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Girls All-County Cross Country

Sports

Thursday, 14 January 2010 03:04

Travis led the pack for Horns
By Rick Pedone
Sports Editor
For a person who didn’t run a cross country race until September, Harmony’s Samantha Travis proved almost impossible to catch for the Lady Longhorns. Especially at the Orange Belt Conference meet in October, when she won and finished more than a minute faster than teammate Brittany Connor in 20:21.
From there, Travis continued to lead the Lady Longhorns each week as they progressed to the state meet for the first time since 2004.
Travis, a junior, is the Osceola News-Gazette Female Runner of the Year.
Travis ran track as a Harmony freshman before moving to Bishop Moore to play soccer.
She returned to Harmony prepared to have an outstanding cross country season, even though she had never officially run a race.
“At Bishop Moore, they put me on a real intense training program because I was going to do cross country there,” she said. “I was running like 12 miles some days.”
It didn’t take long for Harmony Coach Debra Schweiger to see the potential in her new runner.
“She is the hardest-working female athlete I’ve ever coached,” Schweiger said. “She has the same work ethic as (former Horn runner and scholarship-winner) Scott Bilodeau.”
Travis said the OBC race, held at Harmony, was the best of the season.
“I’m not sure what it was, but when I was running that race, I really wanted to win,” she said. “It was the OBCs, and it was on our home course.”
Did she expect to surpass last year’s top two runners, Chelsea and Brittany Connor, at Harmony so quickly?
“No, I definitely didn’t. I knew how strong they were last year and I didn’t expect to be in front so quickly, especially since it was a new sport for me,” she said.
Travis maintained her pace throughout the post-season, where she placed fifth at the district meet, third at the regional and 43rd at the state meet.
The team placed second in the district and third in the region, but slumped to 21st at the state meet because one of the team’s top runners had to miss the race.
Travis, who is playing soccer for the Lady Longhorns, will compete in track. She maintains a 4.5 weighted GPA despite her active schedule, and she plans to attend medical school after she graduates.
“I want to go to (the University of) Florida first, then go out-of-state to medical school,” she said.
Schweiger expects Travis to lead the way again next season.
“I am very proud of Sam. I can only hope I have more athletes like her in the future,” she said.