Bright and early at 6:30 a.m. last Saturday, many students at Lake Highlands High School were just going to sleep after celebrating a resounding Homecoming victory for the football team over Sunset.

The cross country team at Lake Highlands, on the other hand, was warming up at Norbuck Park for the Jesuit Cross Country Meet. The ‘Cats ran well, especially considering those Homecoming festivities of the night before.

The boys, led by Juniors Andrew Little and Ebenether Wondaferew, placed 7th out of 20 teams. The girls, led by junior Sara Shaw, placed 11th. The Jesuit meet represents yet another strong showing for the Wildcats, who have had quite a successful season up to this point.

Coming into the season, the main question surrounding the cross country team was how it would replace the loss of superstar Meron Fessahaie, who now runs at Rice University.

Although no individual runner has filled that void, the 'Cats are undoubtedly on par with last year’s team as a result of much greater depth.

The recipe for this depth includes a mix of new runners and the improvement of veteran runners.

First-year runner Andrew Little, a former basketball player, stumbled upon cross country as a result of the encouragement of his friend and fellow runner, Luke Gholston.

Little’s talent was apparent from the start, as in his first meet he ran only 14 seconds slower than Wildcat legend Meron Fessahaie had at the same meet only a year earlier.

He even took home the gold at the Jim Baker Rowlette Eagle Invitational later in the year.

Junior Sara Shaw has also pushed herself into contention for a state berth. Sara won the Lake Highlands Invitational and has consistently placed in the Top 10 runners at every meet this season.

The improvement in each runner has been remarkable to witness, and for that, much credit is due to Coach Alonna Miller, who has pushed the ‘Cats to be the best they can be.

Lake Highlands has one more meet, the Rick Neill Memorial in Lewisville, until the District Championship at Norbuck Park on Friday, October 28th.

Come out and support your Wildcats. We'll see you there!

GO 'CATS!