While most teenagers were still asleep Saturday morning, the cross country team was up early preparing to run in their first meet. After weeks of early-morning practices, the runners were eager to get their first race in the books. Although none of the runners placed top 15 the team still seemed to improve.

“We were all nervous but also very excited to run,” senior Josh Rodriguez said. “I felt so much adrenaline because it is my first year running.”

The meet started with the varsity girls running. The early morning was a little tough but with the energy and adrenaline, the girls didn’t let it phase them.

“The first meet didn’t come out how we wanted it to, but it was our first meet and now we have something to aim for to make us better,” senior Maddie Bates said. “It did feel like it took me a long time, but it really wasn’t.”

With a later start time, the boys had more time to prepare and work their adrenaline up.

“Since we ran later, we had more time to prepare and wake up and get blood pumping, which made us do pretty decent for our first race,” senior Brandon Renteria said. “It wasn’t our best run ever, but we did try our hardest.”

Although none of the runners placed in the top 15, the runners still improved their times. They hope to get runners from each team to regionals and state.

“Being in the top 15 is on our mind, but we are always focusing more on beating our times from the previous race, and even if that isn’t top 15, most of us are just glad we are getting better,” freshman Brandon Almeida said. “We always work harder in practice after races; we really want to reach our goal of regionals and state.”

The team ran again on September 21 at Palestine High School. Clear skies meant hot temps.

“Mid-race, the sun decided to pop out and it got really hot and it made me kind of slow down,” senior Joel Avalos said. “We all definitely improved from our first meet, even though the sun came out during our race and the whole time for the girls’ race.”

The goal for the team is always to beat their time from their previous race. Every runner accomplished that goal at the Palestine meet.

“All the runners did an excellent job at beating their times,” coach Bates said. “They all beat their time by at least 50 seconds or more. I was very happy with the outcomes of their times and all the effort they put into waking up early and running.”