Our mission: to prepare youth distance runners for high school competition and beyond. To have fun, develop discipline and prepare runners for competition in life and in sport.
Many of our graduates join their respective school teams as one of their top runners. A typical Lake Cities graduate will be well versed in individual race performance, race strategies for both xc and track, aerobic and anaerobic training, interval work, heart rate fitness, hydration and nutrition, sportsmanship, team concepts, mental preparation and mental toughness, distance runner specific strength training, negative splitting and more. Most, if not all, will have competed at the national level against the very best youth runners in America. Stepping up to the starting line for their first school xc race will still be nerve-wracking for a Lake Cities grad … but only until the start of the race. With multiple races in their past, the distance isn’t intimidating … many have been running them since they were 8 years old.
Lake Cities XC history and results
Since our start in the fall of 2004, Lake Cities XC has produced top national teams, including the 2009 and 2018 AAU 13-14 boy’s national championship teams. Lake Cities XC runners have reached the individual honor of Junior Olympic All-American status 82 times. Lake Cities XC alums – well over 200 runners have now signed National Letters of Intent and have continued their running careers at their respective colleges and universities.
We train year round, with three specific seasons with breaks in-between.
Spring
In the spring, focus is on longer distance runs with athletes competing in 5K and 10K road races. The spring season begins in early January and runs through the end of April. In addition, we prepare our middle school runners for their respective track seasons … from 800m thru 3200m races. Lake Cities is proud to have developed a large number of Middle School District Champions from all around the DFW Metroplex.
Summer
Summer training focuses first and foremost on mileage build for the fall. How hard a xc team works in the summer is directly related to how well it competes in the fall, especially in November and December, when the most important races are held.
Fall
Fall is our busiest and longest competition season. We race in several middle school xc meets, a couple of specific road races and then either the AAU or USATF Junior Olympic XC National Championships. A heavy emphasis on team strategy and teamwork exists throughout the season.
