It all came down to sectionals for Corona Del Sol’s cross-country team with hopes of qualifying for Friday's state meet.

When the boys and the girls teams completed their races, they found out they qualified, each finishing sixth in their races.

“It’s very important to run well especially at sectionals because you're trying to qualify for state and beat as many people as you can to guarantee your spot at state,” said sophomore Ashlinn Aguayo.  

The AIA Sectional Cross Country Championships were set at Crossroads Park in Gilbert, Ariz. Corona ran here earlier in the season at the Chandler Relays, but this was different. This meet had high stakes.

The top 50 percent of teams in their respective sections advanced to the state meet. Division 1 Section 3 had 15 high schools participating on the day. For Corona, this meant the team had to place top 8 in the event to move on. 

All the hard work on the season led to this meet. The coaches especially knew the runners had to give their top performances to move forward.

“I feel super accomplished,” said girls head coach Brian Crane. “The goal every year that I tell the girls is first to have fun and second to make state. Corona has had some ups and downs with the girls’ team the last few years, so it's a good feeling that we’ve made it two years in a row now.”

Boys head coach Pat Smith believed Corona could have placed higher, but his second-best runner, senior Dominic Arellano, was sidelined because of back problems. 

“I’m glad we made it,” said Smith. “Going in, we thought we were a little better than that, but considering the injuries, sixth is good considering where we were at.” 

Individually, senior Zachary Johnson placed fourth overall. He timed in at 16 minutes, 21 seconds. The strong performance helped fill the void left by Arellano. 

“Dominic was out. So I knew I had to do well in points to help my team make state,” said Johnson.       

As for the girls team, the top runner for the Aztecs was junior Peyton Burnside, who clocked in a time of 20:59, good enough for 15th overall.

The runners were ready for the race. The team practices in ways that simulate race situations.

“There was a lot of adrenaline,” said senior Emily Rugg. “I was excited. I was ready to be here, I was determined to pass people. My mindset was different and I think that made a big difference.” 

"You can’t let your team down,” said Murad. “It means a lot to do good for my team. There was more anxiousness, more nervousness, more pressure and a lot more better runners.”

The runners expressed how much different this meet felt in comparison to the others. The race itself was tough, according to the runners. 

“There’s a lot at stake and people were going out faster and you can just tell that there was a different atmosphere from a regular-season meet,” said senior Connor Zook.

“Definitely more competitive,” freshman Tyler Tisenger said. “A lot of more people up front pushing themselves.”

Now they focus on training for the state meet. 

“I feel really proud of our team and we deserve that,” Rugg said. “We’ve been working really hard this season and we all work together.”

“Now that we’ve made state I’m super excited,” said Aguayo. “I can't wait. We’ll just train through this week and one last race and it’ll be over.”