Trinity runners don’t want to be fourth-best again

A slight quirk of the rules kept the Euless Trinity boys cross-country team from reaching the Class 6A Region I meet last season.

Unlike other sports such as football, volleyball, basketball, baseball and softball, only the top three cross-country teams advance from each district.

The Trojans finished fourth.

“I was very proud of how my boys team competed last year,” coach Brenton Gillum said. “Carroll, Coppell and Colleyville Heritage are great teams that qualify for the regional meet almost every year. So to finish not far out of third place was a nice accomplishment for the team.

“Of course, beating our H-E-B district rival L.D. Bell was a thrill for the boys as well.”

Meanwhile, the Trinity girls finished fifth in district. They were a young team with four of the seven varsity members being freshmen. However, they were consistently in the top four throughout the season leading up to district, including winning the Cleburne Buzz Run early in the season.

“That was a huge confidence-booster for the girls and was the first meet that a varsity girls cross-country team has won since 2009,” Gillum said. “The girls are looking forward to a much-improved season this year as they build on their accomplishments from last year. I can’t wait to see how they do.”

It seems, also, that the runners are just as excited as Gillum. As the first practice of the season approached, he had 49 girls and 30 boys on the roster. However, he admitted that he expects that number to thin out some before the season begins Sept. 2 at the Burleson Elk Run.

“Cross-country practices aren’t fun, but the meets are,” he said.

No varsity boys or girls qualified individually for regionals last season, but each has some strong returners, Gillum said. Top returning performers for the boys include senior senior Jamie Jaimes and junior Logan Roemisch. Top runners back for the girls include sophomores Vanessa Nava, Ashley Thye and Britt Seaman.

While team practices began only recently, Gillum expects his athletes to stay busy throughout the summer. He expects them to run at least five or six days a week, utilizing different types of workouts used during practices in season.

“I mainly want them getting mileage. The number of miles per week depends on where each individual runner is in their development as a 5K runner, since that is the distance they run in the meets,” he said.

Once again, Trinity is in a tough league. District 5-6A is loaded with cross-country powerhouses, which will leave them with another challenge in the battle for the regional meet, but Gillum said he expects his team to once again be in contention.

“I think my teams will step up to the challenge and compete. In my opinion, the top teams to beat are Southlake Carroll, Marcus and Hebron,” he said. “However, all of the teams in the district are very, very talented and will be tough to beat.

“I am looking forward to seeing improvement and growth in both the girls and boys teams. Our goal is to improve every day. If our runners can maintain their focus, stay healthy, and continuously improve, we may surprise some people.”

This story was originally published August 15, 2016 at 11:18 AM with the headline "Trinity runners don’t want to be fourth-best again."