Winners work.

This is the phrase senior David Herring jokingly says to his friends on the regular. But on Friday, Nov. 3, the motto was plastered across signs, held by Herring’s friends and family, along the course at Old Settlers Park in Round Rock. As Herring ran his 5K at the UIL state cross country meet, he watched them blur by. 

Herring was the sole runner from McCallum to make it to the state meet. He qualified after placing 12th out of 181 runners at the 5A Region 3 Championships on Oct. 23 with a time of 16:33. At the state meet, however, he shaved five seconds off that time to establish a new personal record (PR) in a time of 16:28, placing 51st out of about 150 runners. 

“It was good [to make a PR],” Herring said. “Especially on that course. It’s just so hard — so many hills, so many ups and downs. I put that effort in, on a course that historically, I haven’t run that well on.”

Herring was no stranger to the Old Settlers Park course, despite it being his first state meet. He has run the course every season since his freshman year for the HOKA-McNeil Invitational, a meet that functions as a preview for state. Those previous races on the course, Herring said, didn’t go so well.

“[This race] just felt better,” Herring said. “I’ve had quite a few bad races [at Old Settlers Park]. Last season, that was my worst race by far. It just felt terrible. Like, my shoe was untied. Then this year, when we ran it for McNeil, it was just alright. The race could have been better, it could have been worse. But this time, I just felt good. I pushed and made it through.”

His previous races at the course didn’t even cross Herring’s mind that morning. He followed his normal pre-race routine of a dependable dinner the evening before and a good night’s sleep. On the morning of the race, Herring said, the weather was perfect. Some security changes — the previous year, a graduated college student successfully pretended to be a high school runner — didn’t deter Herring, although this meant he was unable to warm up as he normally would. But it didn’t matter: it was racing time.

“I put my spikes on, went to the starting line, and got ready to race,” Herring said.

The windy, hilly course was hard. It hurt, Herring said. After starting, Herring focused on slowly trying to move up. Although there were points throughout the race where he could have run at a more relaxed pace, he concentrated on catching up to his competitors because he knew he was capable of doing so. His experience at the McNeil meets prepared him for a much more crowded course.

“You’re never alone,” Herring said. “A lot of times [at other meets], you get in no man’s land, when someone is really far in front of you and no one’s really behind you or next to you. That makes it harder to push. But this [meet] was like, ‘person, person’ everywhere. It felt better, not having to work as much to catch each person and being able to move up more and more with the same amount of effort it would take, in some meets, to just catch one person.”

As he ran, Herring noted the vast array of his cheerleaders positioned at various points on the course. His parents were joined by members of the cross-country team, his youth group leader and even friends from his youth group, who missed school to watch Herring compete. 

“They were all running around, and my dad was joking, ‘I made sure to make them run and watch you,’” Herring said. “My teammates were also running around. I was like, ‘I feel like they’re running more than me.’”

Seeing his motto and even his face plastered onto signs held by cheering friends made the pain of the run worth it to Herring. 

“That’s what makes it a lot easier to be able to run so much and compete: having such a supportive group,” he said. 

When Herring crossed the finish line, he was surrounded by both running friends and loved ones. Although his legs were dead, Herring said he felt good.

“I kind of felt like I could have done better,” Herring said. “But I’m always saying this, and I write it on my arm sometimes: ‘Do your best and do your best for the day.’ I feel like that’s what I did.”

Herring’s practical, “winners work” attitude is a trademark of each race. But before the regional meet, he was uncharacteristically filled with nerves. 

“[Before region] I woke up after having a really bad sleep,” Herring said. “At the meet, I was just chewing on part of my rain jacket, I was so nervous. Probably the most nervous I’ve ever been, because I’m usually pretty relaxed. I think I had just a little bit of doubt because I knew internally, ‘Oh, I can make it [to state].’”

At state, however, Herring was the picture of confidence. His friend and teammate junior Fox Redmond noted Herring’s ease as he encouraged him before he set off. 

“I remember being surprised … at how unfazed he seemed while I was talking to him right before the race,” Redmond said. “He seemed so much calmer than I would have expected for such a big and important race; he was definitely confident from all his preparation.”

That preparation consisted of an entire cross-country season, which Herring called his best yet. At the Georgetown Invitational meet on Sept. 30, for example, Herring was believed to set a school record for the 5K. In reality, however, the course was shorter than five kilometers, thus  Herring’s time did not qualify for the record. But whether he was breaking records or not, the effort he’d put in over the season was clear to Redmond and to the rest of Herring’s supporters as they watched him run.

“It felt like his intense daily running workouts that he had been doing for over a year had definitely paid off,” Redmond said. 

The consistent practice under his belt as well as encouragement from those he’s closest to fed into Herring’s attitude before the state meet.

“I felt super relaxed,” Herring said. “I was just like, ‘I just gotta show what I got. I gotta run the race I know I can run.’ The night before, I got a text from a college guy that runs with my club, and he was like, ‘Make a statement, show what you got, and you got this.’ That really helped a lot; it just gave me confidence. So I didn’t feel that nervous. I was just like, ‘It’s go time.’”

While the state meet marked the end of Herring’s final cross-country season, he still has the track season to look forward to. Herring has big plans. In his time at Mac, he has never seen the boys’ team win the district meet or “tripled out,” which means competing in three events and winning them all. This year, Herring hopes to change that.

“I’m looking forward to seeing what I can do,” he said.

Herring’s dedication to his sport propelled him all the way to state. In addition to running for McCallum, Herring also runs every single day of his own accord or with his running club and hardly ever takes days off. But running comes naturally to Herring.

“I just love being active,” Herring said. “It’s enjoyable for me to go out and run. It’s just kind of freeing. It’s fun to see improvement. And it gives me something to do. I feel like I don’t do a lot other than running some days. It’s that and hanging out with friends — my main hobbies. And I don’t like taking days off — my knees are stiff the next day.”

More coverage on Mac runners:

Steady as she runs

Wren, Herring lead Mac track teams to top 10 finishes

Blackwell, Gray top school record in same race