The Lowellville Cross Country team is off to a strong start this season. Coach Eric Grow describes the season as a success so far. Grow began coaching in 2020, and as he says, “( he plans on) coaching for a long time, no end date.” Coach Eric also coaches track and is hoping for an indoor track team. His passion for running comes from when he ran cross country and track in high school. He describes the program as growing and expresses, “I think in the next couple years we’ll hit, hopefully, 30 plus runners.” He has some advice and insight for new runners. “Start with the basics, first start being able to walk 20-30 minutes straight, add in a mile, then after a few weeks, do two miles, then three, then you can work on your speed.”
Morgan DeMain, a runner new to cross country this year, is tearing up the trails. As a seventh grader, her best time for the year is 16:12. She decided to start running mainly due to the fact that her father is an avid runner. Along with cross country, Morgan is also a cheerleader, plays basketball, and plays percussion in the marching band. She says that the easiest course of the year is by far, Salem, and the hardest is McDonald. Morgan enjoys eating oranges before a race, quoting, “ I like the taste of them.” Another reason that she prefers oranges is, “I also don’t cramp with oranges when I run like I do when I eat any other foods before I run.” Morgan plans to continue running in the off-season, and also plans to run cross country for the rest of her high school career. According to Morgan, the best part of participating in cross country is, “the bus rides, definitely the bus rides.”
A popular face on the cross country team is Sophia Yon, who returns for another year of dedication, determination, and hard work. Sophia is a junior at LHS and has been a top runner for most of her career. She says that to be a top runner, “you have to be motivated, you have to run.” She wouldn’t be where she is if it weren’t for the support of her family, who also run. Sophia’s best time for a three-mile course is 19 minutes flat. When asked her favorite food to eat before a race, Sophia said potatoes are her go to. She says, “mainly they give you a lot of calories, but they don’t make me puke after I run.” But being an experienced runner comes at a cost. She dislocated a hip at one time and has to deal with muscle/joint pain from time to time. Unfortunately, she injured herself while she was running at the Austintown meet. She had a stress fracture on her fifth metatarsal that wasn’t seen by doctors on the x-ray. She felt a snap while she was running and had to stop, as both her fourth and fifth metatarsal broke. Moving forward, Sophia says, “ I was never a huge fan of cross country, I definitely liked track more, so this will definitely make me appreciate cross country more moving forward.” Good luck to the Rockets at districts!