One of the bright spots in Auburn High School athletics the past few years has been the girls cross country team.
Led by longtime high school athletics coach Mark Oliver, the Bulldog runners have been knocking on the door of their second state title, but have fallen just one spot short each of the last two years.
This fall, many of the runners on the back-to-back silver medal squads returned with the goal to win it all in Class C. The 2024 roster included Junior Liston Crotty, who led Auburn in her first two seasons with top 10 individual finishes at state each time. Three seniors with multiple years of state experience also returned, including Lilyan Becker, who would become a four-time state qualifier in her final season. Senior Kristen Billings was Auburn’s second finisher at state the previous two years and Aleah Thomas entered her senior season with two top 40 state finishes to her resume. Alexa Janssen and Tayla Jones also returned with state cross country experience.
