Bowie’s cross country athletes are wrapping up their season with a bang after qualifying for the UIL State Championships. Looking back on the ups and downs of their 2025 season, the athletes are proud of how far their hard work has taken them.
After competing at regionals in Corpus Christi a few weeks ago, both the boys’ and girls’ teams earned their spots at the UIL State Championships. Head Cross Country and Girls Track Coach Lora Tilson said she couldn’t be happier with how the season turned out.
“I think the season went amazing. There are always things I wish we could have done more of, like games and fun competitions,” Tilson said. “But overall, the goal is to be the best team in Austin, and I think we have accomplished that.”
The team will compete at the UIL State Championship meet on November 1 at Old Settlers Park in Round Rock. Their historic performance at regionals marked a major milestone for the program.
“Going down to Corpus Christi for regionals and, for the first time in Bowie history, we podiumed,” Tilson said. “Second place for boys, third place for girls. It’s a big difference between just qualifying for state and walking up to the podium, receiving medals, and standing on your placement podium.”
Both teams have collected impressive achievements throughout the season. The varsity girls brought home the district championship title, while the boys’ varsity, JV, and freshman teams all claimed gold at districts.
Varsity runner Marcelite Fair, one of the athletes who helped lead the girls’ team to victory, reflected on the group’s success.
“As a team, we have accomplished a lot this year,” Fair said. “Us girls took home the district champs title and finished on the podium at regionals. But I think our greatest accomplishment has been how connected we’ve become as a team. We’ve bonded a lot over the summer and throughout the season, and it’s definitely shown during training and races.”
Another varsity runner, senior Griffin Hummel, helped the varsity boys place second at regionals as well. Hummel explained his most memorable achievements from throughout the season.
“Probably winning regionals, as it’s a really tough course and it’s super competitive,” Hummel said. “Definitely getting 2nd at region and qualifying for state. We were seeded 7th going in, but we all raced really well and leapfrogged 5 teams to punch our ticket.”
Going into state, Tilson is hoping for a clean race and for the athletes to do their best, as this will be the team’s first-ever time competing at the meet.
“As I told the runners—it is up to them. It can go two ways. One, we can just be happy we made it. We can run, be in awe of everyone and everything and call it a good day. Or two, we can go out there and have a historic State Meet,” Tilson said. “Comes the closest to the State Podium than any other Bowie Team has ever. But I will be excited on that day regardless if they run the race they wanted to and they are happy.”
Athletes Griffin Hummel and Marcelite Fair share that same determination heading into the race and plan to give it their all.
“For the state meet I want to have a race I feel good about. For this last race I want our group of girls to push each other and work together so that we cross the line confident in our performance,” Fair said. “I am very grateful for this big opportunity and can’t wait to show up and give it my all, not just for myself but for the team.”
With the season about over now, many athletes will begin to focus on various other sports, the main one being track season. Both Griffin Hummel and Marceltie Fair will take a break then refocus for track season soon.
“After a little bit of time off from running I will start training for track.” Fair said. “I am getting excited for track and I can’t wait for another season with this team. We have big goals for this season, with personal times we will work hard to reach and big meets we want to qualify for.”
Besides track, some students will move on to training with the team for some personal events. Coach Tilson says that there will be many different events for the athletes to begin working towards as the season comes to a wrap.
“Many runners will continue to train to go run at Nike Cross Regionals.” Tilson said. “This event has both the best runners and lots of fun runners. The best runners compete to qualify for Nike Cross Nationals. Only the most elite runners will qualify. And we are training for the Austin International Half-marathon.”
