As the pressure of making it to state weighs on her, she knows that keeping her breathing slow and steady is key to making it to the finish line.

Senior Maddie Bates competed at the regional cross country meet in Huntsville last week. She competed on a Monday morning but stayed at a hotel the night before in order to be up and ready to go.

“I was proud I mean she got better every meet and met every goal that was expected from her as an XC runner,” cross country coach Dustin Bates said. “For next year, I certainly have higher expectations since XC is losing some good runners.”

Bates ran in the cold weather against 108 other girls at Sam Houston University.

“I was nervous because I had to run in really cold weather,” Bates said. “There were also a lot of good runners against me.”

Bates fell short at regionals by placing fifty-eighth. However, she beat her previous time by running 2 minutes faster.

“I wasn’t sure how I’ll do since I hadn’t run the last three weekends since our last district meet,” Bates said. “̈But I was happy about getting my times down with each passing meet.”

Her season wrapped up at regionals. This was the last time she was able to run cross country in high school.

“I was proud of making that far for my last year doing Cross Country,” Bates said. “ I want my last year to go out as a bang and I think it did.”