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    Cross Country gearing up for district meet next week

    Cross Country gearing up for district meet next week

    After several meets and finishing strong at a Pre-District meet, both of the varsity cross country teams are ready for next weeks district contest. Coach Beale Tolbert said both teams have dropped their times over the weeks. Junior Hannah Tobias is leading the way for the varsity girls and dropped her time down to 19 minutes. For the varsity boys, junior Terrence Mitchell is

    Juinor Hannah Tobias is looking to lead the way at the district cross country meet next week. The girls team has been improving over the past couple of weeks. (Ariana Canchola photo)

    leading the way and has posted a best 17 minute time.

    “When I finished my last meet and realized that I broke 20 minutes, I felt like I was actually getting somewhere and that my training was paying off.” Tobias says “Now that I dropped it to 19 minutes, I’m not going to stop there, I’m aiming for 18 minutes now.”

    Tobias had her best time during the Hurst meet. She broke 20 minutes and Coach Tolbert was aiming for that in this meet. Although Tobias did not place, she ran her best time competing with these schools. The last few meets have set up the upcoming district meet scheduled to take place in Midlothian next week.

    “I have a strong feeling that we will do great at district.” junior Alejandro Villegas says “We have a way better team then last year and we should advance to regionals, as a team, this year.”

    The Varsity boys are looking to get a win at the district meet. Tolbert said the boys are running well together as a team and have been consistent at every meet.

    “My team is physically ready to compete at the district meet.” Tolbert said. “The mental part will be how much they trust themselves and how much they trust me. If they trust themselves and trust me, we will all be satisfied with the results.”

    Coach Tolbert has been preparing the teams for the district meet since the beginning of the season. She said she set goals for both teams to work on during the start of the year.

    “I needed the guys to spend more time together as a team.” Tolbert said. “The guys needed to trust the team more than themselves. They now do it more for the team than for them.”

    For the girls she said she needed to prepare them for an extra mile. The girls were running a two mile distance, now they run three miles just like the guys.

    “The girls needed to get over the fear of adding an extra mile for them to run. And they have now achieved that and are doing well.” Tolbert said “Now we have a group of Freshman that are not as talented as my other girls. But three or four years from now if they continue running they will not be as afraid to run and will become more fit.”

    Coach Tolbert believes in her group and knows what they can achieve.

    “Overall, I am confident that the boys should make it to regionals,” Tolbert said. “If they continue to be consistent and improve like they have been doing, there is no problem for them.”

    She believes the girls have some things to work on, but is also confident in what they can offer to close the season out.

    “The girls have the talent to qualify for regionals, but have not been consistent as a group in the past few meets,” Tolbert said. ” The girls were not as fit in the beginning of the season, and I think that’s whats hurting them now.

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