Cross country (also known as XC) is a very popular sport that was devised in England during the 19^th century. Today cross country is a series of team races that can challenge one’s strength and endurance, as well as their ability to maintain a steady partnership with their teammates. Cross country is held on natural terrain, such as grasslands, dirt trails, golf courses, parks and more. The runners may even have to run in muddy areas, puddles and even snow. Although cross country is a team sport, scores are based off the running time of an individual. When the scores of each individual are added up, the team with the lowest score wins.

We’ve heard about public schools, colleges and professionals getting to cross country championships, but what about homeschoolers? In this article we will be talking about how a MODG student, Lucy Franklin, got into a public high school cross country state championship.

Lucy Franklin is a high school senior and a member of the MODG National Honor Society. She is one of the Group Service Project leaders for this year’s NHS Newsletter, the Papa Leo Press. Lucy also swims, runs track and of course, runs cross country. She lives in a small town in Colorado and competes in cross country at her local public high school; she and her team made it to the state championship. This is an amazing way of showing that homeschoolers can accomplish great things not only at home, but also in their community.

I had the privilege to interview Lucy about what it was like to compete in a public school cross country state championship, and how she, as a homeschooler, felt about being part of a public school team.

To begin, I asked about her inspiration to run cross country. She answered, “Well, my mom ran cross country in high school as well as track, and I’ve always kind of enjoyed running; and then I just kind of decided to try cross country my sophomore year just to see if I liked it. I tried it out and had so much fun, and so I did it for two more years after that, for three years in total.”

I then asked a question that I’m sure many homeschoolers can relate too: “Was it hard to join a public school team? Being a homeschooler?”

“I was definitely very new at first, just because I didn’t know anybody, but they were all very welcoming. So, I would say I rather quickly felt welcome to the team. Actually, this year, I was one of four other homeschoolers on the cross country team, so the high school was very welcoming to homeschoolers.” I loved hearing this answer, personally knowing that it can be very hard to fit in with a group of people who know each other so well, and yet you don’t know any of them, and they don’t know you.

Lucy had to overcome adversity by dealing with injuries. I asked what happened and what encouraged her to keep going. She answered, “Last year, at the very end of a race, I strained a muscle and badly strained a tendon in my leg. So, last year, I was out for most of the season.
However, I decided to compete at regionals so my team could score because we were on the verge of state. Unfortunately, we did not make it. But this year when I was injured, I think last year was a good example to me that I could keep going through the pain.”

She continued to tell me about her injury that she had this year, “There’s a tendon in your calf called the anterior tibialis, and that got really aggravated. It wasn’t a terrible injury, but it was preventing me from running, it was mostly just resting and cross training. Then I was able to compete in a few more races, which I was very thankful for.”

I also asked Lucy what it was like going to state championships and competing at that level. “It was definitely very exciting to go to state championships,” she enthusiastically told me, “My first year doing cross country, the girls’ team made it to state. I wasn’t in the top 7 on the team, but it was really exciting to see them go, and I ever since always kind of wanted to go. Last year we missed state by just one place, so that was disappointing.  “This year was very exciting. At the regional race, I did really poorly, so I was upset and thought I’d let my teammates down,” she eagerly told me, “And then my teammates came over, and it was really exciting for me when they told me the news [that we’d qualified for state], because I didn’t think we’d make it. It was just a really joyful moment for all of us because we all worked so hard this season.”

This is a wonderful accomplishment, not many people get the privilege to achieve something like this. Lucy and her team worked very hard to get to this moment, and they truly deserve it. This is the perfect story for homeschoolers; encouraging them to know that we too, can accomplish great things.