Early mornings call for early runs, taking advantage of the cooler temperatures before the school day starts. After weeks of morning practices, the cross country teams competed in Teague for their first meet of the year. The event marked another early morning for the group, with the team departing from the school at 6:40 Saturday morning. The ride gave the competitors a chance to get ready to compete.

“This is my first year of doing cross country so I was very nervous,” junior Miranda Ramirez said. “I was sick to my stomach before the race, but once it started, I just ran.”

Varsity girls ran first, starting at 8:30. Following the varsity girls were varsity boys, JV girls, JV boys and then junior high competitors.

“I was glad that we ran first because I was able to get it over with,” junior Anabelle Greene said. “After our race was over, we went around the course to cheer on our other teammates that ran during the other races.”

As usual, the girls ran two miles and the boys ran three. Freshman Julyen Woods fell two places short from placing in the top ten on varsity. Miranda Ramirez and Sherlynn Rodriguez placed in the top ten on JV and both received medals.

“I got really excited that I got a medal,” Ramirez said. “I was just a bit disappointed with myself because I knew I could’ve done better and placed higher.”

The early-morning practices haven’t been easy, but the team is there every day preparing for their next race. Their main goal this season is to improve on their time and place higher at every meet.

“Waking up every day and going to practice at 6:15 in the morning is rough, but it’s worth it,” sophomore Elizabeth Daniel said. “I know that every day we are getting better, and my goal for this next race is to come back home with a medal.”