WILDCATS ON THE RUN

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  • Photo by Matt Caban • The Madill Record Madill Cross Country runners from left to right sophomore Joselyn Stumblingbear, senior Emilie Vann, junior Miguel Duran and junior Diego Ibarra pose for a photo at the team’s media day on August 24.
    Photo by Matt Caban • The Madill Record Madill Cross Country runners from left to right sophomore Joselyn Stumblingbear, senior Emilie Vann, junior Miguel Duran and junior Diego Ibarra pose for a photo at the team’s media day on August 24.
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Cale Eidson, head coach for both the boys and girls cross country teams at Madill High School, sat down with The Madill Record for an interview on Aug. 19. Eidson’s squad got an early start to the season on August 20 with the Hotter than Hell relay in Wichita Falls. “It’s new and we’ve never done it before,” he said. The Madill Varsity Girls A Team went on to win the six-mile relay while the Girls B Team finished in sixth. Meanwhile, the Varsity Boys A team finished second in its six-mile relay while the Madill Varsity B Team finished in fourth place. The full results of the meet are on page 2B.

Preparing for the season

Eidson said many Madill Wildcats fans understand the difference between cross country and track. “[They know] its territory running,” he said. “People are pretty amazing about it. This is my fifth year here. People understand [cross country] better.” This year, assistant coach Kyle Callison will return to help with the boys teams while there is a new assistant coach for the girls teams, Eidson said. “Tanica Anderson is the new cross country and track assistant coach,” he said. “She’s also the new girls basketball coach. She was a standout track and basketball player in Marietta and she graduated in 2009.” Eidson says his team puts in a lot of work during the summer to get ready for the season. “The high school and middle school teams run Monday through Thursday at 6:30 a.m.,” he said. “We had 55 runners this morning. Everyone who runs at different speeds will have someone to run with. We have all skill levels that you can imagine.” Eidson said this season’s preparations started during the summer. “We had a really good turnout for summer practice,” He said. “That’s the hardest thing. Putting in a lot of miles and work. That’s why they say state championships are won in the summer. Kids are taking it serious which is a big step in right direction.” Eidson estimates that the boys run an average of 30 to 40 miles a week while the girls run in the range of upper 20 miles per week. A lot of high school programs run more but at Madill, the coaching staff looks want a happy medium, he said. “That will carry us a lot further to state,” Eidson said. “It takes a lot longer to get in that shape than it seems.” Eidson said the goal of a successful cross country runner is to learn how set the right pace. “You get in a repetition for a certain pace,” he said. “In distance running, there is a fine line to finding the hard pace. College runners are still trying to find that.”

Returning runners

On the high school boys side, six of top seven runners are returning, Edidson said. “Having those guys back makes a big difference,” he said. “Miguel Duran and Diego Ibarra are both juniors. They along with Brodie Tull, junior, were part of the two-mile relay team that were 4A state runners up.” Likewise, the boys team finished fifth in the 5K run. Now junior Miguel Duran was the state champion in that race. His teammate and fellow junior, Diego Ibarra finished in 15th place. Last season’s girls 3200 run team finished fifth at the Class 4A State Meet in Shawnee. Now sophomore, Joslyn Stumblingbear, led the way for Madill with a 12th place finish.

Up Next

The Madill Wildcats and Lady Wildcats will play the role of host for the annual Madill Catrun at 9 a.m. on Saturday, August 31.