By Adam Baum, abaum@enquirer.com
GREEN TWP. - There are many little things that add up to a distance runner reaching his or her potential - things like training regimen, endurance, health, and competition, to name a few.
At Oak Hills High School, all those pieces are slowly finding their place on the girls cross country team. The one piece, maybe above all others, is the importance of the team. The more that team operates like a family, the better the individual parts will be.
Christine John (née Wells) ran for Oak Hills back in the 1980s, so she understands all that. She actually ran on three straight teams that qualified for state, and today, she stills runs at the Highlanders' practices.
Christine's daughter, Megan John, a freshman runner for the Highlanders, has quickly stormed onto the high school scene, already besting her mother's fastest time in just her first high school race.
"She's doing better than I ever did," Christine said of her daughter. "My best time was mid-20 (minutes)."
Megan ran 19 minutes and 47 seconds - a personal best - Aug. 26 in her first high school race at Talawanda.
That first race, Megan's goal was to break 21 minutes and she shattered that. Then, in her third race of the year, Sept. 9 at the Princeton Invitational, Megan set a new personal best with 19:19, taking third place overall as her team took first place.
"I knew she could win races, I just was surprised she broke 20 minutes that first race," Oak Hills coach Shellie Hageman said. "I knew she could break 20 by the end of the season. I had no idea it would be the first race."
Megan started running in the third grade. Her mom directed a youth program called "Girls on the Run," a non-competitive program that introduces running to young girls. She quickly found a passion for it, and it was also something she knew her mom enjoyed.
"I can't ever remember a time I didn't know she ran in high school," said Megan. "She never really talked about how she did. Sometimes she talked about how she wasn't the fastest but she was always on varsity and always scored for the team."
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