Lovejoy girls cross the bridge at the 2022 UIL 5A Cross Country State Championships
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The Lovejoy girls have won the last two UIL 5A cross country team state titles. They even qualified for the Nike Cross Nationals in 2022. This season, they begin the journey towards number three.
The previous state meet wins came with the help of Amy Morefield, one of the program's top all-time runners. Morefield graduated last spring and will enroll at the University of Tulsa this fall.
Losing the number one runner is a tough task for any team and the Lady Leopards might be one of the few teams who can sustain competing at a high level this year after losing an impactful runner like Morefield.
They return all six of the rest of their state meet line up that saw Sara Morefield (6th), Camryn Benson (9th), Peyton Benson (10th), and Kailey Littlefield (11th) all finish in the top 11 places in Round Rock.
Lovejoy also had an impressive state track meet performance that hinged on the legs of the 800m - 3200m events. That will help them in their quest for a third consecutive state title.
Senior Kate Carlson has been with Lovejoy for their championship run and was the No. 6 runner last fall. She could be a scorer this upcoming season.
The Lady Leopards have been top heavy for the last couple of years and this year will be the same. They'll have a strong top five runners and that will make the rest of the 5A conference have to be good to take them down.
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