XC hits the ground running

This past weekend, Sat Sept. 6, the Arabians and Warhorses ran their cross country meet on the grounds of Comfort’s course.

“It was an extremely hard course, there are many tough hills there,” senior Josephine Guzman said.

With stiff competition all around the runners, the boys and girls tried their hardest to beat their personal times from practice.

“Meets are different from practice because in meets there’s other runners, you’re competing for a place and to beat your previous time,” sophomore Korin Stehle said.

Time is all these runners have to beat their competition, and pushing themselves harder this year is going to play a huge role in that. The athletes wake up every morning and endure mile after mile just to improve their skills. On top of that, they run on their own to beat their personal times.

“I think that if we didn’t have 5 a.m. practices, we wouldn’t be the runners that we are today,” Guzman said. “Because in cross country mileage is the key to success.”

Each of the runners has their personal goals as well as their team goals and working together and pushing each other is how they plan to achieve those goals.

“So far the season is going really well, we’re all excited about what we can do as a team this year,” sophomore Darren Morales said. “We plan on working hard for the next few weeks to stay consistent and focused.”

On the more personal side of things, some of the athletes plan on working harder in general to get farther than they did in their previous years of cross country. Some plan on working as a team, getting their times closer together, returning to state again or just get in the top ten in the district.

“My goals for this year are to decrease my time each meet and to make the regional meet as an individual,” Morales said.

The Arabians and Warhorses will run their next meet in Hondo Sept. 13, and plan on achieving the goals that they have set for themselves and as a team together.

“I plan on taking the next meet head on as I work harder than ever to achieve my goal of going back to state,” Guzman said.