Goodman reflects on winning state, setting 1A girl’s XC record
On Nov. 23rd, Springlake-Earth freshman, Taytum Goodman, blazed a time of 11:18.29 to become the 1A Girl’s Cross Country State Champion and the 1A girl’s cross country record holder.
Goodman finished nearly a minute ahead of the competition at Old Settler’s Park in Round Rock
She talked about what was going through her mind, during the last stretch of the race when she was by herself, saying, “I was just telling myself, ‘I’m here at State. I’ve been wanting to do this forever and I’m here at the race and I just have to leave it all on the course.’ That is what I was trying to do, is leave it all out there and just see how good I could do”
Taytum explained that she started running even before she was in school.
“I would always just go out and run because I loved it so much,” she said. “I love everything about cross country. I love running and I love being out there.”
Head Coach Jeri Been Goodman talked about what it meant to her to be able to share the moment with her daughter, saying, “This is the one time where I had time to fmd her and hug her before I had to go check on the rest of my team. Every race she has ever ran, I’m having to wait until the last runner crosses before I can go fmd her for three years now. It was the first time I actually got to be there with her when she finishes. That was special in its self.”
She added, “With her being so little and working as hard as she does; I knew she had a chance and knew she was good, but I didn’t know she was that good.”
Taytum talked about earning a State Championship as a freshman, saying, “My dream has always been to make it to state, and now that I have made it and not just that, but I won it and set a new state record; it is amazing and a dream come true.”
Taytum talked about being able to achieve the goals she set out for herself as a freshman, saying, “It’s amazing. It is a dream come true. Knowing that I still have three years left, I just want to see how much better I can do each year.”
She talked about becoming the State record holder for 1A girl’s cross country, saying, “It feels really good to be the 1A girl’s cross country state record holder. It’s something that I have always wanted.”
Coach Goodman talked about seeing her daughter become the state record holder, saying, “It’s amazing. I was going to tell her that if she ran her best race, that I thought she could break the record, but I didn’t want to make her nervous. She handles it a lot better than I do. As Carsann and I were walking around when they were fixing to start, I told Carsann, I never told her she might be able to break that state record. I knew deep down she could do it, but I didn’t want to put that pressure on her.”
She added, “The first 30 yards were pretty close, but after that she just took off. After 30 yards she had it from there and we had Trace on the backside and he is calling me after the first mile, saying, ‘she’s got it, she’s got it.”
The freshman talked about the prospect of being able to win multiple state titles, saying, “It would be awesome if I could make it two years, three years or even four years in a row. That is my goal, is to just keep making it and see what I can do.”
Taytum talked about what it means to her to be able to put Springlake-Earth on the map, saying, “It lets people know where we are and what we can do, especially now that a Springlake-Earth girl is the girl’s cross country state record holder.”
Taytum said that her goals for next year are to make it down to Round Rock again for the State Meet and try and better her time from the 2020 State Meet.