Owen Wood '20 Recruiting Profile

I started conditioning with the cross country team for my school the summer before my freshman year of high school to keep in shape for soccer.  I didn't make the travel team that summer because I was on vacation during the tryouts and so I stayed with the cross country team.  I had a hard time that first year, learning to run, breathing, dealing with the pain.  The coach kept telling me he thought I would be one of the top 3 if I kept trying and I kept thinking he was crazy.  I was top 6-7 the whole year.  We made it to the state meet and I earned a spot of the team, so I ran, and it finally clicked, running, breathing, I experienced my first runners high, and I kept telling myself that "I'm not tired yet" and kept running.  I still didn't have a wonderful time when I ended.  Most people even my family missed me at the finish line because I was only 10 seconds behind our number 2 runner, it was a wonderful feeling. I kept training, running track and playing soccer and found that I enjoy running.  I moved up to #2 on our team for the next year, came in 11th overall at State for 1A.  My Junior year I experienced my first real trial.  My first race started and my left leg hurt.  I finished 5th, but I felt broken.  For a couple of weeks, I kept pushing through the pain, thinking it's a cramp and finally went to the doctor.  They said nothing was wrong but I was in physical therapy for about 8 weeks.  My entire season.  I kept running, I had to pull out of several races because of the pain.  To make a long story a little shorter during cross country, indoor track and outdoor track that year I was hurt.  Went to 2 more doctors and more therapy.  I had a tear in my hamstring that never healed correctly.  But, I was persistent and ran when they told me I could run.  I really enjoy running.  I would really like to run in college.  I think I am a good candidate because I never gave up when it was hard, my studies never failed, my love for running increased because when I couldn't run I was upset because I couldn't be out with my team.