Canyon High School girls track competes at UIL state meet

CANYON, Texas (KAMR/KCIT) —The Canyon High School girls track and field team has five qualifiers competing in the UIL Track and Field State Meet in Austin.

This season the Lady Eagles placed second at the region 1-4A championship and won the district title.

“I’m just proud of the hard work the girls put in and the way they continually step up and perform in the big meets,” said Ray Baca Canyon head girls track coach. “Our confidence is really high right now, we’re not the favorite to win right now, but I think our girls are all going to perform their best for the season. If they do that, we’re anxious to see where that puts us as a team.”

As a team they will compete in the 4×400 relay. The relay features Brooklyn Kinsey, Thalia Solis, Sydnee Winfrey and Addyson Bristow.

Sophomore Addyson Bristow says competing in team events makes a difference in their preparation and mindset before a competition.

“It definitely makes a difference in just having to trust in yourself and your teammates,” said Bristow. “You have to be able to be confident because you’re leaning on your teammates, and they’re leaning on you. So, you just have to know that you can do it together, you have to really rely on each other and on yourself.

Bristow will also compete individually in the 800m and 1600m.

Also competing in individual events are Hannah Stuart in the 1600m and 3200m. As well as junior Brooklyn Kinsey in the 100 and 300 hurdles.

Kinsey shared this is her third state meet but the first year she’ll compete in an individual event, adding to the excitement going in to state.

“I think there’s a little bit more excitement and almost a feeling of more accomplishment, because it’s individual,” said Kinsey. “It’s a good kind of pressure, it’s like an excitement that you get to have an opportunity to score big points for your team and to get to compete in something that you’ve worked for so long individually. It’s more risk, more reward.”

Several of the state qualifiers are multisport athletes and joined the team later in the season, limiting the time to prepare and time spent with the team.

“Knowing that I was a junior and also knowing that I had more of like limited time I just had to be more diligent with the time that I had and intentional with workouts and relationships,” said Kinsey. “There was less time, so everything just felt more meaningful.”

Helping the team have success is their competitiveness within the team.

“We are such a close group, but we are we are so competitive,” shared Kinsey. “I think that’s one of the things that makes us such a great team is that we know how to compete with one another. We push ourselves so hard and a lot of people don’t see that, they only see the meets but behind the scenes we’re we work our tails off to be able to perform well.”

One of the most important lessons the team has learned is working to overcome adversity and moving forward after tough events.

“I feel like the biggest lesson we learned is just being able to bounce back after certain events that we haven’t really expected or just knowing that the hard work is going to pay off in the end,” said Bristow. “Just keep pushing each other and getting better.”

As a sophomore this is Bristows second year competing at state but there is a noticeable difference this year.

“Last year I had one of my teammates Avery Winfrey and she just helped me a lot,” said Bristow. “I feel more on my own this year, because last year, I could kind of lean on her like a lot. This year is definitely different. We have we have a lot of the same people, so it feels the same in most parts but it’s definitely different because I do have more experience. So I am a little bit more confident now.”

At the meet they’ve prepared for all season the Lady Eagles are ready to showcase their hard work.

“I think we’re definitely excited just to be here, we have worked really hard,” shared Bristow. “It’s such like a connection between the team because we know how hard all of us have worked. So we’re just really proud of each other and excited. I think we’re very confident because we know that we’ve done everything to get here and so now we just have to prove it.”

With inclement weather expected the first day of the meet the team is ready to adapt.

“Our team has adapted really well at meets when we’ve had either bad weather or postponements, so I’m going to tell them to just expect that to happen,” explained Baca. We’ll adjust to it and hopefully will perform really well.”

Coach Baca’s final message to the team is to trust their training.

“I’m just going to tell them to be confident and just do what they’ve done all season,” said Baca.

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