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The Lone Peak girls cross country team poses with the 6A state championship trophy after winning Tuesday's competition. October 27, 2026

Brandon Gurney, Daily Herald

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The American Fork girls cross country team poses for photos with their second place trophy at the 6A state championships on October 27, 2026

Brandon Gurney, Daily Herald

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Lone Peak's Hailey Atwater, Maya Bybee and Mae Glassford took second, third and fourth place, respectively at the 6A state championship. October 27, 2026

Brandon Gurney, Daily Herald

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Lone Peak's girls team sets their pace at the start of the 6A cross country championships on October 27, 2026

Brandon Gurney, Daily Herald

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For a fifth straight year it was the Lone Peak girls cross country team accepting the 6A championship trophy, speaking loudly to the tremendous culture and tradition coach Courtney Meldrum has built through the years with no let up in sight.

Punctuating the Knight’s dominant effort were individual finishes of second, third and fourth place from Hailey Atwater (18:01.91), Maya Bybee (18:03.79) and Mae Glassford (18:07.40), respectively.

“I think it was just a showing of who they are as people and as women and they stick together, and they fight for each other,” Meldrum said of her team’s win. “If one is going down, they’re cheering on as they’re going by, and they’re going race for her … So, I love them.”

While Lone Peak entered Tuesday’s event at Sugarhouse Park as the favorite, Meldrum asserted that it’s rarely as easy as her team has made it look over the course of the past five years.

“I think when you enter every year, you never know what’s coming your way, right? You can We always say control what you can control,” Meldrum said. “And there’s few things we can control, so we control those things. And the rest of them, they just have to learn to ride the wave and be resilient. So we’ve ridden a few waves this year and they’ve been resilient, and it showed today. It showed who we are.”

What Lone Peak has arrived to become is the No. 1-ranked girls cross country team in the entire country, speaking to the high level of achievement Meldrum has headed.

So how has Meldrum done it?

“I think culture is everything, and they fight for each other,” Meldrum said. “Racing is hard and it’s hard for everyone, so you have to do it for someone else sometimes and they know that. I think it’s bigger than them and they understand that, too. And so, that’s the beauty of them is they understand it’s bigger than themselves.”

And it also takes a lot of hard work and dedication.

“They don’t miss a day,” Meldrum said. “They do everything you ask them to do and they do it because they understand the consistency of doing it is what makes greatness. They’re awesome at it.”

Awesome indeed.

6A girls team results

Lone Peak, 30 points

American Fork, 86

Davis, 123

Herriman, 127

Riverton, 171

Lehi, 176

Mountain Ridge, 184

Layton, 186