Having a sprinting background is quite the advantage when the a 5,000-meter race is in its final stages and you need to make a final kick to the finish line.

At least Eva Dicharry made that case at the Intermountain Conference cross-country championships on Tuesday at Juniper Golf Course.

Dicharry, a sophomore who ran sprints for the Summit track and field team as a freshman during the spring, crossed the finish line in 18 minutes, 54 seconds to claim the IMC girls title.

“I tried to get into my zone and run as hard as I can,” Dicharry said. “I was just pretending that I was running in the 400.”

After two miles, there was a pack of four runners — Dicharry, Ridgeview senior Evonna West, Caldera freshman Maddie Carney and Summit sophomore Skye Knox — who were all within a couple of seconds, but in the last mile, Dicharry sprinted away from the pack to win by more than 10 seconds.

“She started out running smart and pretty patient with her race,” said Summit coach Kari Strang. “She waited to make her move with about a mile to go. She closed incredibly strong the last 300 meters.”

The Summit boys scored 21 points with all five of its point-scorers finishing in the top seven. Senior Kirk Lord (16:42) finished fifth, sophomore Kaden Williams (16:44) took sixth and junior Jackson Dean-Ziegler (17:06) was seventh.

“I was incredibly proud of both teams,” said Summit coach Kari Strang. “I thought they ran really strong, really smart races.”

The Caldera boys and girls teams both finished second to qualify for the Class 5A state championships on Nov. 4 at Lane Community College in Eugene. Bend’s newest high school sent two individual runners to state last year, but now in their third year, the Wolfpack are sending both teams to state for the first time.

“I am so excited and so proud of the kids,” said Caldera coach Charlotte Richardson. “They have worked super hard this year and are committed to each other as a team. They knew, especially the boys, that they had to run really well to make it to the state championships.”

Along with the Summit and Caldera runners, two Ridgeview runners qualified for the state meet as individuals. With a fourth-place finish in the boys race, senior Gavin Taylor (16:38) is headed to Eugene. With a second-place finish in the girls race, senior Evonna West (19:05) secured a spot in the state meet after just missing out last season.

“I’ve been working really hard since June for this,” West said. “So all the effort that I have been putting in is paying off. So I’m happy to go to state.”