SALADO, Texas (KXXV) — "The eighth grade, I was running and then like the middle of the season, September 28, I had a brain bleed," Salado freshman McCall Boyd said.
That put an end to Boyd's track season last year — and almost completely took away her chance to compete at all.
"I was in the hospital for two weeks — when I got out, I didn't run for — I didn't go back to school till January," she said.
"It was really tough mentally honestly — because I knew — I don't know how I'm gonna come back to where I was."
Boyd literally had to learn to walk before she could run. She knew how hard it was going to be, but she was determined to make a comeback.
"When I did start running again, I thought it was gonna be way easier, kind of coming back," she said.
"I knew it was gonna be kind of hard, because we started just from — I couldn't really even walk honestly. My mom had to help me walk laps in the backyard."
"I knew we had to take it slow, but her mom's an avid runner and kind of worked with her," said Salado Cross Country and Track Head Coach, Corey Baird.
"She's also a past cross country coach, so she kind of knows as far as training — when we started meeting as a team end of July, she was right there with the rest of the girls right in the middle of the pack."
She ended up coming in first ahead of the pack at the regional meet — the Salado girls team finished third at the state meet and the boys placed second.
Boyd's work ethic and support from family and teammates were key to her comeback to the sport she loves.
"What she's able to achieve, you know, go from that point to running PR at the state meet at 11:30," Baird said.
"It's just very amazing — like we truly serve an amazing God."
"I was getting thoughts honestly, like I should maybe just stop running honestly, because, I don't know how I'll come back," Boyd said.
"It really makes me happy that I decided to work through it and work hard and just run all the time to come back."
Only a freshman and McCall achieved something like this — the future is bright for Eagle cross country.
