As I collapse on the ground, gasping for air, I take a moment to reminisce on the past four years of my cross country career; I had just finished my last official high school cross country meet.
On Friday morning, October 31, I traveled down to Terre Haute, IN, with Head Cross Country Coach Rush and teammate Hope Rush. But before doing that, I had one last cross country send-off. First, I walked through the high school hallways in shock to be staring at hundreds of pictures of my face, which was odd but appreciated. Since last Friday was Halloween, I got somewhat in the Halloween spirit, seeing everyone’s costumes as I wandered the halls. Afterwards, I headed to the elementary school for my favorite part of the morning. The elementary students acted like I was a celebrity-handing me homemade signs, giving me high-fives with their grimy, tiny hands, and chanting my name as I walked through the halls made me feel special. I am pretty sure 90% of them do not even know what cross country is, let alone the cross country State meet, but I appreciated their enthusiasm nonetheless.
Wrapping up my morning, Officer Hanna led the minibus with a police send-off through Walton. It is always good to have a police officer ahead of you rather than behind you. The long two-and-a-half-hour drive south, give or take a few minutes, was not too bad. We landed at the LaVern Gibson Championship Course for a light practice, running the course and rounding off with some builds to the finish. Afterwards, Hope and I worked up an appetite, so we continued the annual tradition of eating McCalister’s for lunch.
We wanted to try something new this year, so after lunch, we went to the Indiana Track & Field & Cross Country Hall of Fame Museum, located about ten minutes away from the course in Terre Haute. This museum is a free museum open to the public that can be self-guided or tour-guided. According to the See You in Terre Haute Website, this museum is filled with a vast variety of track and field and cross country artifacts and memorabilia from across Indiana. This Hall of Fame’s facility celebrates athletes’, coaches’, and contributors’ accomplishments from the past 120 years. Something that stood out to me was the number of cross country/track uniforms on the wall. This museum housed every single Indiana cross country or track uniform from every high school in Indiana. It was neat to see the old uniforms, and especially fascinating to see the Lewis Cass uniform hanging up on the wall. I would definitely say my favorite part of the experience was seeing the construction materials that were used to build tracks back in the day. Tracks used to be run on grass, dirt, cinder, asphalt, and the one that surprised me the most-wood; I cannot imagine my spikes getting stuck in the wood. It was astounding to see those tracks compared to the rubber and lavish polyurethane tracks. If you are a fan of running, I would highly recommend visiting this museum if you are in the Terre Haute area. For an even captivating experience, the Indiana Track and Field and Cross Country Hall of Fame Museum states on their website that former coaches, athletes, and historians are often present on Wednesday mornings to share stories with visitors.
After the museum, Hope and I chilled at the La Quinta Inn. I made Hope watch scary movies even though she is not a fan, but hey, it was Halloween, so we had to. Finishing off the night with every cross country runner’s carb-o-liscious favorite – Olive Garden. As we ate, we made sure to watch on our phones and support our Kings’ football team back home during their second round of sectionals.
The next morning, my alarm went off at a bright and early 8 am- today was the day. We ventured off for a good 10-minute drive. My nerves were through the roof. I had no idea how the meet would go, but I knew I had worked hard for this moment, and I wanted to give it my all for the last meet. My goals were to break 19 minutes, place top fifty, and make the All-Star team; in doing this, I would achieve my best time and place ever on the state course. We got to LaVern Gibson three hours early to set up camp and have plenty of time to relax my nerves before the race. The hours flew by fast, and before I knew it, I was lined up in my starting box.
It was all finally hitting me- this would be the last high school meet of my life. I did not know how to feel, but I knew I wanted to spare no effort in my final race. As the starting gun went off, time seemed to stop around me. I did not get out as fast as I had hoped, and people began closing in around me; I felt trapped. I stayed composed and tried to move into a good spot at the mile. After the one-mile mark, I tried to pick off competitors as I ran. I spotted a Hamilton Heights runner passing me. She was the same runner who beat me in the first meet of the season, the Jacob Graf Invite; I knew I wanted to beat her. I followed right behind her and passed her quickly; she never passed me and I never looked back.
As I kept running, I continued passing runners, but then different girls would pass me. I had no idea how I was racing, time or place-wise. I began to get discouraged the more I saw runners pass me, but I continued along. With one mile to go, I tried to keep my place and not get passed. Finally, I looked up to see the finish line; it was a 400-meter straightaway- what seemed like the longest straightaway of my running career. I heard my mom yell out a time with the final 400 to go. There was no way I was going to run a personal record (PR), but I could still break 19 minutes. I moved my arms as fast as I could. I tried to pass people, but instead, I continued to get passed. There was no way I was still in the top fifty, I was thinking as I crossed the finish line. I looked up to see a time of 18:48- my best time for the LaVern Gibson State Course. I crossed the finish line not knowing how I felt. I fell to the ground and continued to stay there for many minutes. My high school cross country career was over.
I later found out that I had placed 49th, barely, but still, reaching my goal of placing in the top fifty. I still had one more goal left-make the Indiana All-Star team. To make the All-Star team, I would have to be in the top twelve seniors to place at state. This did not mean I had to get twelfth place; this could mean I could potentially get up to 50th place and make the team, but surely 49th place would not make it, or so I thought. Several senior runners choose not to participate in the All-Star meet to focus instead on the Nike Cross Country (NXR) meet, which is the day after the All-Star meet, or some seniors simply do not want to run any more meets after State. When girls make these decisions, it opens up spots for runners who were not part of the top twelve seniors. Not knowing how many seniors would not run in the All-Star meet was up in the air.
With an accomplished last race, I hopped back on the bus back home. I was feeling pretty good about the whole day and had accepted that this was my last race. When I asked Coach Rush how my time of 18:48 would have placed in recent years, she responded with, “Back when I was coaching in 2007, your time of 18:48 would have been 4th place! Then fast forward to 10 years ago, in 2015, 18:48 would have been 27th place, and in 2022, this time would have medaled in 22nd place. To explain how fast times have gotten: In 2007, there were no times under 18 minutes; then in 2024, there were 9 girls who ran under 18 minutes; this year, there were 17 girls. This year’s times were FAST!” It is crazy to think how fast times have gotten in the past few years. If only I had been born 30 years ago, (big sigh).
On Sunday night, Coach Rush called to let me know that I had made the Indiana All-Star team! This was a goal I had previously set at the beginning of the season, and I was very excited to know my season was not quite over just yet, and I still had one last race left.
Overall, I am happy with how my last State meet went. I achieved all of my goals; I ran sub 19 minutes, placed in the top fifty, and I made the All-Star team. This was my favorite and best season of my high school career, and I will be sad to run my official last meet. This season was filled with many memorable moments that I will never forget.
