Senior Eli Peveto recently placed first at the Regional cross country meet and will be making his fourth trip to the State meet this Saturday, Nov. 3 in Round Rock. He won the race by 40 seconds and was smiling for a mile of the race.

Peveto runs 10 to 12 miles every day and he’s been doing this for quite some time. His coach, Dena Adkins, believes that this is the route to his success. Since the beginning of the season, she told Peveto to stick to his training regimen and to keep doing what he was doing to be successful. 

“Eli has shown potential since he was in junior high and anyone who has ever watched him train or race saw that potential,” Adkins said. “My expectations were for him to be a repeat champion and he exceeded those expectations and did it with a smile on his face. Eli is just one of those athletes that comes along every once in a blue moon. I can’t tell you how much I will miss seeing him race.  It is such a joy to see an athlete excel the way he did, and it was all because of his determination, awesome work ethic and mind set. He is proof that hard work pays off. I will miss him tremendously.” 

Peveto said his goal for the Regional competition was to win and make it through with no injury issues. He was dealing with an IT-band problem in his knee and grew very worried that he might not make it through the whole race. 

“My goal for State is to at least medal and hopefully bring home the gold,” Peveto said. “It will be a good race between me and two others most likely.” 

Before going into a meet, Peveto said he tells himself that he is going to do great and to just put trust into his training.  

“When I’m running in a competition, I think about how my body feels and the place I’m in to start off,” Peveto said. “Then I keep motivating myself and I usually have a random song in my head. Finally, I keep telling myself ‘you can win’ then I change gears and go!” 

Peveto is motivated to be the best for self-satisfaction, or his drive to win, so that he can receive a good scholarship for college.  

“My dad is my biggest supporter,” Peveto said. “He always pushes me and is the only reason I have reached where I am today.”