Lauren Tolbert (Highland Tech) was 3rd at the 2018 NCHSAA 1A state meet, 2nd at the 2019 NCHSAA 1A state meet, and 2nd at the 2020 NCHSAA 1A West Regional. The multi-time track state champion was tired of losing in cross country. She held on in the lead group for the whole race, and only started to fall behind in the last mile. She kept within striking distance and used her elite 800m/1000m track speed to power down the long home stretch of Ivey Redmon finally capturing her first cross country state title. Hear from Lauren after her victory:
