Randall's Cameron McConnell running down a dream at UIL state track meet

The elevation level of Amarillo is 3,605 feet.

It’s a decent height, but it pales to the 5,869-foot elevation of Parker, Colorado, the hometown of Cameron McConnell.

It’s that elevation that helped make McConnell a competitive runner. Now, she’s run all the way into the UIL state track and field meet in Austin.

McConnell, a senior at Randall, is nearing the end of her first and only year in Texas after moving to the Panhandle from Colorado last summer. In that time, she’s already made quite a name for herself in the running community.

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She started by winning the 5A state championship in cross country and recently won the 800, 1600, and 3,200 meter runs at the District 3/4-5A area meet. Her times in the 800 (2:16.29) and 3,200 (11:10.47) were also meet records.

In other words, McConnell is pretty fast.

“She’s been great,” said Rebekah James, McConnell’s distance coach. “She’s broken all three Randall records. She’s broken district and area records. She works hard. She’s just a rare athlete that has a lot of natural talent, but also works really hard and is a real team player. She wants everyone on the team to do well and she pushes them also…I can’t wait until she gets to state and runs against some tough competition. It’s going to be a good show, I think.”

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McConnell’s times have been as blistering as the Texas heat. That same heat took some getting used to, but McConnell said running at a higher altitude helped prepare her to compete in whatever conditions that come her way.

“I got 17 years of altitude training just by growing up in Colorado,” she said. “I remember always going down to Arizona and other places for cross country meets and wanting to PR because it’s a bit easier to breathe. Coming down here I definitely didn’t notice an actual physical difference, but I think it definitely showed in my times.”

It certainly showed last summer when James saw McConnell run for the first time. That was a moment the Randall head track coach Jenna Jesko recalls vividly.

James acknowledged that training at a higher altitude “definitely has” contributed to McConnell’s success, though she also pointed out that Amarillo isn’t exactly below sea level or anything.

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Jesko, however, noticed how certain conditions affected McConnell differently than some of her peers early on in the training process.

“During cross country season they run out by the Palisades a lot,” Jesko said. “For a lot of our kids those are the hardest workouts and don’t get me wrong, it was hard for her. But she wasn’t struggling nearly as much as some of us flat-land people. I think it’s a different climate for her so it gives her an advantage just because she’s trained in tougher and steeper conditions. She’s adjusted really well to that. I’ll be interested to see what happens when we go down to Austin.”

When it comes to preparing for the elements, McConnell was one step ahead of her coach.

“I’ve already started pre-hydrating by getting a lot of electrolytes in,” she said. “I think that’s going to be a really big factor. As for the day of, there’s nothing I can really do about the heat. I’m just going to try and mentally stay in it. Even though it’s going to be hot, everyone has to run the same race.”

This week means the world to McConnell, Jesko and James. It’s the biggest track competition of the season, after all. All three acknowledged, however, that there’s a ton of excitement for McConnell’s future as well.

The senior committed last fall to run long distance for Oklahoma State. James pointed out that OSU has “one of the best distance teams in the country.” McConnell described the feeling as “surreal.”

Jesko, however, believes that McConnell’s commitment pushed the rest of the Raiders to be even better.

“We’ve always had a good distance program since I’ve been here and coach James has done a good job with that, but I think some of our kids got comfortable with being good,” Jesko said. “Then, all of a sudden, this kid came in and they were like, ‘oh wow, she’s great. We can probably push past our limits that we thought we had because we want to keep up with her.’”

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Jesko added that running alone is not what makes McConnell special.

“She’s just a really cool kid,” Jesko said. “There are athletes that are great at athletics, but maybe not as fun personality-wise. Cameron’s every bit of everything. She’s a great team leader, no drama, hard work, she’s great in the classroom. She’s everything you could want in a kid and we only had her for nine or ten months. Even with that, she’s made a lasting impact on our program. I think people will talk about Cameron McConnell for a while.”

There’s still one last race to run before McConnell leaves for Stillwater. She acknowledged that she’s not ranked as high as she was entering the cross country championships.

If you think that’s going to stop her from giving her all, you’ve never met Cameron McConnell.

“After last track season I was just really excited to see what I could do this season,” she said. “I just wanted to focus on setting PR’s and my end goal was to definitely try my hardest to win a state championship. I know it’s going to take a lot, but I’m just going to try.”

This article originally appeared on Amarillo Globe-News: UIL state track meet: Randall's Cameron McConnell running down a dream