Arnold's Hodges improving through hard work, dedication

PANAMA CITY BEACH — Opposing cross country runners likely can identify Mikayla Hodges by the soles of her shoes rather than by her face.

The Arnold junior has established herself as one of the area’s top runners. She eclipsed the 20-minute mark last weekend in the Bay Invitational and is believed to be the first Bay County female prep athlete to do so. Breaking 20 was the goal, but not the end all of a season filled with high expectations.

“It was amazing to beat 20 minutes and at the time I didn’t think I was going that fast,” said Hodges, who won the girls event in 19 minutes, 46 seconds.

Hodges has cut more than 40 seconds off her previous personal best, and there’s still a month remaining until district meets. Her current time would have been in the Top 30 among finishers in last season’s Class 2A state meet. Advancing that far also is one of her long-term goals.

“I would love to have the opportunity to compete at state,” Hodges said.

Hodges and her coach, Walt Hodges, no relation, credit offseason work for her rapid improvement. Mikayla said she ran more this past summer than she did in her freshman and sophomore years. The change in workload is due to her hopes of elevating the chance to compete on the collegiate level.

“I wanted to increase it and I knew that it would help me see improvement,” Hodges said. “I’d run more in the mornings and run between 20-30 miles per week.”

Coach Hodges said Mikayla’s participation in swimming, a sport where she had more experience prior to high school, has helped her increase stamina.

“The overall cross training of it, the cardiovascular, working all the muscles helps,” he said.

Mikayla agreed, adding that if her teammates and others in the county want to take running seriously they have to do something simple. Run.

She equated it to a basketball or volleyball player who earns valuable experience in summer programs against top competition. There’s no substitute for running, and the more the better.

“My time dropped a lot so far and only in a few weeks,” she said. “And it was all because I trained more and doing that also keeps you in shape.”

Coach Hodges said she can be a role model for other runners because of her dedication to training.

“She’s going to be competitive on the district, regional and state levels and to do that you have to run all year,” he said. “It just can’t be a seasonal thing. The sport takes a major commitment if you’re going to be good at it.”

Thus far, Mikayla has proved she has the commitment. There’s more room for improvement, she said, not only this year but in her senior campaign, which is shaping up to become one of the most decorated in county history.

Mikayla admitted she wasn’t surprised to have broken the 20-minute barrier, but was amazed at how soon. The only thing left to do is shave off even more time from her personal best.

“This year I want to be running in the lower 19s,” she said. “Then next year I want to break 19, but we’ll see what happens.”