Nothing says “successful season” like running in the final race of the season, at the CIF State XC meet—but Poly’s junior runner Dynasty Gammage, the school’s first female runner in the state meet, didn’t fall victim to “just happy to be here” syndrome.  Gammage ran an 18:26 on the course, which measures just over three miles.  Her placement showed a significant improvement over the CIF-Southern Section meet, where she finished 14th—among Southern Section runners entered in the state meet, she finished 10th.  For Poly fans ready to get excited about next year’s cross country schedule, Gammage also finished tenth out of all juniors in the state.

According to Poly girls’ coach Nate Bershtel, the race got out fast (with the leaders passing the mile at about 5:20).  Gammage was in 30th after the first mile, and showed her usual kick down the stretch, moving into 28th with a mile to go, and covering the last mile in 5:50 to move up another four spots.

She was cheered on by her coaches, family and teammates, who made the holiday weekend drive to support Gammage as she made history just by taking a step after the starter’s pistol—and impressed as always with the way she crossed the finish line.