Aidyn Woodall has high hopes for the upcoming girls cross country season.

Woodall is a three-sport senior athlete at Douglas County High School in Castle Rock and participates in cross country, basketball and soccer.

And soccer, she says, would be her pick if she were forced to choose among the three sports.

“Honestly, soccer is my favorite sport and cross country is definitely a very close second,” Woodall said. “I am currently looking at both for college, soccer as my main and cross country as a backup. I'm hoping to continue both in college and see where that leads me.

“I'm an outside winger (in soccer), which is a running position, so the sports are sort of intertwined. I love going out and scoring goals, more than just running. It has a bigger purpose.”

That's in the future, but for now she is working hard to get ready for the cross country season.

Woodall is a three-time regional champion, made the All-State team all three seasons and was 13th in last season's state meet.

“I ran track last season, which ran late into June,” she explained. “So I was doing that in June, so that was a little bit of cross country training but not what we really need. So I just started back doing morning training, like four to five miles a day. We will start doing sprints in a couple weeks, that's part of base training like every other day. I will do some track workouts like 800s and repeats.

“Once I get those couple miles done, it just feels so nice. That's what I enjoy cross country for. I just got done with an hour and half practice for soccer so sometimes I wonder if it is a little much, but it usually isn't a problem. Overtraining hasn't really been an issue.”

Woodall had some of her best cross country times during her freshman and sophomore seasons.

“I've made state every year since my freshman year so that's always the goal,” said Woodall. “As far as time, I would like to keep sub 19 the whole season and just work closer to than lower 18 number. I would say my freshman year I was a lot faster and had faster times.”

This season Woodall wants to improve on more than just the physical part of cross country running.

“I just have to improve the mentality about it all and get in a better mindset before races because I know what I'm capable of and I just need to get that in my head more before races,” she said. “During races it is always a battle to keep going.

“Cross county is a team sport but its more individual. It's different than the other sports I do and it is harder to get in the mindset and really focus on running a race.”