A Cooper County student athlete emblazoned her name in the record books last week.
Prairie Home junior Savanna Tracy made history at the cross country district meet, as she was the first female cross country runner to qualify for state for Prairie Home. She finished in 10th place at districts with a time of 24:14. She ran at the state meet on Nov. 7, running her way to an 84th place finish with a time of 24:49.30.
Tracy said being the first female athlete to qualify for state in cross country from her school was really exciting.
“It’s super cool to think that in the time cross country has been around for my school, I’m the first girl to go to state,” Tracy said.
When she found out that she qualified for state, Tracy said she waited until she got home to really celebrate the accomplishment.
“My reaction was as subtle as I could make it,” Tracy said. “I was definitely very happy, but I wanted to kind of wait until I got home to celebrate it with my family.”
Heading into the state meet, Tracy said that a goal of her’s was to beat her personal record again.
“I want to run fast, of course, but breaking 23 minutes would be nice,” Tracy said.
Though she wasn’t able to break her personal record, Tracy can be proud of her effort after finishing in the middle of the pack. This is only the second year of running cross country for Tracy, as she said she started her sophomore year.
“I had run the mile for track my freshman year and just decided that running longer distances would be something I would like to try,” Tracy said.
Tracy was the only female cross country runner on the Prairie Home team this year, and she said it was pretty nice.
“It’s honestly pretty nice. I like not having to compete with my friends,” Tracy said.
When it comes to running, Tracy said the thing she likes the most is the feeling of accomplishment at the end of a run.
“I love that sense of accomplishment from running miles upon miles,” Tracy said. “I also just enjoy that peace and quiet when running at practice. Feeling the wind on my face, and looking at what’s around me.”
When it comes to the future, Tracy said that one of her goals would definitely be to make it back to state. She also wants to get her time down to 21 minutes. She said she is also trying to get more girls to join the team.
“I am working on recruiting other girls from my school so that we can try to have a team score for the girls. I feel like that would be fun,” Tracy said.