Starting the cross country season this year was exciting, going from only two girls on the team last year to having full girls varsity and junior varsity teams this year. The season ended on an even stronger note when freshman Audrey Dieckman qualified for the state meet, the first Yutan girl to qualify in seven years. 

“It was really kind of special because that marks the first cross country girl that I’ve personally trained having qualified for state,” head coach Joel Carrillo said.

This was also a very special moment for Dieckman, who started running cross country because her older brother did it, and “although it seemed like a painful sport, it seemed fun.”

“Being the first girl to make it to state in a long time just made me feel really proud of myself,” Dieckman said. “I knew I had a good chance of making it to state, but I… knew I definitely wasn’t guaranteed a spot, and I would have to run my hardest to get there.”

This accomplishment was not something Dieckman envisioned at the start of the season.

“I didn’t have many goals at the beginning of the season because this is my first cross country season,” Dieckman said. “I set little goals throughout the entire season. I did reach my little goals along the way and proved to myself that I could do cross country and be good at it.”

Despite Dieckman’s success throughout the season, she faced a lack of self-confidence.

“I definitely had a lot of self-doubt throughout the season and at every race just telling myself that I wanted to stop and for it to be over,” Dieckman said. “I had to remind myself so many times throughout each race to be more positive.”   

What kept her going was the thought of state, even though she wasn’t anticipating it to be this year.

“The reason I stayed motivated throughout the season was knowing that sometime, I wanted to make it to state,” Dieckman said. “Even though I didn’t even think about me making it to state freshman year, that was my motivation to keep getting better. I just tried to keep a good mindset and let myself know that I could do every workout, even though it seemed like I couldn’t.”

Something that helped Dieckman’s mindset was having a supportive team.

“The team really helped me by being motivational and positive,” Dieckman said. “It really helps me throughout a race when I know people are cheering me on because it helps me be more positive myself.”

This support was a pleasant experience for Dieckman, being an underclassman who was brand new to the team.

“I thought because I was the only freshman girl that the season would be kind of lonely because I would have no one else to connect with, but the whole team was really fun to talk to,” Dieckman said.

One upperclassmen Dieckman connected well with was junior Madi Ledden, who stayed to train for state with her. 

“It was fun to see her and how hard she can work, even on her own,” Ledden said. “She’s really fun to be around, she works really hard and she’s really impressive.”

Together, Ledden and Dieckman ran special workouts Carrillo created to replicate the feeling of the state course.

“We ran long hills,” Carrillo said. “Basically, I broke the state course into sections, and we ran certain courses here at Yutan in the same way that we would have run them in state. [Practices were] higher intensity and more purpose driven of what the course will feel like.” 

These types of practice helped Dieckman have more confidence going into state.

“The practices the week before state really helped me prepare because they were based off of the Kearney course, so I knew exactly how fast I should be going on each curve of the course,” Dieckman said.

This preparation paid off at state. Even though she placed 67th, Dieckman ran a personal record time of 22:31. 

“[Her time] was right where we needed it to be, and honestly, I’m very happy about the time,” Carrillo said. “That was her best time all season, and that’s a tough course to get a PR on, so having an all-time best at Kearney is very difficult to achieve.”

After her successful run at state, Carrillo foresees even more success for Dieckman during the rest of her high school career.

“I see a chance at being a top 15 runner for Class C in the next three years if she’s interested in it,” Carrillo said.

After reflecting on this season, Dieckman also has high aspirations for herself in the future.

“This season makes me want to start training earlier throughout the summer,” Dieckman said. “I know I can run good, but I want to get in shape earlier, so I can also improve my times as early as I can.”

She wants to improve her times, and more importantly, develop a growth mindset for next season.

“I just need to keep reminding myself for the next season to have a positive attitude. I know I can run every race, even though they are going to be hard,” Dieckman said. “I need to keep reminding myself that pain is inevitable, and I need to push through.”