Two streaks will on the line for Laramie High School at the Wyoming State Cross Country Championships Saturday in Laramie.

The Laramie Plainsmen are going for a seventh consecutive boys’ team championship in Class 4A. Their current streak goes back to 2012. They’ve also had the first-place individual race winner for the last five years between Jonah Henry (2013), Chris Henry (2014 & 2015), Philip Henry (2016), and Albert Steiner (2017).

As for the Laramie Lady Plainsmen, they are looking to get back to the top of the podium for the first time since 2011.

Laramie head coach Greg Schabron says they’ve gone over the course on paper and Friday will analyze the course with a pre-race workout in Sheridan.

“When it comes to the kids, what I like is they bring a lot of confidence to that course, so based off what happened at conference last week, I’m hoping that with most of them having seen this course in previous years, the younger kids, they’ll see it Friday night, they can bring that energy that seemed to be lacking last week and really charge that up.”

Schabron feels that if the squads can run with that drive they stand a chance.

“If the girls do that, they have a really good shot at accomplishing something they haven’t for many years, and that’s what we’re hoping for.”

Schabron knows his men’s team has to have a really good race, perhaps overachieve, and have an underdog mentality.

“(They’ll need) to use some help from some other teams, but they’re certainly in the hunt for that state title, and like we’ve told the men, we like, kind of, those surprises, the dark-horses that come up and shock the other teams.”

Senior Derk Lyford and junior Abigail Whitman are two veterans that have been through the rigors and pressure of the cross country state meet. They visited with KOWB’s David Settle about the course, the race atmosphere, pressure, goals, and more in the video above.

Schabron feels Evanston is the ‘hands down’ favorite on the boys’ side with Natrona, Laramie, Sheridan and Cheyenne Central factoring in.

As for the Class 4A ladies team race, Schabron knows Natrona, Cheyenne Central and Laramie are in the mix.

When it comes to race strategy on the 5K course at the Sheridan V.A. Hospital Grounds, Schabron feels the runners will need to ‘buckle down and focus’ between mile one and two in order to get the positions needed to achieve their goals.

“We certainly don’t want to over-analyze everything. Sometimes you’ve just got to get out there and race.”

The Class 4A girls’ start at 11:15 a.m., while the 4A boys’ race commences at 12:45 p.m.

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