Wright City Head Coach Sue Wright preaches that cross country running is 90 percent mental and 10 percent physical.

That’s why, she believes, senior Erin Tomschin had so much success on the course the last three years.

After playing softball her freshman year, Tomschin traded in her cleats for running shoes and never looked back, qualifying for the state meet each of the past three years.

“Her development from when she was a sophomore until now was just huge,” Wright said. “What she accomplished and where she came from was great. She’s easy to coach because she’s mentally strong. She puts her mind to something and she goes out and does it.”

She finished 103rd (23 minutes, 29 seconds) as a sophomore and 67th (22:30) as a junior at the Class 2 level.

The Wildcats moved up to Class 3 this season, and Tomschin finished 68th despite knocking nearly 80 seconds off her time.

“That’s the best time she’s gotten, and that’s all I ask,” Wright said. “Just improve your time. I’m just tickled that they got there and experienced everything. There’s just so many unknowns when moving up a class like we did, so the only thing I could look at was last year’s time. And Erin did much better than last year.”

Junior Stephon Norwood and senior Jake Mueller made their state debuts Saturday.

“For Jake and Stephon, it was just a learning experience,” Wright said. “I’m happy that they were happy. Just making it was great for Jake, and he was able to go and have a good time for two days. He still worked hard, but I think he still enjoyed himself.”

Norwood finished 140th after finishing in 18:38, while Mueller’s time of 18:42 had him in 143rd.

Whether it was before a track meet in the spring or cross country race this fall, Wright has wanted Mueller to find what she calls a “killer instinct.”

She said he had all the physical tools, but needed to get over a mental barrier to unlock his potential.

Being one of the nicest kids she has coaches hasn’t always helped.

“I told Jake’s parents they need to be parents of the year because Jake is so dang nice,” Wright said.

During Saturday’s race, Mueller accidentally elbowed a fellow runner and turned around to apologize.

“That’s a characteristic that is awesome and something you never want to change, except maybe in a cross country race,” Wright said with a laugh.

Wright expects all three runners to compete for the Wright City track team this spring, which could be her final season with the program as she nears retirement.

She hopes the Wildcat trio will recognize their accomplishments this fall.

“I don’t think kids realize what this is all about until five or 10 years from now, when they realize they were one of the 166th best runners in the state of Missouri,” she said. “There are thousands upon thousands of runners, but I don’t think they realize that yet.”