Even though regionals have come to an end, and none of the girls cross country runners made it to state, the team is reflecting on their season and how they can improve moving forward.
Kaden Tunstill is a senior at Warren Central. She said she expected for them to not make it to state.
“It was kind of expected,” she said. “I feel like the girls on the other teams were going to make it.”
After regionals, she felt like there wasn’t anything they really could have done differently. As for running they had just come back from sectionals the week prior so she said that made it hard on the body, so it might have been a challenge for them.
Personally for herself, Tunstill feels like she couldn’t have changed anything about her preparation process before regionals.
“I think there was no really changing anything I could’ve done at that moment,” she said. “My fitness was already there. You can’t really change much a week before regionals.”
Now that the season is over, Tunstill has a bittersweet feeling about it all coming to an end. While she is happy that the running every weekend part is over, she is still upset about not being able to spend time with her teammates as much.
“I’m definitely sad that I won’t be able to see a lot of the girls anymore but glad that I won’t have to run 5Ks every Saturday,” she said.
Since her running career at Warren Central is over, Tunstill is glad to be able to relax and exercise on her own. Although she will miss running with her teammates, she does not plan on doing cross country moving forward.
“Now that the season is over I will work out and run on my own, live my life happily without having to run when I get home,” she said.
She does encourage other girls to join cross country and to not be scared just because they have to run long distances, but to instead be excited to create bonds with other girls.
Another runner on the team, junior Marklia Sanders, also ran at regionals. Sanders felt like that the hard part wasn’t making it to regionals, because she had made it in her sophomore year prior.
When she didn’t make it to state, Sanders felt like she tried her best but still accepted the fact that even though she didn’t make it this year she can still aim to make it next year.
“I felt like I pushed myself as hard as I could,” Sanders said. “So maybe I’ll get there my senior year.”
Sanders’ self esteem is high, and she plans to work on different things to help her improve and get better. She plans to improve by working on controlling her breathing when running and focusing on working out more during practices.
“I have the confidence and the faith that I will make it next season,” she said. “I’m going to pray I do.”
Just like Tunderstill, Sanders also encourages other girls to join cross country if they have never done it before.
“Don’t let nobody scare y’all just because we run long distances,” she said. “That is not what it’s about. We build bonds and relationships.”
The girls are still headstrong and believe that if they keep improving and practicing that the Warren Central girls cross country team will make it to state in the future.