Week one of the Texas high school cross country season did not go according to plan.
While the long awaited start of the campaign kicked off, there were parts of the state where the start was delayed or suspended.
Mother nature brought Hurricane Harvey into the Gulf of Mexico and along the Texas Gulf Coast. It made landfall as a category 4 storm and brought catastrophic flooding. Areas of direct impact hit the Houston region, including the surrounding cities and counties. Also affected were areas as far east as Beaumont and Port Arthur and as far southwest as Corpus Christi and Port Aransas.
This weekend, several cross country meets were cancelled. Texas MileSplit was scheduled to cover cancelled meets such as The Woodland's Friday Night Lights, UISD Invitational, and the Edcouch Elsa TC Invitational.
But cancellations were not limited to those meets, as there were many more meets throughout the Gulf region.
For some areas of the state, cancelled meets were just a temporary suspension status for the preservation of facilities and parks and more importantly for the safety of and student-athletes and citizens who travel to and from the meets.
In some areas, the affect of Hurricane Harvey was a more distressful situation. Harvey has brought rain, flooding, tornados, and other life-changing situations. Leading into the weekend, city officials and school districts were in the planning and preparation stages for the storm. Currently, many areas of the state, including city and school district officials, are in recovery and rescue stages.
For the student-athletes and coaches in the areas where the hurricane hit home, the immediate future of some cross country seasons are unknown. Many school districts are closed at least throughout the week and some will probably last beyond that.
Other parts of the state are uneffected by Hurricane Harvey and will be going on as usual. We at TXMileSplit will continue to cover your seasons. For those who are dealing with tornados, floods, evacuations, loss, and other real life and distressful situations, we're praying for you and look forward to seeing all of you soon!
And as always, Texas Forever!!!