The Lakeland Hawks Cross Country team Has run over obstacles this season. 

 A big part of the group’s success came from Owen Elizondo. 

Elizondo was the lone Lakeland Hawk that advanced to the state tournament with a time of 17:40 in the 3.1 mile race and qualified for state with a 7th place finish for the 4A division.

In his junior year, after recently transferring to Idaho, 16-year-old Elizando has had a lot of success as a part of the Lakeland cross country team. Elizando has run four races and had a personal record of 17:10 in the Inland Empire Challenge in Lewiston. 

The majority of the races that Elizando partook in throughout the regular season were 3.1 miles; However, he did run in a 1.8 mile race in the first meet of the year with a time of 10:41 and a third-place finish.

Elizando explained that he started his running career with track in middle school, but after running a 5:30 mile, he realized that he could run in long-distance races too and decided to give cross country a try. 

In his first year at Lakeland, Elizando plans to participate in track in the 400m, 800m, 1600m, and 3200m events. 

When asked about achieving such success in just his third season, Elizando said, “I qualified for the Junior Olympics as a runner when I was 13, which gave me a lot of confidence moving forward from the event. I am grateful to all my coaches and teammates over the years for pushing me and supporting me in my endeavors.” 

Cross Country coach Shannon Hall said, “Having Owen qualify for the state cross country meet is awesome. He is a dedicated athlete, and his ability to power through in races is astounding.  We are very fortunate to have him here at LHS as a student and athlete as he is a great all-around person.” 

Elizando will represent Lakeland in the state tournament on Oct. 30 in southern Idaho