Clare Schmidt’s focus on the mental side of cross country guided her to one of the most sure things she knows: her faith.
Over the inclines and declines of the Skyview Lake course in Norfolk and through the flat swaths of the Neligh-Oakdale course at Antelope Country Club, the Battle Creek junior guided herself through the most recent races of the year with a sort of prayer playlist looping in her head.
“My faith is super important to me,” she said. “So I was just praying the whole way through. I think that God carried me and made me super confident.”
It carried her to the best rae of her cross country career on Friday, her 11th-place finish of 22:50 helping the girl take the Norfolk Catholic Invite title.
Two days later, the girls and boys wrapped up a sweep of the Neligh-Oakdale Invite with Miles Clausen picking up the first-place run he’d gone after in the meets prior.
The girls team beat out host Norfolk Catholic in Friday’s points race, led by Grace Herman’s seventh-place run and Olivia Jessen’s eighth-place run just half a second behind.
Schmidt’s new personal best run
Oakdale Invitational.
