With 22 teams competing at the Cedar Park Invitational, the varsity girls took fifth place and junior varsity placed third. The freshman runners came in second place out of five teams.

Out of a total of 200 runners, Amelia McElhinney placed sixth for varsity, Sara Millar took third place among 240 JV runners and Kayla Redd, a freshman runner, finished in second place out of 62 freshmen.

In order to train for such meets and competitions, the girls do tempo and base work – a steady and controlled run that is done at a moderately fast pace. Base work is short for basic training. This includes base building and maintaining a base, which is strengthening a girl’s ability to run at a faster pace and for longer.

“My goal is to be the best that I can be,” sophomore Shelby McCaa said.

McCaa won first place at the Waco Midway XC Meet and fifth place at Cedar Park for JV.

“The early practices are the hardest part [of being in cross country],” McCaa said.

These practices take place before school and the expectations are high.