It wasn’t quite the finish they were looking for, but the runners on the Bayfield High School cross country team are proud one of their own is going to the state 3A championships next weekend.

Bridget Goddard took 13th with a time of 22:11.296 at the 3A regional 1 meet Friday in Pagosa Springs, earning her a berth to the state meet.

She was followed by Lexa Fleming, running in her final meet as a senior. She almost qualified individually, taking 17th with a time of 22:37.46. The top 15 individual runners and the top five teams move on to the state meet Oct. 31 in Colorado Springs.

On Saturday, Goddard said she knew she was running toward the front of the pack, but she didn’t realize she had qualified for state until Coach Josh Walton told her after the race.

“I was just excited to get back,” she said. “It’s been awhile.”

After qualifying for state her freshman year, she had a torn ACL her sophomore year that slowed her down, and she injured her hip lifting weights this year, causing her to pull out of her last two races.

She ran Friday with the goal of finishing the race, so qualifying for state was an added bonus. “I just decided I would do what I could do,” she said.

The girls just missed qualifying as a team, taking sixth overall with 166 points, behind fifth-place Aspen with 106. Moffat County High School won the girls’ race with an impressive 32 points.

Coach Walton was pleased with both teams’ performances, particularly the girls.

“The girls, as a team, couldn’t have run better,” he said. Fleming was close to her alltime personal record, and moved up nicely from her regional ranking of 29th to place 17th.

“We have a very tough region,” Walton said. “I’m proud of the boys, too, they had a good race.”

For the BHS girl, Rachel Cooper was third and 43rd overall with a time of 24:14.84.

Amber Johnson was 53rd with 25:53.40. Sarah Ruybal came in 60th with a time of 27:54.72.

Mylee Sanders ran 66th at 30:01.47, followed by sister Jade at 71st, 33:03.68.

On the boys’ side, junior Alex Knight came back to the cross country team to run in regionals after competing in soccer this fall. Knight took first for the BHS boys and 23rd overall at 19:08.

Sloan Mazur was 26th at 19:17.71.

Next in came Brandon Stuever at 54th with a time of 20:42.486, followed closely by Joey Sandrey in 56th at 20:45.633. Bryan Gram was 64th with 21:18.92, with fellow Bobcat Justis Herrera running 70th at 21:36.42. Jackson Sibley took 73rd place with a time of 22:08.546, and Daniel Jankins finished up for the team at 22:52.76, taking 79th place.

The boys took ninth overall with 201 points. Gunnison High School won with 33 points.