The Pride of Streamwood

She was just a youngster, who had gone to track practice to watch her sister run with the youth team, the Elgin Sharks.  The coach noticed her standing there, walked over and started barking at her.  He asked her why she wasn't running.  She said she was only there to watch her sister, and really had no interest in running herself.  The coach convinced her to run a mile on the track, just to see what she could do.  He told her he could make her a state champion.  He had never actually coached a state champion before, but a few years later, this little kid would become his first.

It's a great story, and a great program.  The Elgin Sharks are one of the best youth track and field programs in the country.  My sister ran with them several years ago.  They have had many great athletes over the years, and have competed well for some time.  But Paulina Garcia may be the best runner the team has ever had.

So what do you do for a follow up when you win the state cross country title as a sophomore?  It's the sort of thing that usually caps the high school career of some senior on his or her way to a major university on a running scholarship.  After winning her state title, she continued to run well, but also, apparently learned a lot of other important lessons along the way. 

I have been aware of Paulina for years.  We have a lot in common.  Talent as a runner is not one of those things.  I get by.  She is amazing!  Paulina Garcia graduated from my alma mater, Streamwood High School.  Some former teammates and I, in town for a class reunion, saw one of her races several years ago.  Oh, and we share the same last name.  She tore up the course during the State Championship meet in 2003.  While it was a relatively close race, she won, and became state champ.  She never managed to repeat that feat her junior or senior years, but she still goes down as one of the greatest athletes in Streamwood high school history.

I had a chance to sit down with her for a while the other day, and catch up with her career since that highlight.  She went on to win a scholarship to Northwestern where she ran Cross Country for four years, and had some success. Now that her competitive amateur career is likely over, it seems that state championship may have been her career highlight.  She got to run in lots of big college meets, and did well.  She was one of the top runners on a competitive Big Ten Conference team.  She has had a fulfilling career, full of highs and lows.

Most importantly, after meeting her for just a short time, I could tell she has retained important perspective about sports.  It takes a of time and effort to be a successful long distance runner.  You spend a lot of time every day not only running, but thinking about running, and planning your next run, and worrying about whether you are training hard enough for the upcoming race.  In college, it can be an all-consuming activity, and that's why lots of runners get burned out, and quit running after school.  You tend to lose track of the idea of running for the love of it.

But Paulina is a girl who, a few weeks before her state championship jumped into the Chicago Marathon on a whim, and ran most of it with her sister.  She never told her coach, which is a good thing.  Trust me, that would not have gone over very well.

Now she's planning on running it again, just for fun.  But her main concentration, at this point in her college career, is graduating and getting a job.  And that's the great thing about running.  It brought her to a great college, and even paid her way through a scholarship.  Her good grades, and study habits certainly helped too.  And now she is transitioning gracefully into a post-college career.

So what do you do to follow up a state championship as a high school sophomore?  If you are Paulina Garcia, you keep moving forward, and doing well in running and in life.

I suppose we'll find out on the boy's side this fall when Lucas Verzbicas toes the line again.  The Sandburg H.S. sophomore won easily last fall, and went on to win the Nike national title.  He seems on track to break Craig Virgin's long standing state record on the Peoria course this year or next.  He will have a lot of role models, and people giving him advice, including Virgin himself,  To that great list, I might add the name of Paulina Garcia.  She has handled it all with grace and humility.

Good luck to her!

Comments

[Eddy]

Great story...I called Susan and told her about the shout out :)