The Townsend Harris Girls’ Cross Country team produces many talented runners each year. This year, sophomore Chloe Muñoz exceeded expectations and qualified for the State Federation meet in Wappinger Falls.

Chloe qualified for States after running a time of 21:07 in the 5K race— eight seconds faster than the cut-off. Chloe was highly motivated to make states this year after just barely missing the cutoff last season.“The whole season I wanted to make states because last year I was one place away from making it,” she said. “So this year I pushed myself and trained harder.” 

However, her drive to improve did not end there. “Although I am very proud of how I did this year, I hope to get a sub-21 5K at states,” Chloe said. “I really want to push my boundaries and break my personal records.” 

Chloe finished with a time of 21:33 in the 5K race at States. “I am satisfied with my time because it was my first time running the course, but I know that I could have done better,” she said. Although she did not meet her goal of getting a sub-21 5K at states, Chloe saw it as motivation to keep improving her time. “The competition was very intimidating and scary,” she said. “But I want to keep improving to the point where my competitors are afraid of competing with me.” 

Reflecting on the race, she realized that there are many ways she can improve, including “sprinting at the end of the race, which is a [more of a] mental barrier that [she has] to overcome.” “I also learned that I should probably buy spikes because [it would allow me to] have more stability and control when running these long-distance runs,” Chloe adds.  Overall, she ran the 8th best time in Townsend history and surpassed her own expectations at this race. 

Chloe also competes in other track events, including the 100, 200, and 400-meter sprints, as well as other long-distance competitions. Her track career is just kicking off a long journey. With two more years at Townsend Harris, she hopes to become a force to be reckoned with. 

Photo by Jeremy Deacon.