Running fast should hurt. Pain is part of the sport, and senior Ethan Walters brought the pain and embraced it at NSAA Cross Country Championships held at the Kearney Country Club on October 20, 2023. Walters placed fifth in the Boys Class B Championships. He ran the 5,000 meters course in a time of 16:35.7, a personal best for that course. A time like this was achievable for Walters because he wasn’t all that nervous going into the race.
“I’ve run the state course seven times prior and I’ve been to state all four years,” said Walters. “I honestly had no nerves for the most part going into it, or at least not as much as usual. I think that definitely helped me out a lot.”
In order to perform so well at the state level of competition, a runner has to be committed to the sport. From a young age, Walters knew this was a sport worth continuing in the future.
“I ran running club all throughout middle school and then all four years of high school,” said Walters.
With his final season coming to an end, Walters looked back on memorable moments throughout past years with the program. Although the boys team is made of mostly underclassmen, the team still experienced success this fall.
“A favorite memory has got to be this year, our cross country team won the Nebraska City meet-we scored 17 points,” Walters said. “For the record, 15 is the lowest you can get, so we did a pretty good job there and it was just a fun meet.”
Along with the glory of winning, there are also obstacles that come from being so dedicated to a sport. Muscle overuse is a common cause of injury in runners, since their sport involves so many high-impact movements. Walters had to overcome his own adversity just last season.
“Last year, my junior year, I had some medical complications. During the second meet I blacked out, and the meet after that I barely finished,” Walters said. “After we got all that sorted out, I’ve been running pretty well ever since.”
Now that he is done with his last season of cross country at Elkhorn High, Walters reflects on what he has learned about his favorite sport during this time. His biggest takeaway from his experience is how this challenging sport evolves as a runner continues pursuing it.
“People think that once you get faster, running just becomes easy and that’s not the case,” Walters said. “It’s gonna hurt the entire time if you’re doing it right.”
