Unsung Hero: Senior Cross Country Runner Anna Lombardo

Senior cross country runner Anna Lombardo has not had the typical running career. Starting out with spring track her sophomore year, Lombardo just wanted to keep herself in shape. However, after a short time, she realized she liked it and kept with it.

Right before her junior year, a friend on the cross country team convinced her to try out and she did, again realizing she liked her new sport.

"I felt like I was getting better as I was going on so I decided to do it my senior year, too," Lombardo said.

Lombardo hasn't had a typical offseason on the cross country team, so it's been difficult to train, but she works out at the gym on her own time and has done optional runs with the team in the summer. In talking to her, Lombardo's best interest in all of her athletic endeavors seemed to be on making a contribution to the team.

"There was a point last year, we went to the PAC-10 Championships and I ran the [junior varsity] race," she said. "I finished first for JV and I realized I could really help my team out."

In another instance, Lombardo remembered her best overall performance in any Spring-Ford sport.

"This past track season, I ran this one race and it was a really hot day," said Lombardo. "Our top girl was out sick that day. I ran my best mile time ever at 5:47 and took the mile. I felt like I had such a good race and everyone seemed to appreciate what I was able to do for the team."

Lombardo said she doesn't think she'll compete in college and is hoping to go to the University of Richmond. She's applied to seven other schools, including Penn State. She is looking at sociology or something to do with writing as a major. Overall, she hopes to finish strong at Spring-Ford.

"I just want to keep my grades up and all that kind of stuff and have a good spring track season," she said. "Eventually graduate and live somewhere else."