Senior John Mason Keyes competed in the 4A Boys Cross Country State Meet at Old Settlers Park in Round Rock Nov 1.   

“I was so excited for John to make it to state,” head cross country coach Kimberly Burnside said. “It is something he had wanted since the season started.” 

Keyes placed 33rd out of 150 runners with a time of 16:29.9. 

“Traveling to State was so cool,” Burnside said. “It is hosted in Round Rock every year and the set up is amazing. Very well run, and you are getting to be around the top runners in the state, so seeing these kids and all the hard work they go through is really cool to be a part of.”

Keyes placed 10th at the Regionals meet with a time of 16:38.0.

“John had never made it to Regionals, so to make it even out of there is huge and just shows how bad he wanted it,” Burnside said. “Coach [Aaron] Nuckles and I were so pumped for him.”

Other members of the boys cross country team practiced with Keyes in the days leading up to the State Meet.

“We trained some afternoons to adjust to what the weather may be like, and did more track workouts to work on the speed and finishing,” Burnside said. “A few members of the boys team continued to train with him which was nice to keep him motivated and to keep him pushing.”

Burnside said she has a few new plans going into next season.

“I’m going to have the boys and girls run more in the 5A/6A races during preseason to help prepare them for district with a faster pace in those races,” Burnside said. “We will do some things the same, but I for sure will keep raising the expectation to ensure these athletes continue to grow.”  

Burnside said she was excited to have one of her runners advance to State especially because this has been her first season coaching at LHS.

“This is my first time as a head cross country coach and to have these kids buy in and trust the process and what we were doing was what I wanted,” Burnside said. “Lampasas has had a great cross country program for years and has sent many people to Regionals and State, and I did not want to come in and mess that up. I wanted to come in and continue to help build the program and to continue it from what has been done before me. It is very exciting to get a group to Regionals and even more exciting to help someone get to State.”