For the first time since 2015, an Alliance Cross-Country runner qualified to attend the state competition! Senior Mikayla Seebohm was able to travel to state due to her incredibly impressive time of 20.44 at Districts. The last time that qualified someone for state was 20.55 ran by former Alliance runner Kelsey Adamson. Seebohm qualifying was an extremely exciting event for the whole community of Alliance. 

Seebohm has been running cross-country for six years. An extreme amount of hours and labor over these years had to be put in in order to allow her to qualify. Seebohm showed her excitement by saying, “I had dreamed of making it to state since my 7th-grade year, and to finally have made it is such a surreal and wonderful feeling.” Loads of hard work and extra hours were necessary to ensure that Seebohm stayed in shape. 

Seebohm explained all of the extra work by stating, “I practiced at 6 a.m. Monday through Friday to prepare for state. In addition to that, I ran that previous weekend during Homecoming week in order to stay in shape. Workouts that week included running routes with hills in preparation for the hills at state.” Cross-Country state was held at the Kearney Country Club. The course and the running environment were completely foreign for Seebohm due to the extremely high amount of hills and the number of people from all around the state of Nebraska to support their town’s runners. 

Seebohm was used to “running with smaller amounts of girls” and “hav[ing] a much smaller amount of people watching.” While there were some major differences between the state meet and a normal meet, state still came with an abundance of excitement. Seebohm received various congratulations before attending state and said that was her favorite part. “The support from the Alliance community was incredible. I had lots of students, teachers, parents and athletes from different sports congratulating me on making it to state. I am so grateful and blessed to be part of a community that supports one another, and I appreciate all the support from everyone.” 

Although this was Seebohm’s last year being a part of the Cross-Country team, she has left her mark! She added to our interview that “I am beyond grateful to have been a part of this team and for all of the experiences, fellow runners and coaches.” Seebohm ran hard at state but was unfortunately not able to place. The Spud is proud of Seebohm and would like to congratulate her one last time.