Last week the Big River Running XC preview featured the Class 4 girl’s dynamic duo of Emily Sisson and Diane Robison. This week we look at a strong Class 3 girls division where seven of the top 20 finishers in last year’s state cross country meet were sophomores. One of those now juniors is Grace Bridwell from MICDS. Her coach Julie Lossos, herself a three time state cross country qualifier and Spirit of St. Louis marathon winner sees “Bulldog” as a serious contender in 2009. Grace recently gained attention by finishing the Forest Park XC kickoff with a time of 19:01
I recently caught up with Julie and Grace separately to learn more about Grace and this interesting nickname:
MileSplit: Julie, tell me about Grace:
Julie: Grace is one of the hardest working athletes I have been privileged to coach, and she is definitely extremely dedicated to the sport and determined to constantly strive for improvement. She came to the cross country squad as a freshman after the tennis season ended, just because she wanted to try running again, and she wasn't happy playing tennis. Luckily she really loved the team aspect and camaraderie of cross country, so she stayed with the sport and ran the most of any of her teammates over the summer. Her sophomore year she had great success and placed 20th at state in cross country, and track season was when she really started to emerge as a person to look out for in races; she was second in the 3200 and ninth in the1600 at state. Grace continued to work hard putting in the miles over this summer and spending more time with other runners who are as dedicated as she is to the sport. She is slowly learning how much talent she really has, which is also really exciting as a coach to watch. She acquired the nickname "bulldog" I believe because although she is quite small in stature, she is grand in spirit and toughness. When its go-time, in both practice and races, Grace always has her game face on, and no matter the difficulty level or the competition, she gives it everything she has. Coach Jim Lohr and I are looking forward to watching her continued improvement this season, and I know Grace will lead the MICDS squad by quiet example on their road to the state meet.
Grace’s comments:
MileSplit: Tell me about the transition from tennis to cross-country?
Grace: I first started running cross country when my friend Chloe came up to me during tennis practice, after our head cross country coach had seen me running during the tennis warm-up. I had no idea what cross country was, but I loved to run just for fun with my dad, and the only part I really liked about tennis was when we’d occasionally run a warm-up. She just came up to me when I was sitting next to the courts doing homework and asked me if I liked to run. I didn’t really know what she was getting at, but I told her that I did, so she introduced me to our cross country coach. The tennis season ends about 3 weeks before cross country season ends, so once tennis ended I started running for the cross country team, and have pretty much been in love with it ever since.
MileSplit: Of all your cross country races so far, which one have you enjoyed most?
Grace: I think the one I enjoyed the most was districts freshman year, because it was only the third cross country race I had ever run. It was the first race where I was able to start learning a little bit about pushing myself harder during races, and also about pacing myself. Even though it wasn’t very fast compared to what I’m running now, it was the first race where I started to prove to my team that I wasn’t just some random girl trying to get in shape for tennis.
MileSplit: You ran a 19:01 and the XC Kickoff in Forest Park. That was is a fast time for an offseason race. Was it a PR for you?
Grace: Yes, last year my PR was 20:11, but I was running around 20:30-ish throughout the year.
MileSplit: After a race like that, you must be excited for Cross-Country to start. What are your goals for the season?
Grace: My goal for the season is to work hard to glorify God through my running, by showing everyone the strength that He gives me—and break 19 minutes.
MileSplit: Who is your hero?
Grace: One of my biggest heroes is my cross country coach Julie Lossos, because she is very inspirational when it comes to running and just life in general. She always really cares about the mental and physical well-being of all of our team, and plus she also kicks butt in all the races she runs. It’s my dream to run a marathon someday, and Julie won the first marathon she ever ran. I really want to be as amazing of a runner as she is when I grow up, and want to stay as inspired as she is to keep running after high school and college. I look up to her a lot, and secretly try to imitate her in a lot of ways. For instance, when we went to Jeff City for state track, I would always order the same thing that she would when we went out to lunch/dinner.
Thanks Julie and Grace, the class 3 girls field promises to be very competitive this season.
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