Sophomore Sasha Kheyfets competed in the Div. III State Tournament for cross country on Nov. 4, placing 24th.

Kheyfets is the first Bison girl to advance to the state tournament since Leah Roter, who brought home a state title in 2016.

Sasha felt very prepared to run that Saturday. She had her close friend Charlotte Doug with her the whole time, and hyped herself up with some good music. 

“I had one of my best friends with me the whole time,” Kheyfets said. “So that was like, really giving me a confidence boost.” 

However, it wasn’t smooth sailing the whole race. She had hit her personal record for the mile (5.45), and she was on track to reach her goal of completing the race in under 19 minutes, but halfway through the race another runner stepped on her shoe. 

“Unfortunately, halfway in the race, a girl spiked the back of my shoe completely off,” Kheyfets said.

She completely kicked the shoe off the course and continued the race with only one shoe on, which significantly changed her timing. 

When her shoe first fell off, she was really disappointed and scared. However, she thought about another runner she knew who finished a race with only one shoe and that motivated her to continue with the race.

“[Junior] Alex Eisengart had a race last year where he lost his shoe and he kept going, he didn’t stop,” Kheyfets said.

She decided to keep the other shoe on her foot because she thought it would give her more speed. 

Even wearing only one shoe for half the race, Sasha finished with a 5k time of 19.17.

Making it to the state tournament in cross country is impressive. Making it as a sophomore is even more impressive. Placing 24th out of 185 in the state after running half the race with only one shoe is truly incredible.

This isn’t the only challenge Kheyfets has faced in her cross country career. Last year her season was cut short due to a hip injury, and then she faced further challenges during the spring track season.

“I ended last year’s track season with shin splints, which cost me states then. So I had to get past that and [go through] injury recovery,” Kheyfets said.

She powered through and started training again for this season.

Cross country coach Jamie Lader was very proud of Sasha for all of the hard work she put in on the road to the state tournament. 

“I’m elated that she went to States,” he said. “I’m so pleased and proud of her and happy. She worked her tail off, and it’s the best of everything.”

Coach Lader also shared how they prepare someone to compete in the State Championships.

“We just selected a variety of different workouts that we felt were difficult and goals that were going to need to be attained in order to make it down to the state meet,” Lader said.

Coach Lader also commended Sasha for placing 24th with only one shoe on, and he believes if her shoe hadn’t come off she would have placed top in the state.

“So to finish All Ohio, and do that with one shoe is an amazing accomplishment, and if she had two shoes on, I think that she definitely would have finished on the podium,” Lader said.

Sasha has many goals for the future and is determined to meet them.

“Some of my goals are to be a state champion in track or cross country, and to set the school record in the 5k,” Kheyfets said.