Hyrum Deford competed in the Cross Country State Championships on Saturday, November 1st. Deford placed 23rd, with a time of 16 minutes and 27 seconds. “It was challenging for a couple of reasons”, said Deford. He explains, “One reason is that it has all of the fastest kids in the state and is extremely competitive. It was also challenging because of the course. It featured a really big hill halfway through the race and then a creek crossing and gradual ups. The two of those combined overall made it a really challenging race,” Deford also states “I had a ton of fun. It was a really good trip, and the race was really good. Lots of really hard competition, but overall, it was a really fun race and I did my very best.” Deford said “I was hoping for a top ten podium going into the race but unfortunately I wasn’t able to do that, but I still did much better than I did last year. I got 23rd place and that is about a 40 spot increase from last year. So, I would say overall I did pretty good.”
Deford was extremely happy with how he did in his race. Deford has had an amazing season, scoring first place in Battle Mountain Invitational, Coal Ridge Invitational, and Whistle Pig Invitational. He had a personal best at 15:15 at Warrior Lincoln Park Classic. He has come a long way in three years of cross country. He has been an incredible athlete, making it to the Cross Country State Championship meet both this year and last. Sadly this race marks Deford’s last high school cross country race, as he will be graduating this year. Congrats to Deford for an incredible season and career on the Palisade cross country team.
