Running two miles in a little over 11 minutes, Jack Pearce, a freshman at MTHS, was among very few freshmen who competed at state in cross country.

With only 12 top-ranked freshmen out of 136 cross country runners, Pearce finished in 66th place in the WIAA 3A state cross country meet at the Sun Willows Golf Course in Pasco on Nov. 6.

“It was really cool to be the only runner to represent our school,” Pearce said, “especially as a freshman to be one of the few in the race.”

Pearce has had a lot of race experience and training as he been running since he was 10 years old.

“I didn’t think that if I trained as hard as I did, that I would made it to state,” Pearce stated.

One would think that coming into a statewide cross country race that intimidation would damper the chances of a good performance.But for Pearce, it was a completely different story.

“I wasn’t really intimidated because I knew most of the people from the last few years,” Pearce said of the competition. “What was intimidating was to see that finish line and know that I am with some of the fastest people in the country.” Currently, Pearce is training for the upcoming 2011 cross country season, in which he will surely be ranked as one of the top runners in the state.