A View of Wildcat Track 

By Kelsey McBee 

Sophomore varsity sprinter Mia Woods was interviewed by the journalism students and talked about the pleasures and challenges of the Guyer track program. Being part of this sport can be highly time consuming because of the duration and location of the meets. She is constantly forced to miss class time, sometimes many days in a row for multi-day competitions such as Texas Relays and District Championships. 

Due to her determination and years of experience, she has found a way to succeed in the classroom and in her sport. Mia stays ahead of her classwork and frequently talks to her teachers in order to avoid missing assignments and maintain legibility. Besides just keeping her grades up, Mia has many other responsibilities like preparing herself to stay in good physical and mental condition. Some of her self care rituals include stretching often, taking electrolytes, and staying out of the sun during meets.

Mia’s passion for track started in fifth grade when she ran in a meet against other elementary schools, and now runs the 100 meter and 200 meter on the Varsity level. This year she had the opportunity to run against Lauren Lewis, one of the top runners in the state, she described it as a challenging and humbling moment. Mia personally prefers the 100 meter and has reached an amazing personal record of 12.76 seconds. Her talent helped her and the  Guyer team qualify for Texas Relays in Austin. They placed 75 out of 105 teams with a time of 49.92.

Although Mia loves making memories with her teammates and meeting new people at meets, there is a lot of independent work that needs to be done in this sport. Athletes need to perform well as an individual to earn points for the team so the school can win. “You can be anything on the track. It’s just you. The only thing in the way of yourself is you,” Mia said. During a race, Mia tries to just focus on what she’s doing, maintain good form, and finish strong. She concentrates very hard in order to avoid disqualification from stepping outside her lane or false starts. 

Mia has worked hard to develop her talents and hopes to bring her abilities to the collegiate level, and potentially pursue her dream of running professionally. She would like to run track at Baylor or LSU because of their successful program. Aleia Hobbs, an olympic athlete who participated on the USA women’s 4×1 team, is Mia’s inspiration. With the standard Mia holds herself to, it is expected to see her continuing to excel for the rest of her Varsity career.