for myself and ask if that really happened. You can’t take things like that for granted.”

The junior helped her team win the title by placing 10th in the state meet with a time of 19:25.13.

Teammate Malina Mitchell came in right behind her in 11th.

Hoffman was confident about McDonald’s chances this season.

“I knew that we were going to be pretty good,” Hoffman said. “We took each meet as it came.”

Knowing her team had the capability to win a state title, Hoffman often thought about it during the regular season.

“Yeah that definitely pushed me to run good,” Hoffman said. “I always think about my team. It pushed us to do good things.”

During the state meet, Hoffman thought about what makes her run well.

“I am always thinking about my team to push me,” Hoffman said. “So I focused on them.”

According to Hoffman, Blue Devils head coach Mike Richards had confidence in his girls all season long.

“He waited until the very last second to tell us that we could get top three overall,” Hoffman said.

The team surprised him by winning the meet.

“After the race I stood with my coach and teammates waiting for that last girl to come through,” Hoffman said. “And after she did, we all just kind of stood there in shock that actually happened.

“I just enjoyed it then because you never know what could happen next year. I just focused on what was happening and not anything else.”