By: Farah Standley
2022-2023 Cross Country Team
To start off the season, the Eagles went to Floresville, where all of the athletes fought hard to tackle steep hills and tough competition. The varsity girls got 7th place as a team overall in the 2-mile race, seeing amazing performances by all of the girls, including Kassidy Vickers (Finished 12th; Time: 13:19), Kara Medina (Finished 31st; Time: 14:02), and Shalyn Gutierez (Finished 33rd; Time: 14:03). Shortly following them came Shanna Hime, Evalynn Garcia, Aryana Partida, Jauslyn Ramirez, and Mallory Fey. The JV girls came in 7th place as a team, with contributions from Syrena Clark, Aleza Robledo, Xochitl Hernandez, Vanessa Chapa, Katelynn Garza, and Rebecca Martinez. The varsity boys came trucking through at 5th place as a team overall. The leading scorer for Pleasanton was Micah Klein at 17th place, with an 18:23 3-mile. Next came Xavier Rodriguez (Finished 37th; Time: 19:25), Ian Rodriguez (Finished 45th; Time: 19:45), Jayden Ogg(Finished 46th; Time: 19:45), Joseph Cuellar (Finished 73rd; Time: 21:00), and Logan Knox (Finished 85th; Time: 21:57). Every athlete on the Pleasanton cross country team put in all of their effort, and pushed through mental and physical pain to better themselves and their teammates. They encouraged each other through long summer practices and early morning workouts before school, and now that the season has started, they plan to push each other all the way to regionals, and hopefully, the state meet in Round Rock, Texas.
We had an interesting interview with Coach Foster about the season, and she seemed very excited to see what the team has to offer this year. She has been teaching/coaching for 6 years, and this is her first year here at Pleasanton. She graduated from Jourdanton High School and graduated college from Texas State University. When asked about how she feels this season will go, considering the brand new team, she stated, “I think the team is going to do very well this year, it’s a young team across the board, with only two seniors… they are going to do very well pre-season… we’re going to have a good chance to go to regionals, but also win district… girls and boys.” We also had a good conversation with Kassidy Vickers, the number one runner on the team. First, we asked how she feels about the start of her season so far, she said, “I feel like the start has already been good … It’s only been the third meet and I already have a new P.R., and I’ve just been getting better every single meet.” We asked how she feels about her new teammates, and she replied, “They’re doing really good, they’re really stepping it up, being new to high school, and they’re really strong competitors… I feel like we have a really strong team this year”. We asked how she feels about the new coach, Coach Foster, and she stated, “She’s a good coach… I would say she’s definitely helped us out… just conditioning and… working on… specific areas like endurance.” We questioned what some goals and mindsets she and the team shared for the year, she said, “Definitely a goal…for our team is to make it to State, I think we have a good chance of doing that this year, and then be District Champions… A goal for me is to be District Champ.” We also asked how far she thinks she as an individual will get in terms of competition this year, she stated, “This year, I honestly see myself making it to state because the times I’ve been hitting are… better than my state times.” Her current P.R. (Personal Record) is 12:27, which is a seven-second jump from her P.R. last year, 12:34. The team looks forward to gaining a lot of success this year, and all of the athletes have a good outlook on the future.
