Myles Richter Impressively Wins Region 1-6A Individual Title

Who saw it coming?

Probably not many, but Myles Richter sure might have. The Lewisville Hebron senior has been doing what it takes to be a champion and now he is a champion as on Monday, he won the Region 1-6A championship.

Richter believes his season has been successful from the beginning, "I won the first race, the meet we host at the Friday Night Hawk and that kinda set me up for a successful season." Not only was it a win in the first race of the year, but he ran 9:25.10, which was the beginning of a season that he would set PRs in all distances.

His success comes from his preparation and by doing the little things that for him make the difference. "I usually go to bed around 8:45 and go to sleep around 9:00. I drink a protein a protein drink every night before bed. I recover while I sleep and I get a lot of sleep."

In doing so, Richter punched his ticket back to the UIL state cross country meet, which is just under two weeks away. 

The Region 1 win meant that he survived the "Region of Doom", that is on a course that annually ends the seasons and high school careers of a lot of good high school teams and runners, but not Richter. The race was a big time performance as he improved from last year's 12th place finish and 15:16.39 to the top spot and his new 3 mile PR of 14:36.80, which is better by almost 40 seconds.

The win also mean that he would have to beat two of the best runners in the nation in 2017 UIL 6A state champ Jarrett Kirk and the 2018 District 6-6A champ Alex Maier. The Flower mound duo had just taken Richter down a week ago at the district meet. "Last week, Jarret Kirk and Alex Maier went out the same way and I didn't have the energy, which today I did," Richter said.

Being able to battle a devastatingly tough course and two tough competitors for the win wasn't easy. Early on in the race, he was back in the pack, running in about 30th - 40th place. However, he found his groove and began to make a move for the front pack. "I handle hilly courses pretty well, just something I've done pretty well."

Now, with at least one more race, Richter will get his shot at a state title that now looks even more possible than ever when he makes the trip up to Round Rock, Texas for the race on November 3, 2018. "I am ready for state, we get a off week next week, it will be nice to recover from this.