Junior Caroline Strong arrives at her cross-country meet early in the morning tired and filled with nervous energy. As others arrive at the team tent, she paces around before the race, mentally preparing herself for the race ahead. 

Once she hears the gun, she fights for positioning and gets jostled around in the crowd, filled with adrenaline.She hears spikes in the grass, cowbells and spectators cheering loudly at various points around the course. 

“I’m just stoked to qualify, I mean, I wasn’t even close last year,” Strong said. “I definitely surprised myself a lot this year, and that’s just really cool to see.”

Strong, whose breakout season is the result of a profound shift in her mental approach and disciplined training, secured a first place victory last week at the Region IV Championship. Throughout her dedication to her training this year, Strong has focused on gratitude and maintaining a strong race-day mentality. Now, through consistent training, she heads to the State Championship meet Saturday in hopes to push herself to break her 18 minute time in a 5k.

“[Breaking 18 minutes] is just one of those things that happens if the conditions are right, but I don’t really know what it’s going to be like at the moment. But [State] is going to be a really competitive atmosphere, so I’m hoping I can reach my goal.”

Looking forward to her next year of training, Strong’s goal is to generally lower her time, run steadier splits and hone in more racing tactics. In terms of the team aspect, Strong hopes to work towards being a team captain in order to step it up to try and give better advice and be more intune with team lead activities.

“I went to the state course Saturday to check it out and there’s a lot of construction going on and it’s kind of crazy and it was muddy too since it had just rained,” Strong said. “I think there are definitely some turns and rolling hills and narrower parts so I’ll just have to be smart about getting good positioning from the start.”

Strong attributes her strong performance this season  with her mental focus during training and meets.

“In terms of mindset, I’m definitely focused more on being grateful for everything and just kind of enjoying it, because a lot of it, like training and stuff, is just super repetitive,” Strong said. “Just trying to notice that I get to go outside and do all this stuff, that’s really cool to be able to do every day and just kind of be grateful to be able to choose to do hard things and have an opportunity to crush it.”

Strong has also focused attention towards recovery and nutrition. Every night she tries to go to bed around 9 and is especially strict on enforcing it ahead of  meets. Her pre-race meal of choices is pork chops and squash.

Her hard work and effort has not gone unnoticed by her team and coaches. 

“Caroline’s work ethic has always been really good,” Cross-country coach David Chandler said. “It’s fantastic. Now she’s really good at knowing when to push it and when to when to recover. … She’s very consistent and very level headed, mentally and physically in how she does things. She doesn’t let any one thing like throw her off or anything like that.”

Chandler stresses that one thing he sees runners making mistakes with is rushing to get in shape and to run fast. He noted that that’s the way many cross-country athletes can get hurt. Chandler emphasizes that student bodies need time to adapt ,and that it doesn’t happen overnight.

[Caroline’s] done great with that and just being patient in her races,” Chandler said. “That’s her winning regionals. That was such a patient race. She was back at about 15th or so, and then got third, and then right next to the leader, and then won the race. It is wonderful and so impressive.”

Chandler’s appreciation for Strong extends beyond her individual accomplishments, emphasizing her commitment to the teams and her reliability as an athlete. 

“She shows up ready to go and she is here to do her best and to excel at the highest level,” Chandler said. “I just love coaching her. She’s awesome. She’s very loyal. You tell her what to do, and if anything comes up, we adapt. But basically, she’s been able to do everything from the original plan that we put out. So it’s awesome.”

To bring excitement and fun to meets, athletes, especially from the girls team, paint each other’s faces, use glitter, ribbons and team t-shirts.

“I think I definitely have a great relationship with my team,” Strong said. “The people who run cross-country are just so amazing. They are just so nice and supportive. A lot of the time we will cheer each other on during races and workouts. Even though it is kind of a mix of an individual sport and a team component, every one is just in it together.”

While the team atmosphere is filled with supportive and lighthearted activities, the competition itself demands a deliberate shift in focus, which Strong has grown to learn through her experience each meet.

“Generally when I race I try to run with someone else,” Strong said. “I pick someone I know who’s a little bit faster than me and just try to focus on the energy and just like hanging on for dear life. I just think, ‘don’t let this person go’ to stay right in their back pocket. That really helps a lot because if you run by yourself you are kind of slowing down, but if you’re actively trying to stick with someone else you can push yourself a lot harder.”

With in-race strategy and successful season in her back pocket, Strong pushes each day to meet her future training goals. 

Strong appreciates that the XC team is beginner-friendly. She points out that a great thing about the sport as a whole is that you get out what you put into it.

“Where you are now does not determine where you’re gonna be in a few months or even years,” Strong said. “So it’s just so easy to build each day and you don’t have to have been running forever to really get places. It’s like fun no matter how fast you are, it’s just such a great team environment and a really good way to get outside and just push yourself.”