Some people learn to embrace change while others shy away from it. Estero junior Kacy Smith knows the leap from 2A to 3A won't be easy, but it doesn't bother her one bit. Last year Smith won individual gold and led her team to a state cross country championship as well.
"It's going to be awesome because there is more competition so we all have to work that much harder to win. The teams and individuals get better."
Smith ran her best race of the season at states where she went 17:47. Her goal for this year is to go sub 17 minutes and take home another state title. Standing in the way of her quest to repeat is Chiles senior Lily Williams who is still looking for that elusive championship. Williams finished third as a freshman and second the past two seasons.
"It's going to be great to have someone like Lily that is there and going to push me to my full potential. It's going to be fun to see what we can do."
Estero coach Jeff Sommer, who was named 2A Coach of the Year, has high praise for Smith. He says nobody on the squad has a stronger work ethic, and that gives the rest of the girls motivation to push to their full potential.
"I have to hold her back so she doesn't get hurt. She wants to train, train, train. I have her go practice with the swim team so she isn't constantly on her feet, but being the leader that she is she takes the girls to the swim practice as well. I think it's going to help them with conditioning and core strength. All my kids want to be like Kacy and they want to do what she does. I know she won individually, but she was so much more excited that our team had won."
In addition to her own success, Smith is hoping the Tigers can win a team title although it will be a difficult task. Williams' team, Chiles, has been a powerhouse, winning the last 3A cross country championships. To make the road to states even more difficult, Estero will have to get past one of the toughest regions on paper that includes top teams Lakewood Ranch and Fort Myers.
"Running with these teams they will push us to go faster. We don't give up that easily so I don't think it will be that hard making it out. We return pretty much the same team from last year and we have all gotten better."
The Wildcats return six of their top seven runners. The only loss to the squad is number four runner Aja Curth who decided to focus on soccer her junior year. Coach Jeff Sommer knows it won't be easy to replace Curth who finished 13th last season. That is why he is preaching to his girls the need to step it up. He has seen from experience the narrowest of margins can be the difference between a state title and a silver medal.
"I told the kids they better start strapping it on. We had all we could handle last year and Chiles and Lakewood Ranch are just flat out loaded. We're going to have to overcome a big loss but we're trying to preach teamwork and get our number five, six, and seven to step up. We can't compete with those teams if our sixth and seven runner are running high 19's. They need to be in the 18's."
Practice officially kicks off next week, and that is when the team can expect the full amount of intensity. Last year, Coach Summer says he knew what is team was capable of after Pre-State and expects the same this year.
"Pre-State is one of those big meets you know if your kids are preparing right and are on the right track so we should have an idea by then."
