Gallery • 8 Photos

Senior Reggan Gray and her parents.

The Jonathan Alder Cross Country team has achieved some great things this season and took a minute to celebrate the seniors on Friday, October 22, as they walked down the football field before the football game vs. Shawnee. You might have seen them in action this season at Dublin Jerome High School running at the “Celtic Clash,” or you might’ve been able to head out to Hilliard Darby High School to watch seniors Reggan Gray and Sergey Dutt race in the district meet this past weekend. In addition to Gray and Dutt, the seniors this year are Natalie Heflin, Jessica Kelley, Maggie Malone, and Joselyn Zuro. 

Sergey Dutt has been running varsity cross country all four years of his high school career, and plans to run in college. Dutt’s advice to younger runners is “Race to place. Don’t get too focused on times in Cross Country, in the long run they don’t matter too much.” 

• Most improved award (grades 9, 11)
• Athletic Award (grades 9, 10, 11, 12)
• Second Team All Conference (grades 10, 11)
• First Team Central Buckeye Conference (grade 12)

Reggan Gray has been running varsity cross country all four years of her high school career. She shares over email that her favorite memory from running cross country throughout high school was the team runs through town on Fridays, followed by the state championships the next day.Via email, Gray writes, “I love the feeling of the whole community being there to cheer us on! It makes me feel like we are representing something good and that they are proud of us! I also love seeing the smiling faces of my teammates, knowing that we have completed the hardest of training seasons and have one more race the next day.” Gray has earned the following awards in her high school cross country career:

• Athletic Award (grades 9,10,11)
• Academic All-Ohio (grades 9,10,11)
• Central Buckeye Conference Sportsmanship Award (grade 9)
• Captain Award (grade 10)
• First Team Central Buckeye Conference (grades 11,12)
• Second Team Central Buckeye Conference (grades 9,10) 
• Named captain (grades 10,11,12)
• Competed in OHSAA State meet (grades 9,10,11)

Maggie Malone has been running cross country all four years of her high school career. She shared that her favorite part of running cross country was her team. “Spending time with my team everyday was absolutely my favorite part. I love my teammates so much it’s unreal.” 

• Central Buckeye Conference Sportsmanship Award 2020 (grade 11)

Natalie Heflin, Jessica Kelley, and Joselyn Zuro all joined cross country as seniors (and as sprinters), after running track together throughout high school and wanting to give long distance running a go. 

Heflin shared that she joined cross country because Gray encouraged her to. “The reason I joined XC is because Reggan mentioned how fun it would be if Joselyn and I joined our senior year so we could all be together, and after a while she convinced me which I’m grateful for. If someone is thinking about joining xc I would tell them to not be afraid and just go for it. Even if you aren’t very good you still have so much fun making new xc friends.” These girls joined xc for their friend and ended up making so many more.

Zuro shares that one of her favorite parts of xc was her teammates. “I enjoyed seeing my teammates everyday. No matter how tired I was, or if I was having a rough day, they always put a smile on my face. I also enjoyed trying something totally new with long distance running, and it’s been so fun accomplishing way more than I thought I was capable of.” 

The girls were also in agreement that their favorite race this season was Dublin Jerome. Kelley shares “my favorite race was Dublin Jerome, the conditions were great and there was such a supportive atmosphere.” Jo adds to this with “It was such a fun experience running in the dark and under the lights with the crowd going crazy from the stands.” 

• Heflin earned the Second Team All Conference Award for the CBC this year