The cross country team attended the McNeil Invitational this past weekend as their second meet of the season. The varsity girls took first place, and the varsity boys received third place behind Boerne-Samuel V. Champion High School and Grapevine High School. 

“It felt good to win the first meet of the season after training all summer and finally [getting] to start racing,” junior Jordyn Caro said. 

Because of the delay of the season, the team has been able to strategize a way to their final goal: state. 

“I have had a lot of confidence in our team for the past three years,” girls head coach Carly Littlefield said. “I have really focused on helping them gain that confidence in themselves and each other.” 

After repeated attempts to podium at state, the McNeil Invitational helped the team practice  for state. 

“I feel like we are overall pretty fit, but we definitely still all have room to improve,” senior Trevor Malik said. “[I] need to tone in to workouts and run as hard as I can during the races.” 

The team traveled to McNeil to get experience on the state course, but the muddy conditions altered the course.

“The course was not the best. It was a tough alternative course to the real state course,” Malik said. 

Although this meet is early in the season, the workouts will continue to challenge the runners. 

“We will continue to train at a high level and make adjustments as needed,” Littlefield said. “Our training is unbelievable.”