UPDATE: Senior Toby Eaton and Junior Joshua Odums will compete at the state cross-country meet on Nov. 4 in Austin, Texas.
The cross country team advanced to the regional meet after a second-place varsity boys and third-place varsity girls finish. Senior Monica Sanchez, girls’ team captain, began racing with cross country her freshman year.
“At first, I chose cross country to stay in shape for soccer,” Sanchez said. “As I got older, I realized that cross country isn’t as bad as everyone thinks, and it has actually helped me so much.”
As both varsity teams head to regionals on Oct. 24 at Lynn Creek Park. The team works on their mentality is optimistic. Sanchez uses methods such as singing in her head and always staying positive to keep her mentality tight.
“It keeps me motivated to continue my run and not give up,” Sanchez said.
Senior Toby Eaton, boys’ team captain, uses other tactics to stay motivated and optimistic during a race. He believes the hardest parts involve staying healthy and composed throughout the season.
“In general if there ever is a feeling of pain during a race, I just do my best to finish as strong as possible,” Eaton said.
Eaton began running when he was little, when he found out that he had a strong talent for it. For regionals, he plans to focus on what he can control and run confidently.
“I realized that I had talent from a younger age, and I knew that I would push myself because I enjoyed it so much,” Eaton said. “Now I’m going to stay ready and treat [regionals] like it could be my last race and give it my all.”
Coach Jeff Lindsey, head cross country coach, says the team has a lot of potential, and doesn’t doubt that they’ll do great at the regional meet.
“I think everyone will excel at regionals. We train to be at our best at this time during the season. They will all do a good job,” Coach Lindsey said.
Lindsey believes three veterans on the team, Josh Odums, Monica Sanchez and Toby Eaton, will do well and expects Eaton to place top three at regionals.
“The strength of the team is our veterans and captains that have dedicated themselves to being leaders of the team and the young ones follow suit. They are great examples of how to win,” Coach Lindsey said.
If the two teams qualify at regionals, they will move on to race at the state level in Austin, Texas on Nov. 4. The team is optimistic they’ll advance to state.
“They have worked hard and they have earned the right to be here just like everyone else, and their opponents don’t have any advantages over them,” Coach Lindsey said.
Going into the regionals, the girls varsity team has multiple freshmen. The boys team has none. Team captains encourage the freshman to keep pushing and to work hard for your spot.
“Just because you’re on varsity as a freshman doesn’t mean you get to slack off,” Sanchez said. “Keep pushing because you never know who will come in and do better than you.”
