Girls cross country at Talawanda High School took a giant leap forward this year with a team trip to the regional meet last Saturday. Although none of the runners continued on to the state level, it was a spectacular success.

Talawanda has dominated the sport in the league for years but before 2012 sent only individual runners to regionals. The Braves finished 14th in the team standings, led by Jessica Tegge with a 50th-place finish

“Jessica has been our No. 1 runner for three years and she went to the regional all three years,” coach Dale Plank said of his junior standout. “Every year some ailment or injury has knocked her out for part of the season and did not allow her to train the way we would like to … I think her best races are still in front of her.”

Tegge said she enjoyed running with her teammates at the regional.

“It was awesome. It gets you more excited,” she said, adding that the competition level is stronger at that level. “We always have competitive teams in D-I and it’s hard to hang in there with all the runners.”

Tegge said the team’s second-place finish in the district meet a week earlier was a big accomplishment.

“We were second behind the defending state champions,” she said. “While we were walking away, I heard people saying, ‘Where’s Talawanda?’ some of them did not even know how to pronounce it.”

Junior Sarah Starrett has been the team’s No. 2 runner this season, continuing the improvement Plank has seen for several years. Her younger sister, freshman Jessica Starrett, has been the team’s third runner.

“She is hard-nosed,” he said of Jessica Starrett. “One race, she beat her sister and nearly beat Tegge. Both (sisters) are great runners and extremely competitive.”

Bristyl Webb has been a basketball player and this year wanted another challenge, so she joined the cross country team in her senior year, moving up to the fourth runner position.

“She decided she wanted to try something different for her senior year,” the coach said. “The minute she ran her first race, I knew we had a chance to get out of districts. We had found our fifth girl. She is fast.”

Sophie Dilek has been a soccer player and a swimmer but tried long weekend runs and found a new sport.

“Of all the runners, she is the best at judging pace,” Plank said. “Bristyl would run with her and stay with her. She is a great, great kid.”

Rounding out the top seven are freshman Grace Huddleston and German exchange student Angelique Burrey.

Two other seniors have completed their final year of cross country — Hannah Ruby, a four-year runner, and Brilyn Webb, who went down with a heat problem in the first race of the season but has worked hard to get better.

After running sprint events in track, Bristyl Webb said she began thinking about cross country.

“I never thought I would run 3.2 miles. In track I run sprints,” she said, “but then got to running the longer distance for cross country training. “I was so determined to get my body endurance up so I could chop seconds off (my time).”

Dilek, who also is involved in soccer, swimming and track, said cross country helps with those sports.

“Cross country is good for us. It keeps us in shape,” she said. “We compete against each other in every race. Cross country is different. It makes you want to get better.”

All three girls agreed that they liked the camaraderie of the team, even though it is such an individual sport. Since the boys and girls teams train and travel together, there is a strong support system.

“The guys were done with their season (after the district meet) but still ran with us,” Webb said. “They even got up early on Saturday to support us (in the regional race).”

All three also gave high marks to their coaches, calling Plank the reason for their success. Plank praised his assistant coaches Kalinde Webb and Brad Mills, who “both run with the kids and keep the pulse on the kids physically and mentally.”