Fairfield’s Ciara Colwell to close out career at state championships
Lead Summary
By
Stephen Forsha-sforsha@gmail.com
For what has been a state journey for three straight seasons with the Fairfield Lady Lions, cross-country runner and senior Ciara Colwell will finish her high school running career against the very highest level of competition.
Colwell has previously raced at the OHSAA Division III State Cross-Country Championships as a sophomore and junior, but now with this being her senior season, and knowing it is her final race, Colwell wants to improve on past finishes and improve on her final time as a runner for the Lady Lions.
In her two previous trips to state, as a sophomore Colwell finished in 29th place with a time of 19:45.2. Last year as a junior, the weather wasn’t the greatest for any of the runners, and Colwell had a time of 20:27.1 for a 34th-place finish.
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“What I’m looking forward to the most is I want to shave off a lot of seconds off my time this weekend. I want to try and finally get All-Ohio honors, and I definitely just want to have the best last high school race that I can,” Colwell said.
Getting back to state has taken a lot of hard work for the senior, and though she’s raced there in the past, Colwell is excited for the opportunity to close out her career at National Trail Raceway, running at the highest level possible for one last time.
“This is my third consecutive year. It’s actually very exciting, and I feel very, very proud of all the work I’ve put into it,” she said. “This definitely means a lot to me, considering this is my last year running as a Lady Lion.
“My mentality has been a lot stronger [this year] than in recent years. Last year was kind of one of those years where I ran well, but I didn’t run as well as I wanted to. This year, I just trained even harder, and I just kept telling myself that I could do it and that I could do anything that I set my mind to. By doing that, I’ve been the fastest I’ve ever been.”
In the postseason races in 2019, Colwell was the Southern Hills Athletic Conference champion with a time of 19:40 in Ripley. Next was a district championship, finishing the race at Rio Grande with a time of 20:00.83. Then came last weekend at Pickerington North High School, where Colwell was ninth place overall at regionals with a time of 19:42.2.
There was also a race this season where Colwell felt she took the next step, that being a race held at Unioto High School.
“I feel like I’ve gotten a lot better this season.” Colwell said. “At the beginning of the season, I remember I would run like a 20:38, and then when I ran at Unioto I cut off like 50-something seconds, which was insane for me. It made me realize like ‘hey, maybe you can push more than you think you can.’ It just allowed me to see what my potential could be.
“It was definitely mentally challenging. I definitely had a really amazing competitor, Mazie Wechter of Jackson, that was competing against me at Unioto, and she was definitely pushing me to my max. I didn’t even realize that I had broken my own record until I crossed the finish line and saw my time, and I actually broke my school record at that meet. That made me really, really excited.”
Going back to the regional race from Saturday, Oct. 26, Colwell had a Top 10 finish, and not only that, she ran the race with the rest of her teammates as the Lady Lions girls team qualified for regionals as well.
“It was very, very exciting. After finishing 15th last year — granted, I did qualify, and that was exciting — but I did want to finish in that top 10, and I knew that as long as I finished in the top 10 [this year], I was going to be happy no matter what,” Colwell said. “When I saw that I finished ninth, I was very, very happy with all I did.
“It was so much fun running with my teammates at regionals. Honestly, they’re the best team that I’ve ever had the pleasure to run with. I’m definitely going to miss running with them after this year. They made regionals one of the best races I’ve ever had.”
Colwell kept it simple for thinking about her final race.
“I’m just ready to go out there and have the best possible last race that I can,” she said.
Colwell has previously raced at the OHSAA Division III State Cross-Country Championships as a sophomore and junior, but now with this being her senior season, and knowing it is her final race, Colwell wants to improve on past finishes and improve on her final time as a runner for the Lady Lions.
In her two previous trips to state, as a sophomore Colwell finished in 29th place with a time of 19:45.2. Last year as a junior, the weather wasn’t the greatest for any of the runners, and Colwell had a time of 20:27.1 for a 34th-place finish.
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“What I’m looking forward to the most is I want to shave off a lot of seconds off my time this weekend. I want to try and finally get All-Ohio honors, and I definitely just want to have the best last high school race that I can,” Colwell said.
Getting back to state has taken a lot of hard work for the senior, and though she’s raced there in the past, Colwell is excited for the opportunity to close out her career at National Trail Raceway, running at the highest level possible for one last time.
“This is my third consecutive year. It’s actually very exciting, and I feel very, very proud of all the work I’ve put into it,” she said. “This definitely means a lot to me, considering this is my last year running as a Lady Lion.
“My mentality has been a lot stronger [this year] than in recent years. Last year was kind of one of those years where I ran well, but I didn’t run as well as I wanted to. This year, I just trained even harder, and I just kept telling myself that I could do it and that I could do anything that I set my mind to. By doing that, I’ve been the fastest I’ve ever been.”
In the postseason races in 2019, Colwell was the Southern Hills Athletic Conference champion with a time of 19:40 in Ripley. Next was a district championship, finishing the race at Rio Grande with a time of 20:00.83. Then came last weekend at Pickerington North High School, where Colwell was ninth place overall at regionals with a time of 19:42.2.
There was also a race this season where Colwell felt she took the next step, that being a race held at Unioto High School.
“I feel like I’ve gotten a lot better this season.” Colwell said. “At the beginning of the season, I remember I would run like a 20:38, and then when I ran at Unioto I cut off like 50-something seconds, which was insane for me. It made me realize like ‘hey, maybe you can push more than you think you can.’ It just allowed me to see what my potential could be.
“It was definitely mentally challenging. I definitely had a really amazing competitor, Mazie Wechter of Jackson, that was competing against me at Unioto, and she was definitely pushing me to my max. I didn’t even realize that I had broken my own record until I crossed the finish line and saw my time, and I actually broke my school record at that meet. That made me really, really excited.”
Going back to the regional race from Saturday, Oct. 26, Colwell had a Top 10 finish, and not only that, she ran the race with the rest of her teammates as the Lady Lions girls team qualified for regionals as well.
“It was very, very exciting. After finishing 15th last year — granted, I did qualify, and that was exciting — but I did want to finish in that top 10, and I knew that as long as I finished in the top 10 [this year], I was going to be happy no matter what,” Colwell said. “When I saw that I finished ninth, I was very, very happy with all I did.
“It was so much fun running with my teammates at regionals. Honestly, they’re the best team that I’ve ever had the pleasure to run with. I’m definitely going to miss running with them after this year. They made regionals one of the best races I’ve ever had.”
Colwell kept it simple for thinking about her final race.
“I’m just ready to go out there and have the best possible last race that I can,” she said.