At the start line along with 174 other girls is the Texas High girls Cross Country team awaiting the fire of the gun. From July to October they have conditioned and trained for the biggest meet of the season, regionals. Accomplishing second at the district meet for two consecutive years and the third year in row to qualify for regionals as a team is monumental.
Each meet leads up to the district meet that qualifies a runner or team for regionals. Top three placed teams and top ten individuals qualify to advance. Sophomore Kaelyn Works placed seventh and Junior Catie Loomis placed ninth along with the team, who completed the meet second over all.
“The commitment to training is the greatest factor of the girls success,” Head Coach Danielle Aubrey said. “I can tell them the plan and they diligently get it done. They are completely self motivated to succeed and work hard to do so.”
Once at regionals the competition becomes a much bigger pool. However this does not discourage returning runners like Junior Lizzie Sharp who still hold high goals for themselves and their team. Sharp, accompanied by Loomis and Zoey Macintosh lead the team as the oldest and most experienced runners. This will create more accomplishments in the year to follow as all team members will be returning runners.
“I went in with a positive outlook on placement because there are a ton of people that you end up racing against,” Sharp said. “Even with keeping high hopes I still wasn’t expecting to place 10-20. Because our district is so fast… I was expecting to place 50-100.”
First year runners blew previous expectations out of the water when Freshman Sage Stussy made Varsity her first year and Works placed at district. Works as an athlete in Cross Country and Soccer progressed every meet all the way to regionals only in her first year running. Her win at district and impressive talent presents helpful resources to the team.
“I felt so accomplished placing high in district, I loved the experience and the competition,” Works said. “This will definitely make me more confident for next year’s district meet. I’ll actually know what to expect and I’ll be able to prepare better.”
These high hopes will carry over into the next year as the freshman and first year runners continue to progressive athletically and mentally. Their attitude and impact-fullness will welcome many more additions to the team along with goals to accompany them.
“I expect that next year our team will continue to improve and will return to regionals with even better results,” Stussy said. “Being that it was only my first year on the team, it was a wonderful experience…I will keep working to improve my mental and physical fitness.”
To accompany the Varsity Girls two time qualifier Max Likins placed ninth in district progressing him to the Regional meet for the last time. Likins, a senior, has accomplished much in Cross Country and Swim. Although the Varsity girls have another year together, Max ran his last race ever for Texas High at the Regional Cross Country meet where he commemorated his years past.
“I think I’m extremely privileged to qualify for regionals twice in a row. I think that all my work during the season…paid off because this would not be possible without the training,” Likins said. “As a senior who’s spent their entire life running, one of the biggest advice is… to enjoy their time as a runner, when you’re happy you race better, so enjoy the meets so you race your best.”
