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From left, Orem's Lydia Beus, Mountain View's Julie Moore, Timpview's Jane Hedengren and Mountain View's Mari Konold run stride for stride during the 5A girls race in the Utah Cross Country Championships at the Regional Sports Complex in Salt Lake City on Tuesday, October 25, 2022.

Jared Lloyd/Darnell Dickson

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Timpview's Jane Hedengren breaks the tape at the finish line after winning the 5A girls race in the State Cross Country Championships at the Regional Athletic Complex in Salt Lake City on Tuesday, October 25, 2022.

Jared Lloyd/Daily Herald

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From left, Park City's Sonja Preston, Lehi's Sarah Sundquist and Park City's Madeline McHenry compete in the 5A girls race in the State Cross Country Championships at the Regional Athletic Complex in Salt Lake City on Tuesday, October 25, 2022.

Jared Lloyd/Daily Herald

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From left, Aidana Navarete-Lamas, Molly Walton and Raygan Peterson of Timpanogos compete in the 5A girls race in the State Cross Country Championships at the Regional Athletic Complex in Salt Lake City on Tuesday, October 25, 2022.

Jared Lloyd/Daily Herald

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Orem's Lydia Beus competes in the 5A girls race in the State Cross Country Championships at the Regional Athletic Complex in Salt Lake City on Tuesday, October 25, 2022.

Jared Lloyd/Daily Herald

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Mountain View's Mari Konold (780) and Timpview's Jane Hedengren lead the 5A girls race in the State Cross Country Championships at the Regional Athletic Complex in Salt Lake City on Tuesday, October 25, 2022.

Jared Lloyd/Daily Herald

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The 5A girls race begins in the State Cross Country Championships at the Regional Sports Complex in Salt Lake City on Tuesday, October 25, 2022.

Jared Lloyd/Daily Herald

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Timpview's Jane Hedengren crosses the finish line in first place in the 5A girls race in the Utah State Cross Country Championships at the Regional Sports Complex in Salt Lake City on Tuesday, October 25, 2022.

Jared Lloyd/Daily Herald

❮ ❯

A popular T-shirt among the Springville Red Devils girls cross country team reads, “Eat Pasta, Run Fasta.”

Looks like the carb loading is still working.

Springville won its fifth straight state title on Tuesday at the Regional Athletic Complex in Salt Lake City, edging out Timpanogos by just five points (78 to 83) in a hotly contested finish.

Timpview sophomore Jane Hedengren, who finished second as a freshman last season, claimed the state individual title in a time of 17:25.4, just over 12 seconds ahead of Mountain View’s Mari Konold (17:37.6).

Springville’s Sarah Galbraith finished fifth, Lydia Templeman 12th, Savannah Galbraith 15th and Emily Sumison 20th, leaving everything up to No. 5 runner Adri Bird.

“There are certain key players that I know will do their job no matter what,” Red Devils coach Samantha Smith said. “And then there are the one’s where they’re the wildcards, where they can go ten times better or ten times worse. Those are the ones that I’m really worried about. The No. 5 runner is always the most stressful, because that person is the one who can score the most points and make or break it.

“Our No. 5 this year (Bird) has been hurt most of the season. Her first race was really the division meet. The girls are really good at listening to me and to each other and to be engaged. I told her what to do and Adri just took off. She passed the girl ahead of her, which was just beautiful, with about 250 meters to go.”

The 2022 championship trophy will be lined up with those won in 2018, 2019, 2020 and 2021.

“Each team comes with different challenges and different opportunities,” Smith said. “Each team chooses to want it and the nice thing is they build off each other. Last night we had a team night where we talked about the history of our team, where it started, where it’s going and how long it’s been.

“The nice thing is, as we were talking about each state championship, they were like, ‘Oh, there were the girls I looked up to when I was a freshman.’ And now some of them are seniors now and they are the generation. It’s exciting because we had a couple of freshmen come last night. Just watching them get excited for next year and filling those roles was really great.”

Sarah Galbraith, a senior, will leave her high school career with four team state titles.

“Two years ago, it was so fun running with those seniors,” Galbraith said. “Now it felt really good to help lead the team and get the other girls into it. We do a lot of work, a lot of hills and a lot of summer training We wake up early in the morning and we run with the team on Saturdays. It’s so exciting to get close as a team. We’re a family.”

Hedengren and Konold staged a spirited battle through most of the race before Hedengren began to pull away late.

“I’ve had some trouble this season with an injury (an inflamed tendon) so I was just trying to give it my best shot today,” Hedengren said. “I know that Mary is a fighter. She told me she was sick all last week, but she’s a killer. I find it way easier when someone is running right with me because I love the competition. I always have. I was definitely getting flashbacks from last year coming down the home stretch. I just knew I wanted it really bad today. I really had to dig deep and give it all I’ve got because I wanted to come away with the win.

Orem’s Lydia Beus was third (18:22.3), Lehi’s Graysen Lanenga fourth (18:38.8), Galbraith fifth, Bonneville’s Sienne Barton was sixth (18:43.3), Timpview’s Daphne Batmale seventh (18:44.8), Brighton’s Lia Belle Selander eighth (18:45.3), Timpanogos’ Molly Walton ninth (18:47.5) and teammate Raygan Peterson tenth (18:54.9).

Mountain View finished third in the team race with 126 points, Orem was fourth with 129, Lehi fifth with 144 and Timpview sixth with 178.

For complete results from the state cross country meet, go to runnercard.com or uhsaa.org.

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