Antonio Burkhart had one goal going into his sophomore season and that was to qualify for states. Burkhart made that goal a reality last Thursday as the sophomore ran a personal best time of 16:51 on the Cooper’s Lake course at Slippery Rock to finish 15th overall.

It’s extremely difficult to qualify for states in cross country. To qualify, you must be a member of one of the top three finishing teams or be a part of the top 15 finishing runners not on one of those teams. Most years, a top 25 finish is necessary at the WPIAL meet to make it to Hershey.

Conditions were perfect that day for a cross country race and Burkhart took full advantage of it.

At the start, Burkhart went out hard. As a result, he started to drop back a bit as the race progressed, but he was able to stay motivated and rebound.

“I was worried for a few seconds during the halfway point, because I started dropping back. I then realized how much this meant to me. At that point, I surged back up to where I was and held that spot for the rest of the race.”

Burkhart finished in 5th place among sophomores in the entire WPIAL.

It took some time for Burkhart to let everything sink in.

“It didn’t really hit me until I was going to bed. At that time I sat there in disbelief.”

For Burkhart, everything isn’t over yet as he hopes to end his season the right way in Hershey on Saturday. Burkhart already achieved his first goal this year and aims to conquer another one at states.

“My goal at states is to medal (top 25). I also want to run 16:50.”

The race will take place on Saturday November 4th in Hershey, PA.

Good luck, Antonio!