The Border West communities made it a festive occasion with quite a sendoff for Schmidt, which the senior appreciated.  “The sendoffs were awesome! I started at CGB High School and ran through the halls as the students cheered.  Next stop was Pearson Elementary.  I'll have to say the elementary school was the cutest, every kid was chanting, "Run Julia, Run" and cheering me on as I ran through the gym!  Then to the Wheaton High School where I got to run by and high-five all the students and faculty. The police, fire department, and ambulance escorted me out of each town.  Thank you to all the businesses cheering me on as I drove down Broadway! I was met outside of Herman by the fire department and they escorted me through town as thee students cheered outside the school.”

Border West head coach Brittany Erickson explained the approach she and Julia took to being involved in the race this way, “We did our best to keep the environment relaxed and easygoing.  We previewed the course for the first time on Friday and it was more beneficial than all of the elevation maps, word-of-mouth descriptions, and YouTube clips Coach Stroth and I scrounged up.  It's a course filled with rolling hills and we prepared for it by doing a lot of hill workouts and 1K sprints with hardly any full recovery to simulate that "dead leg" feeling.  Julia's teammates are the best--a lot of them came to practice and pushed her to be tough.  She chased after them when they got a head start and refused to let her beat them easily.  We had some teammates come along to keep her busy, and keep the environment light and fun, and when it was race time, they sprinted to spots to cheer her on.  I cannot express my gratitude enough to the fans and teammates who made the trip to watch and cheer, the people who donated snacks, food, and meals, and the people who made the process of lining everything up for State as easy as possible. Julia finished her high school cross country career the best way possible.”

As for the actual race experience, Schmidt said, “Before the race, I was pretty overwhelmed by the number of runners! The runners in my box were from my section so it was nice to see some familiar faces.  I was feeling nervous in every way possible!  I couldn't quit thinking about all the hills I had to go up and down. When the race started, all my nerves were gone after the first mile...I sprinted them all off! There were several parts of the course where I couldn't hear anything because the crowd was cheering so loud and I loved it! I love the positive energy that every cross country meet brings!  After the race, I was the most winded I'd ever been and that's when I knew I gave it my all! I was so excited to hear that I'd beat my ranking of 42nd and finished as #2 in my section!”

Congratulations, Julia!  Great job in the race and in representing your communities and school.