The Division III State Championship Cross Country race was a study in contrast for the Redwood runners attending.

Junior Fred Huxham and freshman Andy Ehrenberg, who both qualified as individuals, accomplished all they had hoped for, while the Redwood girls’ team fell short of their own expectations with a 15th place finish out of the 22 teams present.

“At State, we didn’t perform as well as we would have liked,” senior captain Megan Bordes said. “For me, I didn’t have a good race. My legs didn’t feel as fresh as I would have liked.”

However, Bordes said the experience of going to the State meet in Fresno will be valuable for the underclassmen runners going forward to next year’s season.

“Since we had a new group of kids, they didn’t know the course as well,” she said. “But they have four years to learn it.”

While the girls’ team faltered with their top runner placing just 65th with a time of 19:32, Ehrenberg and Huxham turned in stellar performances. Huxham finished third with a time of 15:30 and Ehrenberg took third out of all competing freshmen by finishing the 5K race in 16:45.

According to Huxham, there was added pressure from it being his second time at the State meet. He qualified individually when the boys’ team narrowly failed to qualify for State.

“Because I knew I had the capability of doing well, that definitely put some pressure on me,” Huxham said. “I just tried to tell myself, ‘Hey, I’ve raced these guys before, it’s nothing that I haven’t done and I can just race.’”

Huxham’s internal thoughts were dead-on, and he turned in the fastest time of any Marin runner at this year’s Fresno championship meet.

His third place finish was not easily won, he said, and a careful strategy was needed to achieve his goals. According to Huxham, who qualified for State by placing second in his NCS race, he wanted to hang with the lead pack so as not to get too far behind early on.

“Our girls’ team didn’t start very well and that messed up their race,” Huxham said. “I definitely had that in mind on the starting line.”

Huxham needed to do that, he said, while also keeping enough energy left for a strong closing mile. After the two runners in the lead pack made a late move to take over first and second place, Huxham was left to battle one other runner for third place.

“I just was trying to hang on and race the guys in front of me because I knew that there were guys coming no matter what,” he said. “If I raced the guys in front of me rather than behind me, I would do better.”

He was able to hang on to a finish that Huxham said he is still proud of.

“I put so much time and effort in just for that one race,” Huxham said. “For it to turn out that well, that’s such a great feeling.”

Although Huxham was the most successful Redwood runner, he was not the only one in attendance and was joined at the state meet by Ehrenberg. The two were the only Redwood boys’ runners at State.

“You were able to focus on your own race a little more,” he said.

His focus, according to Ehrenberg, was mostly on the other freshman in the meet and he kept close track of them throughout the race.

According to Huxham, Ehrenberg’s attitude is what made him so successful this season.“If you just took his attitude, you could easily compare it to seniors’ attitudes and it’d probably be better than that,” Huxham explained. “He’s a lot more mature than just a freshman.”

Upon crossing the finish line, however, Ehrenberg’s first feeling was more in line with that of a typical kid.

“I was really tired, that’s for sure,” he said.