By Ken Hansard
Cross-country is a sport that is as much of a mental grind as it is a physical one. Motivating oneself to run mile after mile, day after day requires some impressive mental gymnastics, and that is where leadership and culture can be of supreme help. McAuley Catholic High School seems to be building just such a culture, and junior Trae Veer has been one of the leaders of the charge. Veer, when speaking about his love of sport, specifically mentioned the family aspect of the runners’ mindset, “I have done sports for nearly all my life. I love the competitive and team-building parts of cross country specifically.”
The Warriors enter this season as two-time defending champs in the Ozark 7. They placed fifth at Class One State a year ago. Veer, who placed 22nd overall at the state meet, was one of the main reasons for McAuley’s strong showing. Trae seems to be following the lead of Coach Andy Youngworth and senior Michael Parrigon, who placed 4th at state a year ago. Veer has become a key piece to the puzzle in creating a strong culture around the Warriors’ cross country program, “I see my role as more of a supporter for the upcoming freshman. I am looking forward to getting back into competitive running again and seeing how well the team can run this year.”
Veer’s progression arc to date has been impressive. He was named All-State as a freshman and was a state qualifier and medalist. He has been nominated to the All-Conference team in both of his first two seasons, and he has additionally been nominated to the All-SWMO Second Team.
But as remarkable as the start of his career has been, Veer is obviously aiming for even higher goals as a junior, “I’m really focusing on trying to place in the top ten at state, as well as running a sub-17-minute 5k. I’m also looking forward to Rim Rock, because it’s a large, historic meet, and then I’m obviously looking forward to State, because it is the culmination of our season.”
While Trae might make some of this look easy, it is his work ethic and dedication that has sustained him in the off-season, “It was hard to mentally get back into the mindset of running cross country again after running shorter distances in track, but I have worked on my endurance and tempo. To build endurance, I needed to run more miles than I did last year by far.”
Veer is a three-sport athlete who plays basketball for the Warriors in the winter. He runs track in the spring and last year was part of the Warriors’ state championship 4 X 800 team. And that’s not all. Veer is just as impressive, if not more so, in the classroom. He is the epitome of the student athlete, sporting a 4.0 G.P.A. He scored an eye-popping 34 on his ACT. Trae’s current plans are to study radiology after high school.
