Cross Country athlete Preston Arreola is having a standout senior season. Recently, he had a strong performance running against some of the top teams and runners in the state at the Indiana Wesleyan Wildcat Classic. Arreola turned in a time of 16:35 for 38th place.
For Arreola, the mental aspect of cross country is one of the hardest things to deal with.
“It can get hard in the middle of a when there’s no spectators or you have the lack of adrenaline that you’d otherwise have at the beginning or end of the race,” he said. “Even just easier days can be mentally exhausting whether it be from the current heat or sheer amount of time you have to be on your feet constantly moving.”
Head coach Jordan Ousley praised Arreola’s work ethic and leadership.
“Preston is one of our seniors who has helped set the standard for our younger runners. He sets a good example of what it takes to be successful in the sport of cross-country and our younger runners are starting to follow his lead,” Ousley said.
Arreola hasn’t decided on his college plans, but he hopes running is part of them. No matter what comes his way in the future, Arreola will strive to be his best.
“Enjoy what you do because you’ll be a lot more driven and also give your all when times get hard because you never know what could be the outcome unless you finish as well as you can. The latter is something I struggle with a bit, but it’s worth working on.”
