HARDIN — The Hardin girls cross country team doesn’t feel the pressure.
The Bulldogs are chasing a fourth consecutive State A cross country crown this weekend, but it’s not something the team talks about frequently.
“We don’t talk about it. They know what the expectation is and what the goal is, and they’re all just so focused. And that’s what we talk about, just one day at a time,” Hardin head coach Cindy Farmer said. “We’re just focusing on today right now, tomorrow we’ll focus on tomorrow, and that’s how we are the whole season.”
“I mean it’s there, but it’s more we think of it as another race,” Hardin senior Journey Erickson said. “Just show them what we can do. We’ve been working for it all season. It’s not as much pressure because we’re focusing more on each other than the bigger thing.”
A big emphasis for Hardin this year is working together out on the course. The Bulldogs chose their slogan to be ‘Run as One,’ putting emphasis on team success above individual success.
“We wanted to make it seem like we’re running together,” Hardin junior Marion Hugs said. “We’re not all just individual, we’re not running for ourselves. We want to run as a team.”
The Bulldogs narrowly won the Eastern A divisional meet in Billings last weekend with that pack mentality. The Hardin girls also like to keep the atmosphere during competition light, as they can frequently be seen dancing and laughing before the races start.
“We really try to keep it not as serious. Just kind of have fun,” Erickson said. “We’re trying to make snapchat videos or Tik-Tok videos before the race. We focus more on the team-bonding stuff than ‘oh, we have to run this time,’ which of course is part of it, but mostly it’s having fun.”
“It’s not that they don’t take things serious and it’s not that they don’t respect their opponent or the competition we’re racing against, but that’s their way of just letting that stress out and just running free,” Farmer said. “Have fun and run, and that’s what they do. Their passion is running. They love to run and succeed.”
“It’s not that they don’t take things serious and it’s not that they don’t respect their opponent or the competition we’re racing against, but that’s their way of just letting that stress out and just running free,” Farmer said. “Have fun and run, and that’s what they do. Their passion is running. They love to run and succeed.”
The state cross country meet will be ran at Eagle Falls Golf Course in Great Falls on Saturday. The State A girls race is the last race of the day and is scheduled to start at 2:45 p.m.
