The Woodlands Christian Academy had just one girl on its high school cross-country roster three years ago. On Saturday, the Warriors stood on a podium in Waco as TAPPS Division III state champions.

TWCA took the team gold with a total score of 82, beating out Boerne Geneva and Austin Brent, which finished with 88 and 89, respectively.

“It’s almost like all of the hard work, all of the effort they’ve put into this, has really come to pass, and it played out like we were hoping,” Warriors coach Tom Earle said. “It was a tough competition, and we knew it was going to come down to us and two other schools. Sure enough, between first place and third place, there were only seven points that separated us, so it was very, very close.”

Hannah Shearer, who is just a sophomore, finished seventh overall with a time of 13 minutes, 14.60 seconds to lead TWCA. Sophie McCannon of Marble Falls was the individual state champion with a time of 12 minutes, 3.40 seconds. click here for complete story