Carthage’s Steady Stride in Girls Cross Country

Carthage High School’s cross‑country program has long prided itself on building distance runners who embrace the grind of long miles and tough terrain. Head coach Brian Crigger—who oversees both the boys’ and girls’ teams—often reminds his athletes that success doesn’t come from flashy finishes but from consistency and hard work. He draws inspiration from the Tigers’ storied past and tells runners that returning to the

mid‑1990s championship form will require them to outwork their rivals every day. Crigger also acknowledges that Carthage’s hilly home course is intentionally difficult, designed to “test runners’ mental and physical strength.” One of the athletes taking those lessons to heart is Daisy Garza Matul. A quiet senior on the girls’ team, Garza has spent the last three years climbing up the ranks of the Tigers’ scoring lineup. She didn’t make headlines when she joined the varsity in 2023, but she established

herself as a reliable performer. In September of that year, she competed in the Southern Stampede high‑school division, navigating the crowded 3‑ kilometer course at Missouri Southern State University. Garza crossed the finish line in 17:58—a respectable time for an underclassman still learning race strategy and pacing. Garza returned in 2024 with a stronger aerobic base and a deeper understanding of how to attack hills. At the Carthage Invitational on the team’s home course, she raced in the junior

varsity girls’ division. Facing runners from Arkansas and Missouri, Garza finished 21st overall and 18th among scoring runners, clocking 16 minutes 29.4 seconds for the 3‑kilometer course. The time represented an improvement of more than a minute from the previous season and reflected the training philosophy instilled by coach Crigger. After the

meet, Crigger reminded his team that the home course’s hills are meant to harden them for bigger races. He noted that the Tigers’ squads were young and would need to push each other after losing veteran leadership, but he believed that their times would continue to drop as they embraced daily mileage and cross‑training. Garza’s progress continued into her senior season. At the 2024 Southern Stampede High School Division, she shattered her 3‑ kilometer personal best, finishing in 15:11. A year

later, in September 2025, she returned to the Stampede and again dipped under 17 minutes, recording a 16:22. While the distances differed slightly, the trend was clear—Garza had trimmed nearly two minutes off her 3‑ kilometer time in just two seasons. Those improvements reflected the conditioning emphasis championed by her coaches and the competitive environment on the girls’ team, which includes peers such as

Genesis Fuentes and Ailyn Gonzalez Oxlaj. Coach Crigger often credits his veteran runners with setting the tone for newcomers. On the boys’ side he has praised Javen Byrd and Devin Smith for leading by example; on the girls’ side he looks to athletes like Garza to provide similar leadership through consistent effort. He stresses that the Tigers may not have individual state champions every year but that their collective success depends on athletes who show up every day ready to work. “You have to believe in the process,” he says, noting that running on Carthage’s course is as much about mental toughness as it is about fitness.

For Garza, that process includes early‑morning runs before classes, hill repeats on the school’s cross‑country loop, and long weekend mileage with teammates. She credits her coaches with teaching her to embrace discomfort and her teammates with pushing her to improve. While she rarely wins races outright, she has become a crucial scorer who

provides depth behind the Tigers’ front‑running sophomores. Her story echoes Crigger’s belief that cross country is built on incremental gains and teamwork. As she wraps up her senior season, Garza hopes to break the 16‑minute barrier for 3 kilometers and to help Carthage qualify more runners for the state meet. Daisy Garza’s journey underscores the essence of Carthage cross country: patient progress, shared sacrifice and an unwavering commitment to improvement. In an era when highlight‑reel performances dominate social media; Garza’s steady stride stands as a reminder that success in distance running is often forged away from the spotlight. Her improvements over the past three years and her leadership within a young squad offer hope that the Tigers will continue climbing back toward the program’s championship tradition.