Ailyn Haggard, a sophomore cross country runner at Aberdeen High School, became the first female Bobcat since 1978 to win a district title on October 31, 2024, at Lewis River Golf Course in Woodland.
The rigorous 5,000 meters course featuring pelting rain and muddy terrain didn’t hinder the talented athlete from wielding her strength to champion first in 19 minutes and 11 seconds, nine seconds faster than Ridgefield’s Danica Allen, a key competitor, who finished second, and one minute faster than her time last year at district’s on the same course.
“During the final moments of my race, I felt many different emotions,” shares Haggard. “Going into districts I knew that Danica could run a very fast mile, which means I needed to leave her before that last mile. So, with that in mind, I told myself to leave her when it felt right. When I started to approach the last 400 meters of the race, I knew I needed to go – especially, with Danica who wasn’t too far behind me. As I approached the finish line, I realized the district championship was going to be in my hands.”
After her historic win at districts, Haggard turned her focus to WIAA State XC Championships on November 9 in Pasco, where she again secured a top tier finish by capturing 15th with a 19:20. Her strong finish put her on the podium, capping off a stellar season.
Ailyn Haggard of Aberdeen High School Works Hard for Cross Country Wins
Steve Reed, Aberdeen’s head coach, attributes Haggard’s success to patience and hard work. Reed explains a lot of runners will go out at the start too quickly and then fade and end up in the back where he says Haggard has notoriously been exceptionally patient with her running. “It is really easy to go out hard in the first mile,” says Reed, “but you have to be real patient and then be real tough in the second and third miles, and she has done a really good job with that.”
Haggard ran intelligently with an understanding of her strengths. “The whole race was about making tough decisions,” shares Haggard. “Should I panic and go out too fast? Will I be able to make the distance up? When do I leave Danica? Should I wait and be patient? When do I start kicking it in? There were so many more questions I asked myself. The adrenaline of racing did make me go out faster than I wanted to, but I recovered and did just fine. Making the distance up wasn’t a problem because I knew what I wanted to accomplish.”
Hills are one of Haggard’s strong suits so when the time was right, she used a hill to start creating a gap with Allen. “This pushed me harder because I knew I was in first and needed to keep that position,” explains Haggard. “Being patient made the race feel great for me, and after I crossed the finish line, I felt a rush of happiness and excitement. This was a super big accomplishment for me.”
Being the district champion shaped Haggard’s approach going into state knowing she had a chance to get onto the podium. “Based on the way I raced at districts, my strategy going into state was to do the same exact thing: Be patient and take off when the time is right.”
Aberdeen High School Athlete’s Journey to Excellence
Passionate about running, deeply driven and highly motivated, Haggard doesn’t just meet training goals – she exceeds them by consistently doing more than is asked. Reed sees this valuable quality in her. “She is very driven and self-driven, and it doesn’t take much to have her go off on morning runs or to be working on her strength work on her own,” he says. “When I give a run that is 35 to 40 minutes, she is always choosing 40 minutes. She just pushes herself.”
Strength training, mental conditioning, discipline and progressively adding more mileage to runs are expected to propel Haggard and her team forward. “She is getting stronger,” shares Reed about Haggard’s biggest area of growth this season. “A lot of distance runners are tall and thin—or just thin—and with cross country you have to run the mile, and you also have to do the strength work. If you don’t do the strength work, somebody else that did is going to beat you with the speed at the end or just being stronger in the middle.”
Bright Future for Ailyn Haggard
Haggard says staying positive while running is challenging sometimes. She credits her family for maintaining a positive outlook. After a hard workout or race her mother will have her and her brother Kyler (also a runner) share one positive for every negative. “This really helps to cancel out the negative and really helped me learn that there is always a positive to a negative.”
Haggard has a goal to participate in the Olympics. “I have a while before that though,” she says. “I am most definitely planning on running in college, so that is the first step to my future.”
