Cara Beth Hill signs with Harding

Cara Beth Hill made her athletic dreams a reality Monday when she signed a track scholarship at Harding University. 

Hill, a senior at Cedar Creek, along with head track coach Craig Moss, reflected on her journey of overcoming adversity in her high school career but how she always managed to never give up. 

“I just want to thank everyone for coming today,” Hill said after she signed. “I want to thank my coaches, all my trainers, my teammates, and of course my parents and family for helping me get to where I am today and always supporting me and being there for me. I’m super excited to see what God has planned for me next year at Harding. 

“It means a lot,” Hill continued later. “I was a little nervous for today but now I’m just super excited. I’m ready to be down there and get started.” 

Before Hill signed the dotted line, Moss spoke at length about what she meant to him as a person and athlete, including sharing multiple accounts of her ability to overcome obstacles and show a desire to compete no matter what. 

“Cara Beth is as beautiful on the inside as she is on the outside,” Moss said. “God has blessed you immensely with talent, with grit, with fortitude, with perseverance. Those are things coaches can never coach.” 

One story that Moss went through came in 2022 as Hill was at LSU competing at the LHSAA Outdoor Track and Field State meet. 

Lights were bright. The best runners in the state all gathered in one spot. 

“It was a phenomenal race,” Moss said. “Cara Beth rounded the corner and it was nip and tuck the entire way. And probably 10 meters from the finish line, Cara Beth stumbled and fell. She stumbled and fell again and still ended up 4th. That to me is that of a warrior. And what Harding is getting is somebody who’s going to have that fight, that grit, that will and the want that wants to win and compete. That cannot be defined.” 

After the late stumble cost her a podium finish, Hill was receiving medical care with trainers before the evening’s 4x400 event. Beat up emotionally, physically, and mentally, it was up her if she was going to compete or not. 

“She came back and she said, ‘coach, I want to be a part of it.’ And you ran a heck of a leg,” Moss said to Hill. “We lost third by 0.001 and we came in 4th overall. However, because of Cara Beth and her willingness through the open 400 and that 4x400, the girls were your state runner-up that year against the entire state. Without you doing what you did, it would not have been possible.” 

Hill has delivered when she’s hit adversity or not in her time at Creek, including running as a member of the 4x400 relay team with Caroline James, Annie Jones, and Taylor Ramsey that set a new school record in 4:14:07 at the 2023 LHSAA Class A State Outdoor Track and Field Championships in May. 

Now, she’s taking her talents to Harding – a Division II program in Searcy, Arkansas. 

Hill, who’s been thinking about running at the next level since her sophomore year, had an early connection with Harding with her brother, Carter Hill, attending the school. 

“It definitely played a little part that my brother was up there,” Hill said. “I think that started my interest in Harding and then I went up there on a visit and I loved it – the team, what the school stands for. Great program.”