SMHS CROSS COUNTRY
Connor McGlothlin qualifies for regionals with brother Owen as his head coach
This is part two of a two part series covering the Rattler Athletes that qualified for Regionals at the District 29 Meet. Part one covered the teammate Eleanor Smith and Aralyn Julian who qualified for the regional meet.
Senior Connor Mc-Glothlin is back at the 6A Region IV Cross Country as he looks to punch his ticket to the State Cross Country Meet.
McGlothlin placed second at the District 29 Meet running a 16:09.99, and entered regionals with one of the better times.
“It means a lot,” Connor McGlothlin said. “I made it last year, but it was always the goal to make it back. Just continuing to push towards the state.”
However, Connor’s senior season has been a unique experience with older brother Owen Mc-Glothlin taking over the cross country program.
A graduate of San Marcos High School, Owen won two individual district championships in cross country and competed at the regional meet three years in a row. Owen qualified for the UIL State Cross Country Meet during his senior year. Owen later ran for Texas State before going into coaching.
Now at San Marcos, Owen is proud of his younger brother and the accomplishments he has made.
“I’m super proud of him because he deserves it,” Owen McGlothlin said. “The work he puts in it, and he does all the little things right. From a coaches point of view, if you were to describe all the characteristics and the attributes you want from a high quality athlete, you would be describing Connor. 100%, he deserves it.”
It has been a good season for Connor who has been improving his times from both last season and the start of the 2024 season, shaving nearly 30 seconds off his time.
“My season has been really strong,” Connor McGlothlin said. “I have been getting faster every week and during workouts. I just set a new [personal record] in my workouts today. I’m just getting better every week, preparing for regionals.”
A focus for Connor has been staying consistent with his times throughout the season.
“I wanted to improve on consistency and keep a high mileage throughout the whole year,” Connor McGlothlin said. “Not just stop running and cruising but keep going until the end.”
Seeing how his brother did last season, Owen worked with Connor on both finishing and closing out races to help make his younger brother a more complete runner.
“Last season, we had a little bit of trouble finishing races and in the final 800-meters just kicking it in,” Owen McGlothlin said. “Also our starts. He wasn’t getting out like he wanted to do. Consistently, he has been getting faster by 10 seconds every race. He has improved getting out with those leading guys and sticking with before closing it out. As a racer, he has become more complete.”
During regionals, last season, Connor placed 79th, running a 17:27.7. During the season, Connor again ran on the same course and improved his time by running a 16:15.25 and placing 7th.
Some of the difficulties of the course for Connor is the fact the event is hosted on the Texas A&M Corpus Christi campus and is located next to Oso Bay, which adds a level of humidity not seen at many courses and can affect breathing.
Though the course does have some advantages, mainly being a flat course.
“The humidity and being right by the ocean,” Connor McGlothlin said. “It gets really humid, making it hard to breathe. But I like the course. It’s nice and fast.”
For Owen, the key for Connor is what they have been working on all season, starting off great before finishing strong.
“There is going to be a good group of guys that have a shot at making it to state individually,” Owen McGlothlin said. “His goal is to stick with that pack, and in that final mile, he has to go. If he sits in that pack, he is leaving [it] up to chance. But if he takes off, he is good enough to close fast enough and get away from them. He has a really good shot making it out. So our game plan is to stay with the pack, mile out, and we are going [to state].”
While family dynamics in high school athletics isn’t rare as many coaches have trained their kids in high school, it is not often you see siblings being able to coach their own.
With Owen now his head coach, Connor has been relishing the season.
“It means a lot,” Connor McGlothlin said. “He has a lot of knowledge about the sport. He has my best interests in mind, so I like having him around. He pushes me hard enough for sure.”
Having watched both his brother and his teammates compete and win championships for San Marcos, it inspired Connor to follow in his brother’s footsteps.
“I saw his team and how close they were together,” Connor McGlothlin said. “They had fun going out there and almost killing themselves every single day with workouts. I just knew that was something I wanted to do. I started it when I was in sixth grade.”
Coaching his younger sibling, Owen has pushed his brother more than normal, but that is only because he sees greatness in him.
“I definitely feel like I’m harder on him,” Owen McGlothlin said. “I have been around him his entire life, and I know what his potential is. He is going to do great things. It’s not just my job as a head coach, but as a brother as well. Just helping [him] succeed at those things, and that is what he is going to do. That is the type of kid he is.”
It is also a chance Owen never thought would happen.
“I didn’t think I was going to have the opportunity,” Owen McGlothlin said. “I have coached him on an individual basis his whole life. But as his actual coach, getting to see him everyday, I didn’t think he was going to have the opportunity. I just have to thank God for that one. I feel blessed because nothing means more than coaching your own brother.”
Now back in San Marcos, Owen is now not only giving back to his brother and extending his knowledge of the sport but helping the current generation of Rattler cross country runners improve their times.
“There is nowhere else that I can feel this kind of connection,” Owen Mc-Glothlin said. “I love San Marcos, and I have lived here for most of my life. It’s something you can’t have anywhere else in your hometown. I feel really lucky, and these kids have so much potential. It makes me proud to help them realize it and push them to succeed. It’s the reason I got into coaching.”
The 6A Region IV Cross Country Meet takes place Oct. 21 to 22 at the Dugan Track and Soccer Stadium in Corpus Christi.
The Rattlers will run Monday Oct. 21. The girls will be running at 10:30 a.m., and the boys will be running at 11 a.m.
cmcwilliams @sanmarcosrecord.com Twitter: @ColtonBMc
