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Season Recap: Cross Country
Memorable teams are comprised of individuals who compete for more than just themselves. Though cross country in many ways is an individual sport, it most certainly is a team effort to achieve anything of significance.
The TFS varsity squads were mostly inexperienced runners at the varsity level. The expectations were still as high as usual under longtime coach Scott Neal, however. Nearly every runner throughout the course of the season put up new personal bests and/or course bests.
The season culminated with state meet appearances for both the boys and girls. It marked just the third time in school history that both teams ran at Carrollton together. Both finished inside the top-20, with the girls coming in 12th overall and the boys 17th. Both teams beat their virtual projected times going in.
Prior to state, it took a mindset of 'every point matters' in the region meet, which TFS hosted. In the Region 8-A DI Championship, both the boys and girls grabbed the fourth and final spots to earn state qualifications. Sophomore Timothy Beck placed 9th overall, while Ellesen Eubank led the girls at 11th. For the girls, all seven runners placed between 11th and 20th.
Throughout the season, the girls relied on the leadership of Miranda Chapa, who prior to some nagging injuries was almost always the top finisher for TFS. She was 14th in region. Eubank, Sara Bailey, Allison Bailey, Stasa Beratovic, Dani Prince, and Emma Jackson all were reliable as well in a given meet. The boys featured Beck as their top runner all season. Behind him, Jackson Shadburn and Canon Brooks often finished within seconds apart. Carter Miller, Blair Moore, Reilly Chatman, and Tizian Scheying also were varsity runners at region and state, as was Eli Damron at the latter meet.
With Moore and Eubank out for the state meet due to illness, Damron and Meredith Orr filled in as substitutes. Sara Bailey was the top TFS girl in Carrollton, coming in 55th. That was just two spots ahead of Chapa. Beck finished 58th to pace the boys.
For the Lady Indians, the 12th-place finish at state ties a program-best, as the team did so previously in 2019. The boys meanwhile made their fourth consecutive trip to state as a team, marking the first time in school history that an entire team was represented there.
TFS has nine seniors that will move on from the program: Sandra Badia Cester, Beratovic, Chapa, Carol Kate Dunlap, Eubank, Lucia Fano Mateos, Jackson, Kate Trotter, and Brooks as the lone senior for the boys.