Hallettsville Yearbook Staff
The cross country runners at their previous meet.
On Monday, Oct. 6, the Hallettsville cross country team ran their district race in Yoakum, with Landen Bone placing 7th overall and Elizabeth Felcman placing 3rd overall.
“My family, and the support that they give me, helps keep me positive and keeps me going.” Bone said.
During the first half of the season, Felcman suffered an injury and was unable to run with the rest of the team.
“I would say I was much less confident. Before my injury, it was easy to run, and I was fearless. Now every time I run, I worry about re-injuring myself or injuring myself again. I would say that my running is natural, like I have a natural ability to run, and it helps with a bunch of other stuff, so it was pretty easy to restart, but I’m still not where I want to be,” Felcman said.
Being the new kid can be scary, even more so when you’re doing a sport and are in the shadow of runners like Bone and Felcman. This year, the cross-country team has a new runner, junior Addison Zinnante.
“It was definitely very nerve-racking at first, but I think getting to bond with my teammates and it helped with my running. Now we’re just all so close and we’re all there for each other,” Zinnante said.
Sophomore Reese Temple did not advance to the regional meet, but is still looking forward to cheering on her team and pushing them through practices, reminding them how far they have come.
“I didn’t do as well as I wanted to. I was facing an injury at the time, but it’s behind me, so I’m just looking forward to my other athletic endeavors. I sincerely hope that they (Landen Bone and Elizabeth Felcman) make it to state, and I’m going to pray for them and remind them of all the effort they put in to get there, and that this is it, you can’t replace these times,” Temple said.
Now that Felcman and Bone have advanced to regionals, there is a chance for them to run at state, meaning the coaches have a lot to prepare them for.
“Coach Schindler put together a mix of workouts incorporating long-distance days with middle-distance interval training. Each week, the athletes would run various speed workouts as well, and each workout would include a ‘finisher’ that would help develop a kick at the end of their race,” Halata said.
Going into the district meet, Coach Halata had high expectations for the runners; unfortunately, the girls came just shy of her goal, being one runner away from advancing to regionals. However, on the boys’ end of things, they were very confident in Bone’s ability to finish high.
“Team-wise, the girls were one runner shy of qualifying for Regionals. Although we had five girls competing, our finishing places weren’t high enough to get us to the next level. Going in, we knew Landen had a chance to move on, but we were worried about Elizabeth. She missed half of the season due to an injury, so we didn’t know if she would get back enough of her stamina to be competitive enough to advance.” Halata said.
Bone and Felcman will run on Monday, Oct. 20, so wish them luck. Go Brahmas!