Senior Daniel Kirkpatrick laces up his shoes and prepares for another day of practice.


These days, however, Kirkpatrick is lacing up a different type of shoe. Kirkpatrick has given up soccer to run with the cross country team.
“Soccer just wasn’t as fun as it used to be when I was little,” Kirkpatrick said.

Kirkpatrick had played soccer for 11 years and has ran track for the last three.
“Honestly, I felt he should have kept with it one more year,” mother Linda Kirkpatrick said. “He had done it since he was six and had done it for
the last 11 years, but I think he will be okay.”

Although leaving the soccer team was hard, Kirkpatrick has much to look forward to and he has taken on running with the varsity cross courntry
team.
“[Kirkpatrick] made the switch…probably because the coaches are cooler for cross country,” joked cross country
coach Brooke Roe. “But I think he will be varsity. From watching his workouts, I think he will definitely be varsity.”

Already, Kirkpatrick has shown that he has a great work ethic.
“Daniel is a hard worker and very dedicated to doing his best, no matter what sport it is,” Roe said.

However, at the beginning of the season Kirkpatrick struggled with the physical differences between a cross country and soccer practice.
He feels that his body has finally adapted to the differences.
“Cross country, to me, is a lot more physically demanding. Soccer takes more of applied years of practice and skill,” Kirkpatrick said. “Building up
the lung capacity was hard. At first I kept losing my breath and the leg strength is a totally different strength.”

Not only has Kirkpatrick had to adapt to the physical differences, but he had to adjust to the team nature of the sport as well.
“Cross country focuses more on individual ability, not as how you work as a team,” Roe said.
As Kirkpatrick ended a large chapter of his life, he  turned a new page – a page in which he was and continues to be confident that he will succeed and make himself physically and mentally stronger.

“I am really going to miss the [soccer] team but I think I’m a good fit in the cross country team,” Kirkpatrick said. “I look forward to having a good year. I have high potential. I have no mark on how good I could be. There are no limits on how good I would be at the end of the season.”