Getting your Trinity Audio player ready...

Austin junior Marissa Shute and freshman Sydney Lewis are familiar with the Minnesota State Cross Country Meet, but they’ll have to make some adjustments at the big race this weekend.

After being held at St. Olaf College in Northfield in past seasons, the state cross country meet is moving to a new location. The 3.1 mile race will be held at the University of Minnesota Les Bolstad Golf Course.

“I’ve never seen this course before and it should be pretty fun,” Shute said. “I’ve heard stories about it and it should be good to experience a new course with new scenery.”

Shute will be running in her third state meet for the Packers and Lewis is running in her second state meet. Pacelli freshman Kya McManus, who ran with Austin last year, will be making her first state meet in the Class A race.

McManus will run in the Class A field at 12:45 p.m. and Shute and Lewis will run in the Class AA field at 2:45 p.m.

Last year, Shute took 51st place at the state meet with a time of 19:59.80 and Lewis took 107th place with a time of 21:07.46.

“It’s definitely a lot more relaxing knowing that we’ve been in this position a few times,” Shute said. “My goal is to go out there and do better than I did in past years. I’m looking for a better time and place and I think that’s doable.”

Lewis is also hoping to improve her finishing spot from last season. She has stayed motivated by chasing Shute every day in practice as they two have grown into becoming solid support systems for each other.

“If one of us is having a bad day, the other one will be sure to pick them up,” Lewis said. “It’s fun to make it this far and experience it all together. We always push each other so much in practice.”

McManus has had her eye on the state meet throughout the season and she’s ready to see what the big meet is all about.

“It was my goal to make it to state all year. I missed it by a few spots in my old section last year,” McManus said. “I worked all summer and all season for this and I’m really happy to go.”

McManus started running in elementary school when she was living in Iowa. She ran in a 5K program with third graders before moving to Austin in the summer before her fifth grade year.

“I’ve always been more of a competitive person,” McManus said. “I enjoy the sport and I always try to set high goals for myself. I’m very excited to run at state and I’ve actually never gone up and watched it before. I’m excited to race against fast runners and to have a good time.”