After beating her past personal record at the state meet, senior Katelynn McLaughlin is moving forward to race at the Meet of Champions in Norman this Saturday.

McLaughlin finished as 20th out of 162 people at state. During this race, she set her personal record of 12:40 in the two-mile race, dropping 24 seconds off of her previous time.

The top 25 finishing at state were nominated to go to the Meet of Champions. McLaughlin was nominated by cross country coach Mark Busick.

McLaughlin started cross country when she was a freshman.

“My dad did lots of running events so he was really into the OKC triathlon so I was around running when I was little,” McLaughlin said.

In elementary school, McLaughlin competed in smaller scale triathlons.

She does admit that she did not want run at first.

“Coach Busick lives in my neighborhood and he found out I was going to HCP and he was like ‘You need to join cross country’ and I was like ‘no’. He kind of said I should because I wouldn’t be running more than 3 miles and it would be super fun and all of these other lies,” McLaughlin said. “But it worked out okay.”

During daily practices, Busick has never pushed the team too hard.

“Practices are really fun. He keeps it really light,” McLaughlin said. “He’ll push you to an extent, but you also have to have a personal drive. He won’t yell at you to do it,” she said.

With the daily practices, traveling to Arkansas to compete and other meets, the team has built a strong bond and a great deal of respect for Coach Busick.

“The whole team wants to do well for him because he loves the sport so much and he wants us to do the best we can do,” McLaughlin said.

At the Meet of Champions, everyone runs as an individual and does not win points for their team.

“We’re all there for fun,” McLaughlin said. “Allegra [Knight] said it’s really fun. We all get to wear the same uniforms.”

As for running in general, McLaughlin loves running among others.

“I really like the competition. I really like being in shape and seeing what I can do with my abilities. It builds up my confidence to actually have something that I can do well,” McLaughlin said.

McLaughlin plans to go to OU to study physical therapy and nutrition. She wants to do sports therapy so she can continue to be active in cross country and sports.

“I do want to continue running for a long time but not necessarily competitive at a college level,” McLaughlin said. “I’ll probably join a running club so I can stay in shape.”