“I was just focused on doing the best I could,” the Aledo High School distance runner said.
The best she could do resulted in one of the best improvements ever at the UIL State Track Meet. She came into the Class 5A Meet at Mike A. Myers Stadium on the University of Texas campus seeded eighth in the 1600-meter run.
She left on Saturday, May 3 with a bronze medal, finishing third with a time of 4 minutes, 51.93 seconds. It bested her qualifying time by almost 22 seconds.
Whereas Garrison came into state well behind the top qualifier, she missed capturing a gold medal by less than a second.
“I was a bit disappointed with my 3200 the day before, so going into the 1600, I was really driven and knew I wanted to cross the finish line with no regrets in my performance,” Garrison said.
“She’s always had it in her, and she couldn’t have picked a better time to let it out,” Ladycats coach Mike Pinkerton said.
The day before she finished sixth in the 3200, her time of 10:54.53 was an improvement of almost 14 seconds from her seventh-place qualifying time.
“I think I was discovering what I was capable of with every race. With each time drop I was able to gain a little more confidence for the next race,” Garrison said.
Building Up
Garrison came into state with championships in both the 1600 and 3200 at the District 5-5A and Area 5/6-5A Meets. She was second in both events at the windy Region I Meet in Lubbock, which Pinkerton said made her state qualifying times deceptive.
“She builds up over the season, and that’s by design,” he said.
As a freshman in track, she was third at regionals in the 3200. As a sophomore, she was fourth at regionals in the 3200 and sixth in the 1600.
In cross country, she reached state as a freshman. As a sophomore and junior, she helped the team to a second-place finish in 2023 and to third place in 2024, finishing 12th and sixth individually.
Getting started
Garrison began running cross country in the third grade and track in the eighth grade. She simply loves the sport of running.
“I’ve always loved how competitive the sport is and how you really get out what you put in,” she said. “I’ve never felt as accomplished as I did after my first race, and that’s when I knew running was for me.”
Her mother was a professional triathlete. A triathlon is a multi-sport endurance race consisting of swimming, biking, and running, performed consecutively in that order. The distances of each leg vary depending on the type of triathlon, with the most common lengths being a 1.5 kilometer (0.93 mile) swim, 40K (24.8 mile) bike ride, and 10K (6.2 mile) run.
“I’ve grown up around endurance sports,” Garrison said. “Nothing is quite as challenging mentally as a cross country race, so knowing I can run a 5K and push myself there gives me confidence in every track race.”
High school cross country races are typically 5K (3.1 miles).
She also swims during the winter.
“It trains different muscles. She’s not just running, she’s working on a bike and swimming, working a lot of different muscles in her body,” Pinkerton said.
More to come
Garrison took a second to catch her breath after state and is now preparing to run in the prestigious Nike Nationals at Hayward Stadium on June 19 on the campus of the University of Oregon. She will run unattached and not for any team.
And when asked if she plans to run in college, her quick answer is “Definitely!” She plans to study engineering or aviation.
But first things first, capturing a bronze medal was exciting, and her performance was inspirational. However, she said she wants more.
“It will definitely excite me going forward,” she said. “It was such a rewarding feeling, but as a competitor I always want to come back and do even better.”
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