The cross country team will run in the O’Donnell meet at Dawson County Park in Lamesa tomorrow.  

  The Indians and Maidens both are determined to make it out of district again on Oct. 13 in Pecos. 

  The teams ran in Sundown on Sept. 29 with the Indians taking fifth.

  “It was difficult, but I was able to push through,” freshman Noah Gomez said. “Running with other teams and going up hills plus the mud made it really difficult.”

  With hopes of another regional berth, the teams took on Mae Simmons Park as a practice at the region site. Senior Layla Trevino said that the Lubbock meet was one of the hardest meets she had ever run in, but the challenge made it fun. 

  The Indian cross country team hopes to make it back to regionals this year. 

  “We really would like to make it back to the regional meet; its a feather in your hat if you make it to regionals,” Coach Eldon Smith said. “We are so young, making it to regionals would do our young kids a lot of good.”

  Sophomore Micah Smith, who qualified as an individual last year, has put a lot of time and work for this year’s season. 

  “I was running all summer and putting mileage,” Smith said. “I’ve been mentally preparing myself by ignoring the pain to prepare for this year.” 

  Long distance courses, which are 3 miles, require more of a push than the usual 2-mile short course. 2017 state qualifier sophomore Hailey Davis gets as much running in as she can since she also plays varsity volleyball.

  “Lubbock Christian University is a long course. I never thought it would end, but I pushed through,” Davis said. “I ended up passing two people, which put me in second.”

Sundown Meet results from Sept. 29

Varsity women (no team)– Amber Schmitt-13th (14:09.96), Rani Allain-20th (14:21.46), Azalia Contreras-31st (14:40.95), Layla Trevino-65th (15:56.70)

Varsity Indians- fifth as a team 

Micah Smith-5th (18:27.23), Jude Gomez-12th (19:17.32), Jason Bagwell-36th (20:20.17), Landon Curtis-38th (20:20.74), Noah Gomez-48th (20:34.02), Mateo Hernandez-49th (20:34.29)