Sprints, mile runs and 10-mile jogs are not events that ordinary people do every week, and nonetheless, enjoy. Cross Country is a sport all about long-distance running. Running long-distance measures a person’s physical endurance and the mental ability to keep running even when they do not want to.

Physical endurance and determination is what sets apart the good runners from the great ones. According to the United States Marine Corps physical fitness test chart, to pass the test with a perfect score, a female must be able to run three miles in 21 minutes flat. Maggie Scholle, Div. 776, can beat that time by about four minutes. Scholle is no ordinary runner. She is a great one.

Scholle has a set a new city record of 17:39 and personal record of 17:04 in the 3-mile race in the fall of 2015. She is a three-time city champion in the 3-mile, having won most recently Oct. 15. She has  earned All-State honors. And she is the current city champion.

Setting records and winning city titles have been the successful outcome of Scholle’s running career. However, it was not always clear that she would be a champion athlete.

“I started running in fifth grade, but I tried pretty much every other sport that you could imagine and was horrendously unsuccessful,” Scholle said. “[Running] started as a last resort but ended up being something that I really, really, really loved.”

Scholle has been running cross country for Lane since her freshman year and now keeps up an intense training schedule, logging 45 miles each week.

“I have a long run that is close to 10 miles in a week, and I usually have two workouts,” Scholle said. “One is faster and shorter and the other is longer and a little slower. All of our workouts are pretty much on the track and we run through Horner and sometimes through lakefront path.”

This tough training regimen shows how much Scholle is dedicated to her sport.  

“I love doing it. It has opened up so many opportunities college wise. Once you devote that much time to it, there is a point that you decide on whether you are all in or not.”

For Scholle, that point came freshman year.

“Once I started, I haven’t looked back at all,” she said

After graduating, Scholle plans on “running D1.” This is an impressive accomplishment that numerous high school athletes can dream of after training for four years to perfect their skill. Yet Scholle started her freshman season late and did not train for four years straight.

“Freshman year, I almost had a stress fracture in my shin from starting training too hard. I was in the pool for like seven weeks, but when I decided to keep going with it [running] and start my season late, that is when it really all came together.” Scholle said.

While some athletes have recurring thoughts of what could have been if they played a different sport, Scholle is glad she ran Cross Country the entirety of her high school life.  

“I would stick with this [cross country]. Honestly, I just have loved it since the beginning. I just can’t even imagine, not only doing another sport, but being good at other sports.”