Boys and girls varsity and JV cross country teams will run at the pre-district home meet tomorrow at the 580 sports complex.
“Our Saturday meet is a true cross country meet with lots of rocks, terrain, hills and overall just not very flat,” head cross country coach Kimberly Burnside said. “Saturday will for sure help our kids be able to adjust to running on that terrain, it will also let them see where they can pass other kids, where they need to pick up, and how to block kids in.”
JV girls run at 8:00 a.m., JV boys run at 8:30 a.m., varsity girls run at 9:00 a.m. and varsity boys run at 9:30 a.m. This meet is the pre-district meet, meaning it’s the final meet before actual district on Oct. 7, also at the 580 sports complex.
“The season has gone well,” Burnside said. “The boys have dropped times and seen success individually. They are hungry to get out of district — especially not getting out last year by just a few seconds. Our girls have overcome adversity with injuries, and are working to try and compete in district.”
This season so far the boys have placed first as a team three times and the girls as a team have placed first once.
“I think we have the best chance of qualifying for region in a long time, and everyone is very motivated to make that happen,” varsity cross country runner senior Parker Boykin said. “We have been ramping up our training recently to lower our times and hopefully beat Marble Falls and Burnet at district.”
The teams have been training since August, with practice every morning from 5:45 to 7 unless there is a meet, and they have assigned workouts to complete at home on Saturdays and a rest day on Sunday. Cross country practice includes running on the track, trails, the parking lot and hills.
“These kids have been working really hard,” Burnside said. “Cross country kids are a special kind of kid. I mean who wants to wake up at 4:30 a.m. and go run miles?”
This is Burnside’s first year as the cross country coach, and the team has worked to adjust to her style of coaching.
“It’s been wonderful having a new coach,” varsity cross country runner senior Leah Phillips said. “Coach Burnside has been amazing at helping push runners and pushing us as individual runners.”
Burnside said that as a coach her motto is to have a growth mindset.
“Improvement individually and as a team is a process and does not happen overnight,” Burnside said. “Set backs are going to happen, injuries, tough courses, hard work outs, and I want them to have the mindset that they can overcome hard things or setbacks and that goes for in life as well.”
