![The cross country team poses for the camera after finishing the district meet. The varsity boys, JV boys and JV girls all placed third and the varsity girls placed fourth. “Coach put in the right training for us for this season, so I think we will be peaking this week and the next couple of weeks,” varsity runner and junior Nathan Kukla said. “The chances of making it to state are very high, but we don’t settle for the lowest and there is always going to be that chance, so [we] race for the best.”](https://cphswolfpack.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/10/Heidi-831-1200x900.jpg)
![Sucking in a breath of air, freshman Lily Pope competes in the 200 yard individual medley. On Oct. 25, the swim team competed in the AISD Swim Invitational. Overall, the girls team took second place and the boys team came in eleventh. “My favorite stroke is butterfly because I do the best in that stroke,” Pope said. “I feel like [butterfly] can test how [your ability] to convince yourself to keep going. The hardest part of swimming is convincing yourself to stay strong and keep pushing during a hard race [when] everything is tired.”](https://cphswolfpack.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/11/POPE-1200x804.jpg)
![Smiling at the camera, Author Ehigbor Okosun, members of Page Turners, and other students reflect on the author's visit. “I thought the visit was great,” Senior Amia De Leon said. “It was interesting talking to her and [getting to know] her process and her thoughts and books in general. But I think the reason it went well [was that] people got to ask questions. I'm glad that she said so much in response to the questions and it wasn't just one and done. [The author’s responses] felt very articulate.”](https://cphswolfpack.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/10/Sebastian-5-1200x800.jpg)
![Standing in front of the field at a freshman football game, cheerleader freshman Jacob Gaudreau along with teammate freshman Bella Gibson pose for a photo during halftime of game. “[Cheer has] definitely given me a much more outgoing personality,” Gaudreau said. “I used to be very introverted, so it's definitely made me more extroverted towards people.”](https://cphswolfpack.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/10/Ingrid-204-1200x800.jpg)
![Holding a wooden pizza toy, senior Taylor Peterson plays with small children in Bucaramanga, Colombia. During the summer, Peterson traveled to Colombia to help build an elementary school that only had two classrooms but five or six grades with one teacher. “We add[ed] two more classrooms,” Peterson said. “It’s kind of hard when you have two or three grades in one classroom and you only have one teacher. It’s very hard to actually get some beneficial learning. [The extra classrooms will give the students] a better quality of education because they’ll actually have a place specific for their learning.” Photo by Taylor Peterson](https://cphswolfpack.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/09/Taylor-P.png)
![Swinging with his arm extended, senior Nolan Park hits the ball smoothly over the net and to the opponent’s side. Park is one of four varsity tennis captains and helped the team win district championships. “Winning district champs was a pretty awesome feeling,” Park said. “We had lost to Liberty Hill a couple of weeks before, but when we played them [again], we came out and really took care of business. We took them out and it was just a really awesome night.”](https://cphswolfpack.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/10/Kassidy-419.jpg)
![Standing proud, varsity senior athletes Rafael Escobar, Griffin Jacobs, Jakob Martin, and juniors Jackson Springer and Jack Morris pose with their newly earned medals. The varsity team finished third out of 14 teams on Sept. 25. “The team's primary goal is to win the district championship,” head coach Cody Price said. "We're confident that with our action plan in place, we can accomplish this mission. [For the next tournament], our preparation involves assessing our strengths and weaknesses, celebrating milestones and creating individual development plans." Photo courtesy of Cody Price](https://cphswolfpack.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/10/golf.jpg)
Another summer has passed and it’s back to work for most people. However, for the cross country team, work has been well underway for some time. Since the end of the last school year, cross country has been preparing for September meets and they’re ready for another competitive season.
Last year, the cross country team impressed everyone with a pre-season ranking of number one in the nation. They finished with a bronze medal at the state meet and eleventh place in the Nike Cross National meet (NXN). However, last year’s team was made up of six seniors, two juniors and one sophomore. This leaves the team with only Weston O’Donnell and Richard Weeks, seniors, and Herbert Gutierrez, junior, as returning members. Of those three runners, only Gutierrez and O’Donnell have gone to NXN.
“Obviously we’re coming in with a lack of experience,” Timo Sheard, cross country coach, said. “It’s making people step up to the challenge of varsity.”
They are indeed stepping up to the challenge. After training all summer the team has already shown some incredible improvement: the team finished first in both of their first two races of the season. However, they’re trying not to get over confident.
“We’re excited by recent results, but it’s a long road [to district], with some tough competition,” Jordan McWilliams, junior, said.
Despite this, the team’s inexperience is still evident. It’s forcing them to race more and increase the demand of their physically training, but they are taking this in stride.
“Like every team, we’re going to have our setbacks, but we’re confident we’ll do what it takes to pull through,” Chris Mulverhill, sophomore, said.
A positive team mindset is key to excelling in a taxing sport like cross country. This philosophical attitude is mirrored by their coach.
“I think if we stay healthy and we continue to progress, we can be one of the top teams in state,” Sheard said.
A large factor in that progression has been the addition of two more runners. Miles Pierce, senior, and James McIlwain, sophomore, moved to Cedar Park during the summer and have slotted nicely into the team.
“[They add] two more strong runners to our pack and tightens our team bond,” said O’Donnell.
In helping the new runners feel at home, the team has also started to come together. The new runners have taken some of the pressure off of everyone with added depth to the team, but this is not to say they are slacking off because there are more people. In fact, they’re more determined than ever to avoid mistakes.
With the season newly underway there is still a great distance between the team’s present shape and their season goal. Five weeks separate those first races and the district competition, and many things could happen on the way to the team’s goal of winning the 4A state meet. Despite the many challenges and obstacles on the road ahead the Cedar Park cross country team is still looking forward to the races that matter starting October 29.
