ROGERS — Maggie Montoya admits there are still times when she becomes intimidated when facing runners older and more experienced than her.

After all, she’s only 14 and didn’t start competing in cross country races until someone suggested it to her a little more than a year ago.

Though new to the sport, the Rogers High freshman has surprised herself by winning four races over the past few months. And while she can be shy of the course, Montoya has shown that she’s not afraid to make a late charge down the stretch and outlast a pack of older runners in a race.

“She was a good runner last year, but this year she just improved so much,” Rogers cross country coach Carlton Efurd said. “It was just a great surprise to have her come and do what she’s done this year because we knew she’d be pretty good, but we didn’t know she’d be this good.”

Montoya said she had no idea she could be this good, either. At least not this quickly.

The freshman won the Carthage Invitational on Sept. 10 in 20 minutes, and she followed that up 16 days later by taking fi rst place at the Richard Clark Invitational with a time of 18:57.77.

As a result, Montoya feels confi - dent heading into Saturday’s State High School Cross Country Championships in Mountain Home, especially since she’s familiar with the course after competing there last month.

“It makes us feel better because we know the course and we like hills because we practice hills all the time,” Montoya said. “And it’s very hilly.”

As a soccer player, Montoya knew she was fast and could run for a long period of time without getting winded. But she didn’t know how she’d do competing in cross country.

“At first, every practice that she ran was all out and I thought she’s going to kill herself if she keeps doing that,” Efurd said. “I mean, there wasn’t a slow day, easy day anywhere in there.”

Montoya has learned to adjust to the pace of practice, and she’s also become more race-savvy during her freshman season. But she’s still working on her closing speed by running uphill sprints twice a week and taking part in 200-and 400-meter runs.

“I want to improve on my finishing, like my kick,” Montoya said. “I don’t want somebody to beat me by a tenth-of-a-second again.”

Montoya recorded her personal-best time of 18:53.47 at the MSSU Southern Stampede in Joplin, Mo., on Sept. 19. Since then, she has steadily improved, so much so that Efurd believes the freshman could fi nish toward the front of the pack in her first appearance at the state cross country championships.

“I think she’ll be in that group, and I think anywhere she finishes in that group will help us as a team,” Efurd said. “We need her up front.”

She’s shown she can be at the front, assuming she doesn’t get intimidated running in a field that’ll consist mostly of older runners. But she sounds confident so far.

“I feel pumped,” Montoya said, “and I’m excited.”

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