Oak Lawn Cross Country Runner Aims To Break New Record

OAK LAWN, IL — When Oak Lawn Community High School cross country runner Salsabeel Awwad sets her mind to accomplishing a goal, she does everything in her power to attain it. And when she ran her personal best time of 20:27 on the three-mile course at the Illinois High School Association Sectional meet last year, she set immediately her mind on breaking that personal best somewhere down the road.

At the beginning of this girls cross country season, she vowed to beat that time as early as this year. Tuesday afternoon in Lemont, Awwad turned potential into reality as she crushed her personal best time from last year, clocking in at 20:02 and taking first place on the three-mile course.

“Salsabeel is in her third year running, and she has been our top runner for the past two years,” said head coach Susan Szala. “As captain of the team, Salsa continues to be an inspiration and leader for the girls. As someone who is always trying to improve, Salsa already has her sights on new goals, and she is now pushing herself so she can break in the 19-minute range.”

With the South Suburban Conference meet approaching and the IHSA Regional and Sectional on the horizon, it’s a pretty good bet Awwad will achieve this latest goal as well.

~ Brian Frangella, OLCHS Staff Writer