Pushing to Victory

While most of the cross country members lay serenely in bed, resting up for that morning where they would face the State Meet, freshman and varsity runner Meleah Plummer was rather not serene — as she was having a stick shoved up her nose.

After Plummer was exposed to COVID-19, even though she showed no symptoms, the lady hawk’s cross country team did not know who would be running at the State Meet until the morning of it. After spending the night in Austin, Plummer had to wake up early to get tested. 

“It was nerve-racking,” Plummer said. There is always a chance that there could be a false positive, so we were hoping for the best. We had to get up early, earlier than we did for xc, and I got tested, had to wait 15 min, and had to pray that it would come back negative.”

Lucky for the Cross Country team, the test did come back negative. 

“When we heard the news that Meleah would be able to run with us, a sense of relief rushed over us, and we were ready to run,” junior Emily Shiller said.

COVID-19 also changed other things this year. Due to covid restrictions, only two teams made it to regionals (previously it was three), and only three teams made it to state (previously it was four). 

“We were all nervous because we didn’t do as well as we wanted to at regionals, but I was excited that we at least kept the tradition of making it to State and had another chance to run together,” sophomore Abby Baird said. 

For the first time in three years, the boy’s team made it out of the district, and junior Tate Hughes made it all the way to the state meet after placing ninth at regionals.

“I was just very, very, very excited,” Hughes said. “I felt relieved. I felt like there was a massive burden off my shoulders, and I felt like all my training had paid off, which is by far the best feeling.”

After not being able to finish the previous season due to injury, Hughes prepared a lot to perform his best at the State Meet. 

“I did everything I could to prepare for state…literally everything,” Hughes said. “I worked out at night; I worked out in the morning, I drove up to Round Rock to practice the course. The most important thing was mental preparation. This season was just all-around better [than last season]. It was also a lot more fun, and I had a lot of fun with my teammates.”

For the seniors who have run together since 7th grade, the last meet was a very emotional one. Three of the seven varsity members were seniors. The Lady Hawks team started qualifying for the state when these seniors were freshmen. 

“I am very sad to see this sport end,” senior Reagan Beeles said. “All of us seniors have run together and bonded for so long, and we have been so successful.”

After not performing as well as they had hoped at the State Meet this year, the runners for next year hope to keep the tradition of going to the state alive. 

“I am so glad I’ve got to run with these girls, and I’m going to miss the seniors,” Baird said.