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Stand still? No way.
Run two miles and then smile about it afterward? No problem.
That’s Belton sophomore Regan Tindell.
“Some people call me the energizer bunny,” she said. “I’ve just always liked running around, and I don’t really get tired.”
Those are traits that will come in handy when Tindell makes her first appearance in the University Interscholastic League State Track and Field Meet in Austin. She competes at 9 a.m. Saturday at Mike A. Myers Stadium in the Class 5A girls 3,200-meter run.
Advancing to the state meet in her second year of high school is a natural progression for Tindell, who didn’t start winning races until her second year of competition.
“I started running in the seventh grade, but I didn’t really think of it as a competition. I was just running,” she said. “I would come in close to last, then get the other girls water and stuff.
“Then I saw the shiny medals people were getting at the district meet and I thought, ‘I want one of those.’ I was sixth my seventh-grade year, then I won district as an eighth-grader.”
Tindell’s year has been filled with accomplishments, including winning the District 13-5A title, finishing second at the 5A Region II meet, cracking the 11-minute mark and cresting triple digits on the scales.
“I have a really fast metabolism, so I’ve never been the chubby one,” she said. “I was big when I was born, something like nine pounds, but I’ve always been just straight muscle. But I’ve finally reached triple digits.”
She has also dipped below 11 minutes, doing so for the first time at regionals, when she crossed the line in 10 minutes, 47.27 seconds.
It was the fastest she had ever run, and the performance surprised even her.
“I really didn’t expect to do that well,” Tindell said. “It didn’t feel like under 11 when I was running. But when I set a personal record at the regional qualifiers meet the week before and I wasn’t winded, I thought, ‘I think I can really do this.’”
Tindell’s qualifying time ranks second in the eight-runner field behind Region II champion Sarah Andrews (10:41.18) of The Woodlands.
But the eight laps around Myers Stadium likely will play out differently than the regional race for one reason - the lack of a rabbit.
At regionals, Garland’s Andrea Torske - who eventually finished back in the pack - went out like a shot, forcing the field to chase her. The result was a 71-second first lap and a last couple of laps that featured little kick by anybody.
“I think that since we won’t have Andrea in the race, we will run slower at first and have more at the end,” Tindell said. “I’m going to try to stay with Sarah, then kick past her.
“I heard she doesn’t have much of a sprint, so that’s where I’m going to try to get her. I’m going to try to beat her because I really want to win state.”
Any possibilities of stage fright in her first state appearance are out of the question. That’s just not in Tindell’s makeup.
“In the really big races, I just get excited,” she said. “I don’t stress about it. Other people get nervous, but I get excited.
“I’m really excited just to be competing at (University of Texas). It should be cool.”
That being said, the only question might be whether Tindell stops when she crosses the finish line or just keeps going and going and going.
edrennan@temple-telegram.com