Houston St Agnes has been one of the more consistent TAPPS girls cross country programs over the last several years.
Their success and consistency stretches back to 2012, which was the last time the school did not finish in the top three at the TAPPS state meet. That year, St. Agnes would finish fourth overall with at 1:06 split. Every year since, they would finish in the top three with the last four years seeing them take home a runners-up trophy.
The key to their success is possibly their pack running. Over the years, they have demonstrated the ability to run together as a group. The splits since 2012 at the state meet have all been under one minute except for last year's 1:01 split. In 2016, the split was 53 seconds, the 2015 split was 51 seconds, the 2014 split was only a mere 18 seconds, and 2013 was 43 seconds.
Needless to the say that is one of coach Kristi Robbin's emphasis. In fact, she has already instilled in the brains of this year's team, "We are working on staying closer together as the season progresses," senior Grace Wolfe said.
This group of girls could be the one to get St Agnes over the hump and to the number one spot come October. They always run against bigger schools and don't shy away from the competition. Week in and week out like most TAPPS programs, St Agnes takes on the UIL schools and they come away taking down a lot of those teams. "I feel they underestimate us because we're a private school," sophomore Jackie Cruz said. That doesn't have any negative effect on the girls. "Running against bigger schools pushes us to get better," Wolfe said.
Although the season just began, the team ran impressively out of the gate at the GCSTCA Heat Wave Relays last weekend. Wolfe said, "This was a great kick off to our season, we stayed close together." Sophomore and TAPPS state meet 5th place finisher last year Sara Price echoed Wolfe's statement, she said, "Today was definitely interesting, I think we did a rally good job staying together."
As this weekend starts the real season for teams across the state, the 2018 TAPPS state championship will definitely be an interesting race with five time champs Dallas Ursuline Academy and San Antonio Antonian, and Houston St. Agnes. The senior Wolfe is ready and she feels her team is too. "We have a great team and we get along pretty well and we work really hard together."