Littlefield junior, Noah Villanueva, will be representing Littlefield at the State Cross Country Meet in Round Rock, Tx, on Friday.
Villanueva is the first Littlefield cross country runner to advance to the State Meet since 2011.
“ It means a lot,” he stated. “This is what I’ve been training for since the summer.”
Villanueva explained that it was during his sophomore year that he really decided that he wanted to pursue cross country.
“During my freshman year, I started doing track and I switched from sprinting to long distance and I really enjoyed it. I saw that cross country was going on, so I joined that too and I have really enjoyed it.”
Head cross country coach Jarrod Thomas talked about how he has seen Villanueva grow over the course of his career, saying, “During his sophomore year, which was his first year in cross country, he was doing well and then he developed tendonitis in his knee that kept him from running at district. He began to work hard on strengthening his knee to prevent that from happening again. He consistently makes sure to get his workouts in in the weight room and not just running. He has earned this opportunity through his hard work and determination.”
Villanueva was the lone representative for the Wildcats at the Regional Meet last Monday at Mae Simmons Park in Lubbock, where he, placed 14th overall, clocking a time of 17:03.20.
“I was just trying to get out and get good positioning” Villanueva said. “I found a good group around mile one and I just stuck with them for most of the race.”
He added, “Coming over the bridge at the end of the race, I was just going. I didn’t want to not qualify by one position, so I was just trying to catch as many people as I could.”
“I can’t even begin to say how proud I am of Noah,” Coach Thomas stated. “He has worked diligently to get this opportunity. A great example of his drive was after the regional meet. He set a new PR for the Mae Simmons course and qualified for state. Yet he was upset that he didn’t run a 16 something.”
He added, “ He was proud of his accomplishment and happy to qualify for state, but he wants so much more. It’s a complete honor to get to coach an athlete like Noah.” Villanueva talked about what he enjoys most about running cross country, saying, “I just enjoy the process and training.”
He added, “When I prepare for a race, we have two speed workouts per week and we’ll space them out with some easy running. Then we will have one long run, which is 10 miles per week. All of our easy runs are around 5.5 miles, and then the speed workouts are set up by Coach Thomas and we’ll run those at the track.”
He added, leading up to a race, I just try to get some small snacks, quick carbs like fruit or honey.”
Villanueva talked about his preperation leading up to Regionals, saying, “I feel like we had a good practice schedule. And I’ve just been trying to get lots of sleep and eat right.”
Although this is Villanueva’s first time running at the “State Meet”, this will not be the first time he has competed on this course, as he and the rest of the cross country team got to go compete at the Hoka McNiel Invitational in September, which was held at the State Course at Old Settler’s Park in Round Rock.
“I feel like having gotten to run on the State course once already this year will definitely give me an advantage going into the race,” he said. “ I know where a couple of the hills are that suck, there are not a lot of them and they’re not very big, but when you’re tired and it’s humid, they can suck.”
Villanueva talked about what his goals are for himself, as he heads to the State Meet, saying, “My biggest goal is I want to go sub-17. Other than that I just want to get some good placement and be up there towards the top at the end.”
The junior talked about what his family support has been like, saying, “My family support has been amazing. They’ve given me a lot of opportunities to be successful, they helped send me to a camp at Texas Tech and provided me with nice equipment such as shoes and stuff.”
He also talked about how Coach Thomas has helped him throughout his career to this point, saying, “Coach Thomas has been an amazing Coach. He’s great at setting up a schedule for me and letting me know what is going on each week. He’s just a great coach.”
Villanueva will run on Friday, October 31st at Old Settler’s Park in Round Rock, Tx, at 8:45 a.m.