Girls cross country concluded their 2016 season in mid-November, finishing off the year by taking seventh place at the UIL state meet. Running in the 6A classification for the first time, the team faced difficult competition.

“The girls winning seventh at state was a fantastic end to an awesome first season in 6A,” Coach Colin Sully said. “These athletes (girls and boys) were not intimidated one bit by the move up in UIL class and trained and raced hard all season.”

Preceding the UIL competition, girls cross country had the opportunity to participate in several meets, such as the Nike South Invitational in The Woodlands, Texas. In all of these competitions, including the state meet, the cross country girls ran against many other successful teams.

“My favorite thing about this season was running against some of the fastest girls/teams in the state and the nation (there were several D1 commits in the state meet including people committed to top programs like Stanford and Arkansas) and knowing that our team can compete with them,” senior Natalie Goddard said.

Although cross country may seem like it is a one person job, the runners stress that they couldn’t have advanced to state without the support of their teammates.

“My team is there for me everyday, just supporting me and encouraging me when we’re having a tough workout or race,” freshman Allison Mopsik said. “They’ve always been there to help keep me going.”

One of the most important people on the team is the captain, in this case, Emi McCollum.

“The biggest responsibility as captain is to make sure everyone is focused and excited to run,” McCollum said. “The biggest challenge I face is later in the season when we’ve been running five to seven days every week since June, making sure the team has the same enthusiasm, which carries over into our race performance.”

On top of their new UIL classification, the cross country team also had a new coach. While this can sometimes be a challenge, Sully and the team were able to come together and achieve their goals.

“Sully is enthusiastic and has a good sense of humor,” McCollum said. “I’m sad that I only had one year with him as my cross country coach, but I know he will continue to grow and improve the program.”