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It was the first race of the year for Hockaday junior Margaret Thompson. The Dallas harrier is coming off a successful sophomore year when she won the 2021 Southwest Preparatory Conference (SPC) state cross country title, the 800m and 3200m titles, as well as Texas Relays and TTFCA steeplechase wins.
At the Waxahachie Woodhouse Invitational, Thompson wasted no time in cementing herself as an early season favorite to possibly take the mantle from Flower Mound graduate Natalie Cook. The Hockaday harrier gracefully pranced around and across the course in Maypearl, Texas to the tune of 17 minutes and 56 second.
That is a superb exhibit for this time of year and a demonstration to the level of fitness the defending champion currently has under her belt. It's also a time that Thompson is content with, "I'm pretty happy with that," she said.
A lot of times, the first race of the season are either short distances to allow an athlete to build up to competition races, but this was a good barometer to start out with. Familiarity allowed Thompson to run without having to do much thinking as she shared she's ran this course several times and knew the transitions, turns, and focus points of this race.
Another unanticipated positive was the level of competition. Coppell senior Louisa Ehinger is an aggressive runner and likes to get out to a solid pace and that helped Thompson establish the kind of pacing to attain her state leading performance and something she could be happy about and affirm her off season training.
Klein Cain runners and MileSplit Preseason All-State selections Rebecca Wylie and Felicity Hamilton as well as Highland Park's Charlotte Hudson were also competing strong to help keep the pace honest not to fall off it's elite level.
To credit Thompson, her performance was more than just the quality level of competition, she took responsibility for her racing as she took the lead and pressed throughout the race. Instead of settling on the rhythm, she was ambitious and decided to compete against the clock. She admitted initially game planning to run with the pack and wait until the latter stages to press the pace, but mid-race she felt differently. "I felt really good, I was like I'm just going to go ahead and take it so I don't lose the pace. I just went for it, everyone was really cheering, it was fun," she admitted.
The 2022 cross country season could be a big breakout year for the junior. After having a freshman season being drastically affected by COVID restrictions and modifications, her sophomore year was instrumental in her development and her establishing herself as a competitive runner.
Now, the schedule gets even more challenging and will allow her to display the level of runner she is becoming. "My coaches have put together a meet schedule that's pretty competitive, not all SPC teams, but TAPPS and UIL teams as well," Thompson confirmed.
The rigors of a higher level of competition could be strenuous and stressful on a young runner, but for Thompson, she's optimistic, and even more accurately, "I'm excited!"
Place Score Bib No Name Team Time Pace Year 1 1 697 Margaret Thompson Hockaday 17:56.9 5:47/M 11 2 2 740 Rebecca Wylie Klein Cain 18:05.3 5:49/M 11 3 3 585 Charlotte Hudson Dallas Highland Park 18:21.9 5:55/M 12 4 4 735 Felicity Hamilton Klein Cain 18:54.3 6:05/M 11 5 5 583 Madeline Heckler Dallas Highland Park 19:00.3 6:07/M 9