Be patient with the Pelicans
November 4, 2015Week 9 Prep Roundup
November 4, 2015
Vandebilt Catholic senior runner Alexa Breaux already has a mountain of trophies.
She’s the reigning and defending Class 4A State Cross Country Champion and also the proud owner of several regular season meet championships, as well. When not in the fall, Breaux’s collection still grows. She is an accomplished, successful long distance runner on the Lady Terriers track and field team – one of Louisiana’s best in Class 4A.
But even a trophy case that is already massive, Breaux said finding motivation to push forward remains easy.
She said that she simply loves to win and can’t get enough of the thrill that comes with crossing the finish line before anyone else does.
Breaux is likely one of the favorites to win the Class 4A State Cross Country Title in the coming weeks – a race that will be held in two weeks at Northwestern State University.
The Lady Terriers standout said that she feels as good physically as she ever has in her career – a clean bill of health that has allowed her to post some of the lowest times of her career this season.
Breaux said that those times, combined with the love for victory have her hopeful that she and her team can finish the year with a bang.
“My goal at the beginning of the season was to try and keep dropping time each week,” Breaux said. “And I accomplished that goal by getting faster and faster with each meet – even getting a lifetime personal best this season. … We are really looking forward to the state meet and have high goals set to finish off the season.”
Breaux said she feels no pain when on the track.
That, of course, is a little bit different than the physical grind that she had to endure just 12 months ago.
Breaux has been competing for Vandebilt since the eighth grade, and has been in the hunt for state championships since 2012 – her freshman year. But somewhere along the way, the wear and tear of competition battered Breaux’s body and left her in a lot of lower-body pain. She was diagnosed with a stress fracture in her right foot in the summer of 2014, which put her junior season in jeopardy.
“I thought I would be out the whole year,” Breaux said last year. “I thought there was no way I could run.”
Breaux missed several early-season meets while rehabbing the injury. She returned on Oct. 22, which gave her less than a month to prepare for the State Championship Meet.
It didn’t matter.
Powered by the motivation she had from close finishes in both 2012 and 2013, Breaux took no prisoners, winning the title by several seconds.
In 2012, Breaux lost in the final stretch run, finishing as the state runner-up by 1.2 seconds. In 2013, Breaux said she didn’t feel well on the day of the meet and finished fifth.
Once across the finish line and in first place, Breaux called the achievement the best thing she’d done in her career.
“I just couldn’t help but to smile when I finally finished,” Breaux said last year after winning the race. “I realized that I had finally reached my goal. Finally, I was a cross country state champion.”
But now, Breaux is hungry for more. Oh yeah, and she thinks that she’s better than ever, too.
Because Breaux was able to have a full offseason to train and condition without pain, the Lady Terriers standout said she knew that 2015 could be a big year.
So far, Breaux has rewritten her own record book, topping several of the top times that she’d logged throughout her career. At the Walker Shootout, Breaux logged a three-mile time that was the best she’d ever run in her life.
“Considering that I was out for most of the season last year with my foot injury, it’s hard to compare any times from last year to this year,” Breaux said. “I’ve been able to run some fast times (in 2015). … All of the hard training I have put in has paid off, and now it’s time to just maintain that and stay focused.
“I feel great. The stress fracture healed perfectly and I have no lingering pain or any new injuries.”
Now, it’s time to chase another big trophy. In the process of doing that, Breaux said she hopes to find a new school to represent after the season, as well.
The Lady Terriers standout said that she has ambition to run collegiately, adding that several schools have inquired about her services once she graduates from Vandebilt in the spring.
Breaux didn’t offer a list of schools interested in her services. She also remained coy when asked if she’d made a final decision about where it is that she wants to go. But Breaux did confirm that running is in her future, saying that being a college student-athlete has long been one of her goals.
“I have gotten some calls, but I’m still undecided as to where my future home will be,” she said.
She just hopes to have not one, but two state titles to show college scouts before she signs.
Vandebilt runner Alexa Breaux poses with the team’s State Runner-Up trophy. Around Breaux’s neck is her state championship medal earned after bringing home the Class 4A State Cross Country title.
