Pacelli eighth grader will run in his sister’s footsteps at state CC meet

Published 4:40 pm Monday, October 28, 2024

Getting your Trinity Audio player ready...

When Pacelli eighth grader Zemecha McManus watched his older sister Kya McManus run in the state cross country meet last year, he probably didn’t think he would be the one representing the family at state this year.

But that’s exactly what happened.

In a season that saw Kya sustain a foot injury that kept her from running, Zemecha rose to the ranks of varsity, and he earned a trip to the Class A state cross country meet when he was the final qualifier at the Section 1A meet last week.

Email newsletter signup

“I thought I was in ninth place and I wasn’t going to state so I was really disappointed,” Zemecha said. “Then I was told that I was making it and I was really happy.”

The McManus family often trains together and Zemecha said Kya has been a big supporter in his corner. It was tough for Zemecha to see his sister not be able to compete for another state berth, but he’s going to represent her as best he can at state.

“Seeing Kya being injured was a lot and I don’t want that to happen to my teammates, or to anyone,” Zemecha said. “I kind of want to pick up where she left off last year. She pushed me a lot when I wasn’t running cross country. I used to have to watch her at all the meets and I decided I wanted to do it too.”

Zemecha will be one of the youngest runners in the field this weekend, but he won’t be intimidated by the competition. Instead, he’s going to try to learn from them.

“It’s really exciting,” he said. “I get to run with the best of the best. We have a really hard section, so it’s really good to get the experience now so when I’m older maybe I can even win or get one of the top spots.”

Blooming Prairie sophomore Gloria Hernandez will also run at state as she will participate in the Class A girls meet.

The Class A girls meet will begin at 2:30 p.m. Saturday and the boys will start at 3:15 p.m. Both races will be held at the Les Bolstad Golf Course at the University of Minnesota.