National Scholastic Athletics Foundation

This is the 12th Fall 2013 edition of our NSAF weekly feature on nationalscholastic.org: the Emerging Elites of the Week.  The New Balance Nationals Indoor and Outdoor meets have become known for the ever-expanding and improving competition in the divisions of the same name.  Similarly, the NSAF seeks to give weekly recognition to track and field and cross-country athletes reaching new and exciting competitive levels with their recent performances. This week we honor two impressive and surprising new champions from last weekend's action.

Hofstad photo courtest of family and New Braunfels XC; Luna photo by Tim Wood, courtesy of Rich Gonzalez, PrepCalTrack.com.

Female – Paige Hofstad, New Braunfels HS Class of 2016, New Braunfels TX

1st , 17:38.11, NXN South, 5k, Bear Branch Park, The Woodlands, TX

How often we see female distance runners enter the prep scene as freshmen or younger, displaying stunning talent and taking the XC world by storm – then face a variety of challenges as they attempt to progress from those auspicious beginnings.  Many find they reach plateaus that are hard to overcome.  Then there are others who find improvement due to being quick learners and embracing the subtleties of becoming an advanced harrier.

New Braunfels (Texas) soph Paige Hofstad definitely seems to be falling into the latter category.  When she talks about her freshman year, she admits she was clueless.  When she talks about race strategy, it’s clear she’s learned patience.  When she talks about coaches and upperclassmen teammates, it’s all about what she’s learned from them.

Hofstad’s progress since 2012 is evident, never more so than during her past two races.  Last year, there was a lot of 2nd- and 3rd-place finishes, including a bronze at the Texas 5A state meet and then 12th at NXN South.  This year, she was unbeaten until a pair of tough losses in her district and region races to standout Devin Clark.  At state and NXN South, however, she found a way to beat her friendly rival – and everyone else, too – much to her surprise and delight.  She did so with remarkably similar performances of 17:36.45 and 17:38.11.

And, of course, it doesn’t hurt that this has become a banner year for New Braunfels.  Under Coach Lee Datesmen, the uniquely named Unicorns got up on the podium at state, just six points behind champion Southlake Carroll.  Then they stunned the NXN South field with their victory last week at The Woodlands, gaining the program’s first trip to Portland.  With individual and team success, Hofstad couldn’t be happier.

A few comments from Paige:

On the cumulative feeling from achieving consecutive, unexpected victories at 5A state and NXN South:  Oh, these past few weeks have been amazing!  I feel like everything has just fallen into place.  It’s nice to see that hard work does pay off!  I have accomplished many of my goals this year and couldn't be happier!

On how the state meet race played out:  I knew there were a lot of talented girls who were just as determined as I was, so it wasn't going to be easy.  Before the gun went off, I knew that everyone was going to take it out hard and that I had to hold back a little, which I did.  The leaders hit the mile at 5:18 and I was in 5th, about 6 seconds back. 
After that, girls started to drop off.  There were three of us left at 2 miles, and two of us with about half a mile to go.  I felt like I had a lot left, so I picked it up, and the girl next to me didn't follow.  I finished strong with a great time on a hilly course and was very happy.  This helped me realize that I could compete with anyone in Texas, so that gave me more confidence going into NXN.

On how the NXN South race progressed, comparatively speaking:  I would say my strategy for NXN was about the same as it was for state.  I was calm in the beginning and not overly anxious, but still close to the leaders.  As the race progressed, I stayed with the lead girls. With a mile to go, I sped up and dropped all of the other runners.  I finished strong and felt fantastic at the end!  I wish I could have run 5 more miles!

On her coach and the nature of the team:  My coach, Lee Datesman, is very smart and a great coach for many years.  He knows how to train champions and coached great boys’ teams at Lockhart before he came here.  Coach D has a way of figuring out an individual runner.  He won’t just give us all one workout; he will listen to us and then change it to what will benefit our body personally.  He knows not to over-train us and what our bodies can handle.  Coach has a saying: “It gets fun when you get fit.”  And he couldn't be more correct!
We have a small team with only about 13 girls.  Most “super good teams” have hundreds of girls.  I think what sets us apart is that we always try to stay humble.  We know that without God or Coach, none of us would be where we are today.  This year, we knew we had potential to be great because we had the talent; we just needed to work hard to achieve it.  So we all just trained hard to help our coach, and ourselves to reach our goal.  One good thing about the small team size is that we are very close, and I wouldn’t ask for anything else!

On the 1-2 punch with herself and #2 runner, senior Morgan Szekely:  Morgan has taught me so much about running the past two years.  She's taught me that even if someone has setbacks, they have to embrace them instead of feel sorry for themselves – because there will almost always be another chance to shine. More importantly, she taught me that life isn't all about running. You shouldn't see yourself just as a “runner,” but as many other things as well.
Likewise, I've taught her that if you want to be great, you have to work harder than everyone else and you have to take running seriously or you will never reach your goals.  This past season Morgan has supported me immensely.  Every workout will be a hard workout when Morgan is on your team.  No easy days happen; nope, not one.  It's kind of the team joke.  Morgan pushes me every day and I thank her for that. 

On her running background and becoming better and more consistent as a sophomore:  Well, I started running in 7th grade.  My 8th-grade sister, Mia, was on our middle school XC team and she had a great experience with it.  One day, she convinced me to run 4 miles with her and I liked it, so I decided to try it out.  I didn't realize that I was good until I started practicing with others and beat everyone (the boys included).  That sparked my interest and I've stuck with it every since. 
My freshman year, I came in totally clueless.  I knew I had potential, but I didn't know how to use it.  I over-trained and suffered multiple leg injuries, which put me out for parts of both XC and track.  So this year I’ve figured out better what my body can handle, mileage-wise, and that many things like nutrition, sleep and confidence were important parts of running.  I’ve started to see a difference, so I guess I'm doing it right now!

On team and individual goals for Portland:  We definitely want to go out there, compete and do our best.  We know that there are many teams who are going to be great competition, but we didn't make it here by mistake.  We deserve to be here and are going to run as such ... hopefully, a top 15 finish. That would be great.

For me personally, I just want to do my best.  I've worked so hard, I'm just hoping it pays off.  I would at least like a top-20 finish.  That's really important to me.  It's been a goal all year.

Male – David Luna, Indio HS Class of 2014, Indio CA

1st, 14:33, CIF Southern Section D3 Finals, Mt. SAC, CA, 2.93M

At the beginning of the XC season in California, questions regarding the state’s top boys’ individuals focused squarely on Blake Haney and Estevan de la Rosa.  When Haney won the thrilling battle between the two in September’s Cross Country Classic, you could scroll down to 8th place and see an off-the-national radar 14:25 for Indio senior David Luna.  California fans might have remembered Luna as a 4:11/9:05 runner the previous spring, including a Southern Section Finals D3 sweep.  Or that he laid down some good performances last fall through the SS Prelims before his Coach Santiago Briones pulled the plug due to academic concerns.

Among Indio supporters and those they raced against, it was known that Luna was a great talent, he just had to get it all together.  He’s made progress academically this fall, but he was again limited early in the season after sciatic nerve problems through the summer.  Luna impressed a little more with his 2nd in the Mt. SAC D3 sweeps, 11 seconds behind blazing soph Austin Tamagno, but it hasn’t been until the past two weeks when we’ve finally really seen what Luna can do.

In the SS Prelims Nov. 16, he scorched a 14:36 at Mt. SAC and nipped Tamagno by less than a second.  Then last weekend, he ran an even faster 14:33 in the SS Finals to again beat Tamagno (by 6 seconds this time) and record the fastest time of all divisions.  Suddenly, he’s at US#20 (Milesplit) and could challenge D1 runners like Haney and de la Rosa for the state’s best Saturday during the CIF Finals at Woodward.

A few comments from David:

On reaching a new level these past few weeks with his Southern Section prelims and finals victories:  Well, recovering from my injury was a big factor during the beginning of the season.  I had pain in my lower back from my sciatic nerve.  I was out for almost two months and missed out on a lot of training.  I’ve slowly been getting back into it and I guess it came at the right time.

On whether defeating Austin Tamagno, after previous losses, had more to do with strategy or becoming more fit:  Yes, I do think my fitness level has improved and this has helped me pull through with the wins.

On his start in the sport prior to his soph year while living in Colorado:  Cross country first caught my attention in middle school.  A lot of my friends would talk about races, the course, their times, etc.  Finally, towards the end of the season, I decided to go out for XC.  I had only a couple weeks of training in and my coach noticed I was improving quickly and threw me in a race to see how I would do.  Surprising myself, teammates, family and my coach, I won my first race by more than 400 meters.  Ever since then, I’ve thought maybe this will be a good thing for me and I’ve stuck to it.

On Indio making it to state for the first time and growing up these past few years with this team:  We are very excited to be racing at the state meet this weekend.  We've been training hard all season long for this, and we're finally here and ready to race.
I’ve connected really well with my team and coaches.  There like my family away from home.  We're always pushing each other to do better and encouraging each other. Without Coach Briones and my teammates, I wouldn't be where I am today.

On overcoming classroom struggles and putting it together this year: Last year, my season was cut short, because I was more focused on running than what I had to do in the classroom.  But this year I am doing better academically and still staying focused with my running.

On goals for state and beyond:  My hope is to come through with the state D3 title and advance to the national level (NXN) competition.