Hallie Collins shining brightly in freshman year at ACS
Oct. 13—When it comes to working hard as a long-distance runner, American star Desiree Linden put it best when she said, "...Every day I make the choice to show up and see what I've got, and to try and be better. My advice: keep showing up."
Continued participation is a strength of a blossoming long-distance runner at Azle Christian School in freshman Hallie Collins, and her head coach has noticed it from the start.
"The biggest thing with her is her work ethic," Crusaders head track and cross country coach Matt McClure said. "Every single morning, she is running by herself — she doesn't have anybody but me and her dad pushing her. I know that can get really old, but her dad mostly is there every single day just pushing her. Not having somebody there pushing you as a peer is extremely difficult, and it hasn't stopped her. She is putting in the work every single morning striving to be better than she was the day before, and then she has volleyball practice at the end of the day — it just adds to it."
Just hearing of her weekly workload could be taxing in itself, but extra work is something Collins has no plans of shying away from, even as a multi-sport athlete for ACS.
"I run 15 miles a week and each day we have a designated thing we work on," Collins said. "Mondays and Fridays are my slow days, and Tuesdays are my 400 days, where I run eight 400's at a 90-second pace. On Wednesdays, I run fartleks, which means I sprint for a minute and then slow jog for a minute and a half. On Thursdays, it kind of differs, I either rest or run a couple of miles that day depending on how I feel."
The rising freshman has competed well in every single cross country meet she has taken part in, even against the likes of Class 5A and 6A schools in Haltom City. In that meet, she faced off against runners from Azle, Aledo, Decatur and Burleson — among others — and finished 36th out of more than 100 participants.
After that, she took home fifth place out of 70 girls in Texoma after finishing her race in 14 minutes and five seconds. Collins raced to a 13-minute, 14-second finish in her next two meets in Decatur and Burleson, where she finished seventh place and second place, respectively. In her most recent outing, Collins nabbed fifth place in a meet at Brewer with a 13-minute, 37-second finish.
Even though she is young, Collins does not shy away from the competition and has lofty goals as a competitor of both track and cross country.
"My main goal is to run track at Notre Dame, which is very hard, but it's still my main goal in life," Collins said. "I want to be able to run the 400-meter race there, which is my main event in track, and in cross country my main goal is to make it to state. By this year or next year, I want to be able to place first and second in cross country, which I think is doable."
With a dream to run for the Fighting Irish, Collins is on track to put plenty of fellow competitors, spectators and college track programs on notice with the way she is performing in her first year as a high school student. To say the least, the best is yet to come, but the present is plenty to take pride in.
"Her growth already — as a freshman — has been amazing to watch," McClure said. "She doesn't understand where her wall ends as a runner, so there's no barrier that can stop her. Our ultimate goal is to crack 13 minutes and to be competitive every meet. I didn't want to set the bar so high as a freshman to where she's going to fail — we're past the point of just being competitive. She's earned the right to just attack, lead and let them chase you. She sets that tone now, and she is going to be someone everybody will have to watch in both track and cross country, and I think she is ready for that challenge."
