Every year, an individual state champion is crowned. It is an elite group that is reserved for the best of the best runners. Even rarer is the individual state champion holding the team championship trophy up in the air with his teammates. That was exactly the case last fall, when David Thor crossed the finish line with a time of 16:15 at Rim Rock farm to clinch his first state title. When the results were tallied, Thor learned that Bishop Carroll had won the team title for the second consecutive year.
“That day was really cool. The team trophy was way better because I got to share that with all of my best friends. The individual title was something I worked for all year and it was pretty cool as well” explained Thor.
After also winning individual titles in the 1600 and 3200 meters in the spring, Thor and his Bishop Carroll teammates are back to win it all again this fall. They returned to Rim Rock Farm at the end of September to race in the Rim Rock Farm High School XC Classic on a day that was picture perfect for cross country. Bishop Carroll finished 4th out of 34 teams in a loaded field that included defending Kansas 6A champion Jacob Morgan of Washburn Rural and reigning Missouri class 4 champion Zach Herriott of Rockhurst high school. Thor finished 6th.
“Rim Rock was a very loaded race, but I did not do very well there, I got out way too slow my first mile and had to play catch up the rest of the race”.
Bishop Carroll was back to their winning ways last Saturday at the Community American Bank Invitational, with Thor and his teammate Gage Garcia claiming the first two spots. Winning now is great, but the squad has their eyes on state once again.
“We are working harder, much, much harder” states Thor. “We go to practice, do what we are told and work our tails off”.
Bishop Carroll returns almost all of their members from last year’s victories team. Thor is joined by Garcia, James Hampton, Henry Merth, and Nick Martin who all ran in the state race last fall. With that many guys returning, there is inevitably a target on their back.
“It’s obvious. Yet we do not let that get to us. We run our race and do not worry about anything else. As long as we run like we know how to, that is when we do our best” Thor said.
Even being as prepared as possible, and with plenty of big race experience, Thor still gets a little anxious.
“I always get a little anxious before a race. My prerace routine is nothing fancy. I usually follow our stretching routines, but after that it is just whatever I feel I need to stretch and some build ups to prepare myself”.
Even while getting everyone’s best shot every race that comes with the rightfully earned large expectations, Thor and his teammates have their eyes on the prize at the end of the long journey.