Eleanor Hampton with her coaches just a week ahead of the championships.
Hampton stands out as a freshman Cross Country athlete at Merced High School
Eleanor Hampton leads the pack during one of her recent cross country races.
After putting in countless hours of training with teammates and coaches, Merced High School freshman and cross country runner, Eleanor Hampton, has qualified for the Varsity California State Championship in her sport this coming Saturday, Nov. 30.
It’s just the latest achievement in a remarkable season for Hampton.
She has been recognized as the undisputed CCC League Champion, having won 1st Place in all of three of her league meets. Currently, she is working hard to train in the post-season with a number of incredibly supportive teammates and coaches to make sure she does her best in, and even potentially win, the coming championships.
“Honestly, it was pretty crazy,” exclaimed Hampton, when first discussing her feelings surrounding qualifying. “When I was there at the meet, I wasn’t quite sure if I had made it or not because they hadn’t posted the times yet. And when they did, it was really nice to qualify and share that moment with my teammates.”
When asked about how she feels about the coming Championship, she said, “I am nervous, but I am excited to run with people that are the best in California.”
The freshman, who began taking running seriously only a few years ago, credits her success to her supportive coaches and their effective training program. Other than qualifying for the state championships, Eleanor’s favorite moments from the season were hanging out with her teammates at the races as well as competing in Southern California.
She expresses her love of the sport with great enthusiasm, and encourages others to try it out. “
Cross country is an awesome environment,” she says. “It’s really accepting and just about getting better. If you are interested and want to look into it, come out to our summer practices, because we need more people.”
The Times was also able to get a word in with her coach, Jesus Deniz, who had this to say about Hampton and his entire team: “All of the kids have put in a lot of work — a lot of hard work — and it’s great to see them pushing and encouraging one another. When we went up to Sections, we only had three qualifying runners, but we had two vans full of kids because they wanted to go and encourage them. And during our training right now, we still have quite a bit of kids training with Eleanor just to help her out.”