The horn sounded, and 180 runners took off in the Region IV Cross-Country Championship. Senior Grant Seade was tripped from behind, a near-disaster that set him all the way back with 150 runners ahead of him.
Seade went on to recover, finishing with a time of 15:57.93 and miraculously bringing himself all the way back to sixth place.
“Before the race, I knew I had a goal which was to make it to State,” Seade said. “I was going to make sure that became true. I didn’t panic, but instead reassured myself that I could still do this even with this adversity. Every opening between people, I focused on closing the gap to the leaders and slowly started to make my way through the pack.”
It wasn’t a linear path for Seade, who also qualified for Regionals in his junior year. Around that time, he tore his quad, taking him out for the rest of the season. The injury took him well into the summer to recover.
“For over two months, all I could do was watch as my competitors ran at State and Nationals while I was still recovering,” Seade said. “The recovery process was about consistency and listening to my body.”
Over the summer, Seade attended his ninth year at Camp Longhorn, a sleepaway camp on Inks Lake. While there, he trained with University of Texas cross-country athlete Hudson Bennett, who brought some of his teammates along. Seade ran with them in the mornings, pushing himself to train at their level.
“Training with college athletes has been huge for my growth,” Seade said. “Those summer training sessions through heat and lots of hard workouts have only propelled me forward to do well at State and beyond.”
Seeing the intensity of college-level training has been vital for Seade, who looks to the future as he gears up to compete in his first State meet.
“At the State meet, I know I’m going to be competing with the top guys, so I’m excited to see how the race plays out with such a stacked group of runners,” Seade said.
Goal-setting is a crucial part of preparation for Seade, and he approaches the State meet just as he would any other, he said.
“My main goal is to run my own race…,” Seade said. “I notice I can sometimes get caught up with what others are doing and then lose sight of what I need to do. My other goal is to be within the top 10. This means being in the front pack while focusing on myself and how I feel. These goals are good milestones for me because focusing, but not fixating on them will help get me the best outcome.”
Seade isn’t alone in qualifying for State. Joining him is junior Caroline Strong, who placed first in regionals, dominating the race and flying into State.
“Caroline is an incredible runner, and we have gone through lots of the same hard workouts, so for both of us to make it to State means a lot,” Seade said. “Having multiple runners from the same school qualify for the State meet is a huge accomplishment for the program, and I’m excited to see how we can perform.”
Seade looks to take home his first state championship Saturday morning at Old Settlers Park in Round Rock.
