Fremont's Girls Cross Country Team Wins Sixth Straight State Title October 20, 2005 Sweet six-cess for Silver Wolves MATTHEW HATFIELD/Standard-Examiner Fremont's Cassie Ricks wins the state 5-A girls cross country championships in Salt Lake City on Wednesday. Fremont girls win sixth straight title BY JUSTIN JOHNSON Standard-Examiner staff jjohnson@standard.net SALT LAKE CITY With each race of each year of her four-year career, Fremont High senior Cassie Ricks has gotten a little faster, run a little smarter and become a little more confident. Running her final official race as a member of the Silver Wolves' dominant dynasty, Ricks turned in the fastest time of the day in Wednesday's state 5-A girls cross country championship meet at Sugarhouse Park and Highland High School. Ricks' finish of 18 minutes, 33.9 seconds was 21.2 seconds faster than that of Davis High's speedster freshman Candace Eddy, and helped Fremont seal its sixth consecutive state title. "We have a good tradition here at Fre- INSIDE: St. Joseph boys win sixth 1-A title in seven years; Mountain Crest girls surprise 4-A field/2D mont; it gives us something to aim for every year," said Ricks, whose team is ranked No. 3 nationally and No. 1 in the Southwest region by 'The Harrier' magazine. "I have been really blessed by God with the ability and the teammates that I have. I've been so thankful for every day that I've had to run and train with them." Fremont's Katie Chugg and Jessie Chugg finished seventh and ninth, respectively, while Hiedi Krebs and Lindsay Slater came in 20th and 22nd, giving Fremont a team score of 56 points. Second-place Jordan, which just nipped Weber, finished 73 points behind with a 129. The Warriors finished with 132. "It's so exciting to me individually that I did well and we did well as a team," said Ricks. "I think this year was deeper and better competition than its ever been. There were a lot of really great teams running here today." Of Fremont's top seven runners, who all finished in the top 31 out of 114 participants, four are seniors this year, while three are sophomores. "I've got no regrets about today, I just wanted to give it everything I had," said Ricks. "It never gets old (winning a championship). This one feels just as good as the first one." Fremont's title is their fifth straight in 5-A, with the first coming in 4-A in 2000. "I've been a part of the program for five years now and I just can't say enough about this team," said Fremont coach Amber Tingey. "We didn't have our greatest race of the season today, but there were also a lot of good teams this year. I love the competition. "I can't even describe how fun it is to coach these girls; they constantly push each other to get better and they want to achieve everything they can together," Tingey said. "They're like one big family." Weber's Haley Reeves finished fifth overall, while Davis' Natalie Haws was sixth. Fremont's team will run one last race together, albeit an unofficial one as a club team, in early December at the Nike Team Nationals, which will determine the final national team rankings.