It’s difficult to replace an athlete like Madi McLellan. The Woodlands coach Noel Hansen knows that. But the loss of one of the school’s most accomplished runners — now racing for the Rice University Owls — won’t disparage the Lady Highlanders’ high expectations.

 

Instead, The Woodlands will return to the courses with a fresh outlook and an adversity-shattering team mentality that could have them competing for the podium at the district, regional and state levels.

“We lost some great runners and some seniors from last year that provided a lot of leadership, and we’re trying to see how these groups step up,” Hansen said. “These seniors are a very, very capable group, and we’re going to have to get a lot of good work from our sophomores, who ran varsity some last year, but they’re really going to have to step up and be able to help us run at a different level this year.”

The Lady Highlanders lost a tie breaker to College Park in the District 14-5A meet last fall, but bounced back to claim the Region II-5A title the very next week. McLellan, the regional champion, did not compete at the UIL State Meet, and The Woodlands took seventh after a runner-up finish in 2012. click here for complete story