Freshman Kaitlyn Zabrocki explains that the cross country state championships are high stakes. She says, “The whole season, from when we started training in the summer, has revolved around having the best possible performance at states. Every practice, hard workout, and meet we’ve ever done goes into it. That’s why it’s so important to all of us.” The girls had been training all season to perform their absolute best in the state race. No race was as important as the one they were about to race on November 17th. Kaitlyn was “…pretty nervous for the state race because we had been building up to it for so long, but I think everyone was also confident that we could give a strong performance.” Kaitlyn and her teammates were confident in themselves because of their Conference, District, and Regional victories. They were on a roll and knew that they were capable of great things at the state championships.

On the morning of the State Championships, Kaitlyn and her team headed from their hotels to FSU’s home cross country course at Appalachee Regional Park. “It’s a weird feeling before the race, because you’re trying not to stress and to stay calm, but you’re also trying to pump yourself up and prepare for the race. On the starting line, it’s almost impossible for us not to be nervous because you know during your race you can’t drop your guard or make any mistakes. During the race, you really rely on your teammates, because each persons individual score matters. We all knew it was gonna be a tight race and that we had to give our best performances because we were responsible for our dreams and the dreams of our teammates, but the high stakes and racing for your teammates is also what makes racing fun. The whole race I was focused on just beating the person in front of me. We all knew that placement was important and we knew the teams we had to beat. I ended up placing 5th on the team and my time was 20:41. It wasn’t my best time, but the course was pretty difficult and I’m just happy with the overall team placement and that I was able to contribute to it. Our team ended up getting State Runner Up, which everyone was excited about, because it had been our long term goal to get on the podium at states.” Kaitlyn explains that she’s so happy that her team got 2nd at states because she knows “…how hard everyone worked and how much effort we all put in to get there. I’m so proud of the whole team and I honestly don’t think we would’ve been such a strong team if we weren’t so close. The whole season we’ve been so close, our dynamic just works. We know how to push each other and how to support each other.”

Kaitlyn is excited for her “…upcoming seasons. I have a lot more seasons left because I’m just a freshman. I’ve been running since 6th grade and, while it can be really stressful and exhausting sometimes, there’s such a high pay off and it makes improving worthwhile. I love running with my team and I’m glad I get to continue doing it because it makes the sport much more enjoyable.” Kaitlyn is an extremely talented freshman with a lot of time left in her running career. She’s gonna do some big things.