This Saturday, the cross country team competed in the invitational 5k meet at Myers Park. The girls varsity elite team placed first, boys varsity placed second and boys varsity elite placed fifth.
“Our team competed very well this weekend,” junior Sara Morefield said. “We all ran what we were supposed to, which helped contribute to our success.”
Sara finished in second place, out of 171 runners, with a time of 17:39.33. Her sister, senior Amy Morefield, came in fourth place running a 17:52.53.
“We worked really well as a team and individually,” sophomore Peyton Benson said. “One thing we are working on improving is our gap time. This is the time between when our first runner that crosses the finish line and when our fifth runner crosses the line.”
Benson finished the race in eighth place with a time of 18:28.51.
“Our confidence is high, our ability to work together is better, our work ethic is better, and we are training and racing really smart which is important so that we are racing our best when it matters most, which is in November,” head girls coach Carly Littlefield said.
On the boys side, sophomore Caden Gary led the varsity elite team placing 10th and running a 15:54.93. Sophomore William Carlson was close behind in 15th with a time of 16:06.27. The boys varsity placed second and were led by sophomore Tyler Morefield who placed 17th and ran a time of 17:35.68.
“The girls earned first place at this meet because of their consistent hard work,” Littlefield said. “Our training is intense and it’s year round. Those who do it right will excel, and they are excelling.”
The team has year round practices. In the summer, they are up at 7 a.m. to run and during the school year they have morning and after school practice.
“Monday normally consists of some sort of tempo or longer fast-steady paced run, and Tuesday is typically a recovery run,” Benson said. “Wednesday will normally be an interval workout like 14×400 or 4×1 mile repeats and Thursday is recovery as well. Fridays are shakeout days and Saturdays are typically race days. We also get in a long run every weekend which consists of anywhere from six to nine miles.”
Coming off of a year where the girls took home a state championship title and the boys placed third at state, these teams are aiming to reach and stretch those accomplishments. The team will compete Thursday at the Rick Neill Memorial Invitational.
“We want to win a back to back state championship and we want to qualify for Nike Nationals, which is held in Oregon,” Littlefield said. “To qualify for nationals, we must be the top two teams in the region which is all of Texas, Oklahoma, Arkansas and Louisiana and consists of all classifications.”
