A number of girls at Point Loma High recently competed in a California state meet in Fresno after earning qualifying times at the San Diego CIF finals.
Their sport? Cross country, one of the most grueling offered at the prep level.
That alone would be impressive, however this was the first time in school history, according to veteran head coach Keith DeLong, that Pointer girls have qualified for the state meet.
Ending a season that began with practices in August, seven Pointer runners competed in the San Diego CIF Div. II meet Nov. 18 at Morley Field in Balboa Park, helping the school to a second place overall finish.
DeLong was proud of the efforts of juniors Brooke Rodi (fourth overall), Olivia Wade (seventh), Megan Rodi (15th), freshman Adelka Hancova (22nd), and juniors Sage Simms (25th), Sara Luedke (40th) and Veronika Divis (63rd) on a 2.96 mile course out of 118 finishers.
The state meet, held Nov. 25, produced more excellent efforts from Pointer runners making their state debut. They included Jordyn Duby, Wade, Brooke and Megan Rodi, Simms, Hancova and Divis.
Boys and girls began their conditioning program in June, the week after the 2016-17 school year ended. They met Mondays though Fridays at 8:30 a.m. in the school stadium for group workouts except for a “no contact” period mandated by local prep rules.  
In August, DeLong conducted a distance run that required boys to run five, six, seven or eight miles depending on class standing. Girls at each grade were required to run one mile less than the distance for same-grade boys.
Later, team members were timed in a three-mile run.
Later in the school year, the team will hold its eighth annual “Hungry Dog Dash,” a family run held on the grounds of Liberty Station.
DeLong’s roster of girls includes three seniors, 15 juniors and seven sophomores. The boys’ list includes 18 seniors, 17 juniors and 14 sophomores making cross country one of the largest teams on campus.