Sports and the culinary arts are two topics that rarely intertwine.
For Hays High head cross country coach Traci Hightower, baking a cake is the analogy she uses to describe what makes a strong athlete in the sport.
“There are those small ingredients that you don’t taste that are key in the baking process,” Hightower said. “Those small details are just as important as a major workout in cross country.”
For Hightower, seeing her 2017 cross country group put in the work necessary this season could lead to Corpus Christi and the Class 6A, Region IV meet.
Leading the girls’ team is a handful of juniors and seniors who have been a part of the program “and are ready to perform,” Hightower said. One of those is senior Gabby Bosquez, who returns after reaching the state meet in 2016.
Bosquez’s success has bred additional excitement for the program, Hightower said.
“It attracts people to come join us,” Hightower said. “Cross country is a sport where you don’t know who’s going to develop.”
Joining Bosquez will be Keeley Smith, Meagan Garram and Trinity Wells, who all have been a part of the Rebel cross country program since their freshman years.
Hightower said longtime members of the team aim to reach the postseason after missing out in 2016. She said not reaching regionals “left a hole in them.”
“If they take care of every aspect of the training and are mindful of every workout and competition, they don’t miss an opportunity to get on a bus and go to region and state together,” Hightower said.
On the boys’ side, Daniel Garraya, Robbie Woodworth and Bailey Oswalt are three members of a group that gained experience last year.
With a young team, Hightower said the Rebel boys group is now “one cohesive unit” that enjoys challenging each other and “are already setting their goals high for the season.”
Helping both boys and girls team will be an influx of young talent making their way from middle school. In 2016, Hays CISD started cross country programs in the middle school ranks.
“We now have a huge crop of freshman that know about the sport,” Hightower said. “It will make the season exciting because it fills in this automatic competitiveness within the team as we start the year.”
Familiarity with Hightower, who now enters her xxx year as the Rebel cross country coach also plays a role as well.
She said juniors and seniors know what to expect from the coaching staff and push that down to the younger runners.
“When you have a group of older kids that are comfortable with my expectations and the expectations with the group themselves, it trickles down to the younger ones,” she said.
As they start preparing for their district opponents, Hightower said the athletes understand and know who their competition are, based on stats gathered on websites such as Texas Mile Split.
“But we remind them that if stats were everything, we wouldn’t run the race,” Hightower said. “Anything can happen on race day. The most important thing is you do what you’re supposed to do on race day.”
