This is the first Team Tuesday of the 2019 season. There were some deserving teams after some big time meets this past weekend. However, the selection was a pretty easy one.
Mansfield is a team with a goal and they are set to do something about accomplishing it. The Tigers have had a summer like none of the members have ever had and it has already began to show.
Mansfield finished second overall as a team at the Waxahachie Woodhouse Invitational. That is an accomplishment in itself, but the way they ran to the second place finish is what is impressive.
Just about all of their runners ran PRs in their first 5K of the season. The top finisher this weekend was sophomore Trey Hicks who led the team on this weekend. Hicks improved his 5K PR from a 16:37 to 16:13, which is a 23 second improvement.
As already stated, just about the entire team had PRs. How would the entire team be able to successfully accomplish this at the same time in the first meet of the season? "So, basically this summer, we've been grinding all summer like from end of May until now," senior John Youssef said.
Doing it together was something they have become accustomed to doing as they now do everything together. Youseff said, "The most important part is we run together. We don't just workout or workout hard, we work hard together and in easy runs we'll stay together in a pack, and we just give it our best with a good mindset."
To spend so much time together, there has to be some kind of affinity for one another. This group has that and they actually like each other. They hang out a lot together and the team feels that is another key to the success they plan to have.
| Name | grade | Previous PR | New Pr | DifferencE |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Trey Hicks | So | 16:37 | 16:13 | -0.23 |
| James Williams | So | 17:05 | 16:14 | -0.51 |
| Brian Easter Jr. | Jr | 16:51 | 16:25 | -0.26 |
| John Youssef | Sr. | N/A | 16:52 | N/A |
| Taber Utterback | Sr | 19:00 | 17:16 | -1.44 |
| Muliye Payson Hart | Jr. | 17:40 | 17:18 | -0.22 |
| Chris Orosco | Jr. | 17:36 | 18:15 | +0.39 |
But, what is it that makes a team not necessarily known for cross country to have the goals and desires they have? The DFW are is one of the most productive areas in the state when it comes to turning out quality distance runners and teams.
Perhaps, not having any other option is what does it for them. Mansfield knows they have a good team compared to past standards at the program. They want to make it to state this year and they know that is a huge challenge as they are in Region 1-6A, which is known as the "Region of Doom". The region has the top teams in the state and several of them that have aspirations of winning a trophy and even going onto NXN.
Youssef said, "We got 12th at regionals last year, so we really want to get up there in the top four." That experience is the motivation for the team and the driving force to making whatever changes needed to achieve success.
Although they put in the work, Mansfield still had to run to find out where they stand and what the new levels of hard work has done for them.
When they first got off the bus and they saw some of the big named cross country programs, they were a little humbled before the race began. "We saw Keller and we were kind of intimidated to be honest." Keller qualified for the UIL 6A state meet last year with a third place finish at the same regional meet the Mansfield boys finished 12th.
They gathered themselves well and turned that intimidation to the best running they've ever done. At last year's regional race, they ran a 16:34 team average with a 28 second split in the 3 mile race. This weekend, they ran for 16:36 with a 1:03 split for the 5K distance. That shows a major progression from the end of one season to the beginning of another.
"This meet set the bar and we just have to go higher. We're in high spirits, we did good today, but we've gotta keep pushing," Trey Hicks said.