No eyesight issues. Not being antisocial.

The Raiders and their faithful tried to see if South Range’s boys team would have one more race. That run began Saturday at 9 a.m.

Fourth place. Confirmed.

The Raiders boys cross country team snared one of the top four places at Saturday’s Division III boys Boardman Regional cross country meet. South Range is heading back to state this Saturday at Fortress Obetz, southeast of Columbus.

Staff photo / John Vargo -- South Range's Liam Justison will join teammate Spencer Bush to lead the boys cross country team in the state meet Saturday.

Teams make state cross country every year. The Raiders overcame temperatures in the mid-20s to advance, but so did the other three team qualifiers.

Why is this South Range team different?

“I think our whole team is defined by adversity,” SR coach Mark Bush said. “Having one more thing put in front of us didn’t come into our mind.”

South Range advanced as a team last season, but Saturday’s state race is the first time the boys team will be racing as a complete group.

The Raiders were missing one of their top runners at the district and regional in senior Michael Hvizdos, who was out for the past two weeks due to contact tracing because of the COVID-19 pandemic. He’s clear to race Saturday at Fortress Obetz.

Staff photo / John Vargo -- Emily Razo will compete at state for the South Range girls cross country team.

“I’m just thankful my team was able to pull through for me,” he said. “I really owe it to them to give it everything this weekend for them because they did it for me.”

Senior Spencer Bush had his setbacks. He had some medical issues, some he didn’t want to disclose. Spencer Bush also had an injury in his pelvis dating back to his freshman year. The nagging pain finally was too much to bear this season, resulting in surgery.

Spencer didn’t run until districts.

He’s excited for the return to state, and he said these Raiders want to run much better than their 20th-place finish last season. Spencer said he’ll be excited when his team finally gets to show the distance world what Raiders cross country is all about this Saturday morning when his team is at the starting line at 9 a.m.

South Range will show how it overcame the ills of 2020.

“Control what you can control,” Spencer Bush said. “Everything else don’t worry about. If you do that, it’s pretty easy to perform the way you want to, I guess.”

Senior Emily Razo qualified for the first time out of the girls Division III Boardman Regional.

Mark Bush said she’s fought off injuries for four years, but she had enough time in 2020 to push through to the state meet.

“I am incredibly happy for her because she put forth the work,” Mark Bush said.

This is a goal Razo has had since the seventh grade. She feels like it’ll be overwhelming when she’s at Fortress Obetz, with the fast field of runners.

However, Razo said Saturday’s forecast of 70s and sunny should bode well for her racing.

Meanwhile, she’ll try to find her moment of zen.

“(I) try to move around a lot, but it never helps,” Razo said. “Just ignore it, get over it Just start running when the gun goes off.”

It’s been an emotional rollercoaster for the South Range distance runners in 2020, but one that made this group of Raiders a much more cohesive unit heading to this year’s state meet.

“Even as close as a cross country team is, sometimes adversity pulls those strings even tighter between everybody,” Mark Bush said.