The girls from Klein Cain are looking to establish their program in a running scene across a state that is already accustomed to certain programs being at the top of the heap in girls cross country.
Programs like Southlake Carroll, Flower Mound, Keller, and Lovejoy are synonymous with the UIL state meet and are mainstays at the top or Texas girls cross country running.
There are other programs in Cain's own backyard who are also consistently thought of when the best come to mind like mighty The Woodlands, Kingwood, and Cypress Bridgeland.
Cain wants to breakthrough and they want to do it sooner than later. That is a task easier said than done. The program is only in its fifth year of existence after opening in the 2017 school year, but last year, they made great strides in working to become a program with their head coach Shay Collete at the helm.
Junior Felicity Hamilton and Rebecca Wylie qualified individually for the state meet last year after the team gave a valiant effort at the District 15-6A Championships, but were unable to advance beyond the district level.
The Lady Ibis know before they can make themselves known at the state level that they'll have to improve standings in their district first. So, whys is a team who can't make it out of district aspiring to hit big at the state level? Well, it's because they know they're a state level team.
Their fourth place performance at district was good enough to win most other distract races and maybe even regional meets. The course was difficult and the competition . . . well, their fourth place finish was behind two teams who eventually finished fifth and sixth at the state meet.
This year figures to be just as difficult as Klein Oak and Klein will possibly be even stronger than last year an at regionals, they'll have The Woodlands and Bridgeland to add into the mix.
Hamilton finished 11th at the state meet last year and she said, "we want to make it out of our district." The team travelled to the DFW area last weekend to get some high level competition in the second week of the season and in their first meet, proving they want to get into some fast races and get their bodies and minds into gear with running at high levels. "Coming out here and going against them is kinda what we need," Hamilton said.
The competition they sought, is what they got. Dallas Highland Park is a squad who was perennially in the mix in 5A and has now moved up the 6A classification and SPC team runner-ups last year Hockaday, and Coppell gave them the DFW type of racing experience they desired to start the season with.
Cain junior and state meet qualifier Wylie said the team wants to experience uncomfortability, "you get to feel that uncomfort and push through it." Even though, it was just the first race of the season and there is little to gain or lose in week one of racing, there were positives the team took away. Sophomore Sara Springett said, "I'm happy I really pushed myself today", and lastly, Wylie said, "It's exciting and I can't wait to see what comes next."