WAUSEON, Ohio — Ella Rhoades practically grew up in the Wauseon cross-country program.
“She’s been involved in the program prior to actually being in the program so she’s kind of got a feel of how we do things," said head coach Thomas Vernot.
Rhoades' older sister Grace now runs for Youngstown state. But got Ella involved when she was in sixth grade.
“During lockdown she (Grace) was like ‘You should go on runs with me’ and so it kind of started off as I wasn’t very good with running," Ella said. "But as I went on she was definitely an encourager. And just watching her try and find that college that she wanted to run in made me realize that I love it too and that’s what I want to do.”
From then on, Ella hit the ground running and most recently raced to first place at the regional tournament, where she beat the field by nearly 20 seconds.
“At the two-mile mark is where you know because people are either slowing up or they’re starting to keep their momentum," Ella said. "And I didn’t feel like I needed to slow down at all and I was like ‘I might actually have this a little bit.'"
Ella said she felt as though all her hard work had paid off at that moment.
"If someone would’ve told me when I was younger like 'you’re gonna run regionals and you’re gonna win' I probably would’ve told them 'keep dreaming,'" she said. "But falling in love with it has just been so life-changing for the better.”
This Saturday will mark Ella’s second trip to state as she placed No. 30 last year as a sophomore. But the junior’s main goal is to just keep improving no matter what she places.
"I really want to PR this weekend so that’s my main goal right now," she said. “It just means so much to me because I have some of the best coaches around. My team is so encouraging so being able to get to represent this team as a whole and put Wauseon’s name out there, I’m so thankful for it.”
“All this started during the summer and her training. Her sister being at Youngstown State, she was able to train with her some of the summer and do some things that she hadn’t done before," Vernot added. “She’s really helping to lead this team and set a good example of what it takes to get to that level.”
The state cross-country tournament is on Saturday in Obetz, Ohio.