Cross Country is one of the most physically demanding sports that a student athlete could participate in. At Woodhaven High School, senior Jay Lawson continues to shine on the course as one of the leaders on the varsity cross country team.
Through the struggles of running long distances, it is the relationships and comradery that keep Lawson motivated to keep on pushing. He mentioned, “My favorite part is probably just being with my friends everyday after school and giving us a reason to hangout. It’s always fun and something always happens”. Another thing that is unique about Jay is that he runs both cross country and track, which require two different mindsets and preparation processes. Lawson explains this, “The way I adjust from cross to track is by changing the workouts I do and bringing the miles down. I also change my diet and things I do”.
The cross country team is coming off of a big weekend in Portage, where they competed in the Portage Invitational. Unfortunately, Lawson fell short of the personal expectations of himself. As he explains, “My experience at Portage was fine. The atmosphere and environment was amazing, one of the best environments for a meet. Personally, I didn’t race as well as I would have hoped and felt like I fell short of where I should have come in the race”.
Looking at cross country from the team aspect, they have come together and are pushing each other in practice, while realizing some of their strengths and weaknesses. Lawson preaches, “We are extremely competitive with each other and won’t let the other person win which eventually causes us to run good and do well”. Woodhaven cross country is pushing towards a state championship berth this season, which will require a hefty amount of effort and time from the entire team. Lawson believes, “The steps we need to take are understanding that it isn’t going to be easy and that these other teams aren’t going to let us go so easily, so we need to do more than other teams. During races, we have to understand it’s going to hurt but when it’s all done and over with we will be happy and glad it happened.”
Lawson believes that the team’s mental state will be a huge factor in taking them to the top. As mentioned, “Some things we do really well at are keeping each other in check. We always check up on eachother and push each other during workouts. We care for one another and look out for each other.” Any athlete knows that coming together as a team and treating teammates as family is the key to success, and the cross country team is looking to do just that.
In all, Lawson is looking to end his high school cross country career by leading the team to the ultimate ending. He stated, “My mindset now is I want to be the best. I want to be the fastest. I want to beat every team and show we are the best and what we have worked for is going to pay off, and it wasn’t all for nothing.”
