Episode 5: Laura McClary and Halina Tompkins | cross country, track & field |

Today, we’ll look at the story of current University of Minnesota freshman Laura McClary, and Case Western University freshman Halina Tompkins. However, the focus is on their experience on St. Paul Central’s high school cross country team; and how they supported each other. We’ll look into Laura’s and Halina’s leadership on the team, to how the team supported Laura when she was injured and vice-versa. Then, we’ll dive into Central’s attempt to make state for the first time since 1999. Laura and Halina were amazing to have on the podcast as they were both incredibly passionate about their sport, but more importantly their team. Their presence on Central will be missed and is surely a great example of leadership for future leaders on the team to follow. (0:00) Intro (1:34) They Almost Played Volleyball (3:02) Someone who Inspired them (6:58) First Day of Cross Country (8:27) Laura’s Leadership (9:51) Practice At Central High School (14:29) Inclusion on the Team (18:00) Injury (20:34) Rebound (22:42) Do Runners have Hobbies? (23:31) Harry McClary (24:00) How Halina Supported Laura during her Injury (27:07) Rebounding & Sections Drama (29:29) A Tiebreaker (30:43) Grappling with the Emotions (36:07) Did they Make it to State? (36:38) Future Hopes for Central (39:09) A Little Bit of Track (40:30) Who would Laura Give her Athena Award to? (41:34) Off to College! (44:24) The 3 Questions (45:58) Takeaways