By Ken Hansard
Macie Moore, a senior cross country runner for the Chanute High School Comets, is not your typical cross country athlete. Most cross country runners that you talk to will tell you how much they love to run. But not Macie. Instead, Macie goes the other direction. She will tell you that she does not love to run. But she is good at it – and she does love her team – and she does love to compete.
Moore has a competitive streak that gives her a certain “no-quit” attitude. That, and her love of her team, have stoked her fires for the duration of her high school career. Now that she is a senior, she has just a few simple marks that she wants to hit, “I am looking forward to finishing my senior year off by medaling at every meet I go to. That, and staying the night with my teammates!”
Another of Macie’s goals is to win her regional, where she took runner-up last year. Doing so will allow her to advance and finish her season at the State Championships at Rim Rock, where her goal is to medal. If Macie wants to finish her year at state, she will have to do it as an idividual, as the Comets do not have enough female runners for them to qualify as a team. “I’ve always been the number one runner for Chanute. I’ve never had a Chanute girl beat me, and I am very proud about that; however, there is a flip side to that. Because of low numbers, we have never had enough for our team to win meets or to qualify for state as a team.”
Both as a senior, and as the girl who has spent four years running number one for the Comets, Macie expects a lot from herself, both as a physical leader on the course, and also as a metaphorical leader on and off the course, at practices, and in life in general, “My role on my cross country team is to push my teammates at practice, and I also I pray for them before races. I am excited because we have some people who have never medaled, and some of them already medaled in their first cross country race this year. Not only that, but we are all very close already to our PR’s.”
Moore says that she had to work hard in the off-season, not just on the physical nature of the sport, but even more so on the mental side of things, which can be quite grueling, “I had to work to adjust my attitude during running; at times in the past, I would kind of dread running at practice. I tried my best to fix this by remembering that I am a leader, and all of these girls look up to me, and even if when I am not excited about running, I still need to put on a brave face and encourage my teammates.”
Macie, when not competing for the Comets in cross country and track, is active in her school’s culture. She is a member of Chanute’s FCA chapter. She is also involved in Student Council. Macie is strong academically, also, boasting a 3.7 G.P.A. Last year as a junior, she was recognized as an exemplary academic-athlete due to having good grades and for her success in cross country.
Following graduation, Macie has plans to attend either Neosho County Community College or Pittsburg State University. She would like to get her degree in education and eventually become a teacher.
