The cross country team competed in Regionals yesterday, with the boy’s team placing 14th and the girl’s team taking 1st.

“They have prepared to be the best team they can be in November and this is the result,” cross country Coach Colin Sully said. “This community really supports distance running, from the middle schools to club teams, and we look forward to enjoying this level of success as a result of this support for years to come.”

Both teams have been preparing for this event for months through training groups, training together as a team, and running 5Ks over the summer.

“They are a group of 105 athletes at all levels of running, bound by their love of running,” Sully said. “They work together efficiently and take direction from the coaching staff very well. Each individual is focused on their individual improvement in an attempt to better the team.”

The team first chose 7 boys and 7 girls to compete for the school at District, where both teams qualified for Regionals.

“We were relieved that our hard work finally payed off after all these years,” senior cross country runner Ricardo Jowers said. “Training with the guys, it was our ultimate goal to advance and we were thankful for the coaches and our training and our hard work.”

Both teams ended up advancing to the Region level, with the boys team only losing to District winner Lake Travis by 10 points while beating 3rd place by 50 points.

“Our boys team doesn’t really have an individual race leader,” Sully said. “They have found success through their ability to run together. We may not have a runner going sub-16 in the 5K, but when you have 7 guys running fast and within seconds each other, it makes them very difficult to beat.”

This is the first time in several years that the school had sent a boys cross country team to Regionals.

“Our team is truly amazing this year,” senior cross country team captain Preston Mayo said. “We are one big family and everyone has a place on the team. The culture is incredible and is why we are so successful. To be as successful as we have been this year, it takes a lot of hard work, dedication, and drive to get up at 5:30 every morning all summer long and all school year. And those early morning workouts are much more enjoyable when you have your second family putting in the work with you.”

On the other hand, the girls team has a history of success in competition and made 10th in state last year.

“Our girls team exhibits the same qualities [of running together] but we have individual standouts as well,” Sully said. “They have been virtually unbeatable this year-only State top 5 Woodlands, Southlake Carroll and Marcus have been able to beat the Vipers this year.”

Freshman cross country runner Allison Mopsik was the fastest runner on her team, individually placing 8th at Regionals out of 185 girls by running a 19:13 in the 5K, which averages out to about a 6:12 mile pace.

“I love being with my team,” Mopsik said. “It’s really cool that we all enjoy running and it’s really fun being able to run with all your best friends. I like pushing myself and improving my time and seeing my progress just through my times getting better in the meets because all the hard work I put in it comes out with my times.”

The girls team will compete at State on Nov 12 in Old Settler’s Park.

“Everyone who’s doing cross country really wants to be there and cross country is one of their main focuses and we’re all more dedicated and closer,” Mopsik said. “In middle school I was more running as an individual and now I’m running more with my team and we’re all trying to improve together and get the team to be one of the best teams and do as well as we can in state.”