The boys’ and girls’ Cross Country teams will compete at Thompson Park this Saturday. JV girls will run at 10 a.m. followed by the JV boys at 10:20 a.m. The varsity girls will compete at 11:25 a.m. and the varsity boys will compete at 11:45 a.m.

“We have had some bad luck so far this season, but we are working our way through it,” Girls Coach Rebekah James said.

Despite the rocky start, James said that she expects the girls team to qualify to compete in the state meet in Round Rock in November. Boys’ Coach Bob Backus said he expects the boys team to qualify as well.

“We’ve got a lot of returning runners, and they are capable of running with anyone,” Backus said. “We’ve also got some young kids who are buying in to what we are trying to accomplish and they are working really hard.”

The teams have a long road to state ahead of them. After competing at Thompson Park this weekend, they will run at the John Stiff Meet Sept. 15, Mae Simmons Meet Sept. 22 and Canyon High Sept. 29. The district meet will be at Mae Simmons Oct. 11, followed by regionals in Lubbock Oct. 22, and state in Round Rock Nov. 3.

“All I ask is for each person to give their absolute best effort every workout,” James said. “Usually the rest works itself out.”

James said the girls’ team begins each year with the goal of going to state, while Backus said that his team goes into every meet expecting to compete for the title.

“Thompson Park is an extremely difficult course and there is always tough competition at the Amarillo Meet, but we always expect to perform when the gun goes off,” Backus said. “It’s never easy, but the boys work extremely hard. They are dedicated, and they have goals that they are trying to achieve; winning meets one of those goals.”