This year marked the 30th year the UIL has hosted the Texas State Cross Country meet at Old Settlers Park. Our team had hopes of continuing our state run and going for a sixth consecutive state championship. We unfortunately came up three points short to a great Bridgeland girls cross country team. My thoughts are below on the state meet course and the Flower Mound girls team race at state.
OLD SETTLERS PARK COURSE (1996-2025)
THE START
The start is significantly better now with almost 600 meters before the first turn. I would like to see the UIL widen the start line and use the full width of the available field. There was a point we could line up 7 runners on the starting line and now we are able to line up 4-5 athletes. With that said the start line used to be on a sidewalk, not fun if you are wearing spikes. The first turn was also only 200 meters after the start and usually had a significant number of rocks to trip up runners.
State meet course from 2013. Short distance to first turn and narrow!
COURSE WIDTH
If people are asking why athletes in Texas like to get out fast, maybe the old state course is partially to blame. Besides the short distance to the first turn the rest of the course was very narrow. Good luck passing runners when you could only run three wide for significant portions of the race. There were also zero barriers and that allowed spectators to press in on the athletes an make the course even more narrow especially as they approached the finish.
The course is now significantly wider and athletes are able to pass other runners when able. The UIL has also increased the number of barriers for athlete safety. It is now difficult for an overzealous parent or coach to impeded athletes by stepping onto the course. The barriers clearly help mark the course and keep spectators a safe distance away from the runners.
FINISH
The finishing straight is approximately 200 meters and the UIL has added seating for the spectators. Not everyone can run or walk around the course and it’s great their is an option for people to watch the start and finish from the same area. The finish wasn’t bad when the course was first used, but there was no seating and it was hard to get a good viewpoint of the runners.
Current state meet course. Better for athletes and spectators
STRIVING FOR A SIXTH STRAIGHT CHAMPIONSHIP
Winning is hard and repeating is harder. Many teams and individuals each year have the same goal of being a state champion. I doubt a team that has placed second or third the year prior has written down on their goal sheet “Geez I sure would like to get on the podium again!” Of course they probably would like to ascend to the top of podium and hold up that first place trophy.
We have continued to win by being focused on preparation and consistency. Our team motto is “prepare to win” based upon the quote by Juma Ikangaa “The will to win is nothing without the will to prepare.” Throughout the year I thought we did a great job of having good workouts and having a positive team culture.
Going into the state meet I thought it would be a close race between ourselves and Bridgeland. They had a great track season the previous spring and were unbeaten against teams in Texas. With a strong front three runners and a great pack it reminded me of some teams that we had at Flower Mound in the past. Our team this year has had two to three front runners and our pack has shown hints of greatness, but also inconsistency over the course of the year.
Before the race I focused our team on having a good start and running well in the middle mile. The middle mile is the most difficult and is a great opportunity to stay focused and pass runners. I also wanted our girls to run as a team and push each other throughout the race. I don’t like to focus on any one team or individual, but made it a point that the Bridgeland girls would be the biggest threat.
During the race we had a decent start, but Bridgeland set themselves up better with three runners in the top seven. Even though we had a two point lead at the mile mark, I think having three athletes in the top 10 allows a team to run more freely. We followed our race plan the second mile and did a great job of maintaining or passing runners. I was running around the best I could encouraging our athletes while trying not to run into other coaches and spectators.
Going into the last mile we had an eight point lead. I thought we were in great position but we had to finish the race and especially the last kilometer. The Bridgeland girls began to pass runners and I noticed that we were maintaining or losing spots. Not what you want to see! Unfortunately when the scores came in I knew that we had already lost.
Once I had time to calm down and analyze the results I thought we ran a great race and competed very well. In fact I think it was our best team race of the season. I haven’t checked results from every state meet in history, but feel confident we scored the lowest second place total in Texas 6A cross country history. Proud of our girls team for how they competed and all the hard work they put into to help us continue to be one of the top teams in Texas.
I’ll have another post soon on the NXN experience and may also add another post on what a typical training week looks like for an NXN qualifying team.
Texas Running Coach 