With a seventh place finish in the regional, a cloud hovered over the Center Grove cross country team.

It just wasn’t their day. With multiple runners from other teams achieving personal records and Center Grove not able to match, the cloud over the Trojans spelled an end of a county and sectional-winning season.

However, while there was a cloud, it was not completely dark. A silver lining, much like the silver/gray of their new uniforms, came in the form of junior Cameron Cox.

A 19-second PR and sub-16 minute finish (15:59.95) netted Cox a trip to the state finals, giving Center Grove a representative in Terre Haute, the site of the state finals.

“I’m a little disappointed that we didn’t make it as a team, but I’m kind of glad that at least one of us gets to go,” Cox said. “It’s gonna be different on the start line [without] the boys, who are always supportive and work together, but I think with them on the sidelines, I’ll be able to do something good.”

With his teammates cheering him on, Cox will look to build on his 15th place finish in the regional by aiming for a top 50 finish in Terre Haute. However, despite being the only Center Grove runner, pressure won’t be something Cox will be worrying about before the race.

“I think that actually puts less pressure on me,” Cox said. “I can go out and maybe take a risk at the state meet, and if that risk doesn’t pay off, then I’m not going to be affecting my teammates. I was talking with them, maybe I should go out in the top 25 and take a risk, because there’s really nothing to lose.”

To get to this point in the season, Cox had to overcome, by his standards, disappointing performances that did not live up to his last-season PR of 16:19.

“At the start of the season, I had three really bad races and I wasn’t practicing well, and it was just kind of demotivating,” Cox said. “I just kind of persevered and knew that coach was going to have us peak at the end of the season. I think I had to really trust in myself and know that I have put in the hard work since the summer, and just trust in God that he’s going to help pull me through.”

With the state finals on Saturday, Nov. 2, Cox will have the challenge of running without his teammates for the first time this season.

“Those six guys were always so close together that when they were running, there’s always a Center Grove runner close to you,” head coach Howard Harrell said. “You can kind of gauge, am I doing well today, or am I not. [On] Saturday, he’s not going to have that gauge anymore. He’s going to have to run from feel.”

However, to help alleviate the difficulties associated with running alone, the Trojans will have practice tailored towards Cox, with runners from the regional and previous races pacing him through workouts.

“We’ve had times before where you might be running by yourself, and that’s not any fun, especially when it’s cold outside,” Harrell said. “Now, when you’re doing it with teammates, it’s camaraderie. It’s a lot more fun. Now [when] we have a harder type of workout, he’s going to have people to pace off of. We’re going to make it so that there’s two or three people who are faster than him right in front of him, two or three people right behind him, and maybe one or two people right beside him.”

Improvement will be key for Cox, as he will have to perform better in certain areas of his race to compete against stiffer competition.

“I definitely fell asleep [at the second and third K] and wasn’t pushing as hard as I could,” Cox said. “Really pushing that at LaVern, [where] it’s up a hill, will be interesting to see.”

As Cox looks around on the start line, he might be alone. As he runs downhill on the first thousand meters of the race, he might be alone.  As he grinds his way through the zigs and zags of the uphill LaVern course, he might be alone.

However, as he crosses the finish line, he will have a whole team lifting his tired legs through a finish.

The thing is, the Trojans might have had one silver lining in their cloud at the regional race. That cloud disappeared.

But nobody ever told that silver lining to stop shining.

This story was originally published on Trojaneer on October 31, 2024.