Mary Arch leads the City High girls’ cross country team into her third consecutive varsity year.
September 23, 2015
The girls’ cross country team practices six days a week for about two hours every time. As they head down First Avenue, the girls team is driven and led by junior Mary Arch.
“[My teammates] encourage me everyday not only in words, but with actions too,” Arch said. “Even just a simple ‘good job’ can mean a lot when you are doing a hard workout or in a race.”
Arch is homeschooled in the mornings, but says that that doesn’t affect her running or team bonding.
“No, no one cares. It’s not like [I’m] any different,” Arch said of her relationship with her teammates despite her homeschooling.
Arch says her biggest accomplishment is running a 2:18 800 at state track last year. She also recently set a new personal record with a time of 18:55 at the CR Invitational.
Arch also connects her Christian beliefs to her running. She says she does everything she does for the glory of God.
She says she lives by the Bible verse 1st Cor 10:31, which reads, “So whether you eat or drink or whatever you do, do it all for the glory of God.”
“Without God, I wouldn’t even be able to run or even be alive. So each day I run, I want to do it to praise Him for what he did for me when He died on the cross for my sins,” Arch said.
Arch hopes to someday run at the collegiate level, possibly at D-II Dallas Baptist University in Dallas, Texas.
“I want to run in college; there’s a school that I’m looking at called Dallas Baptist University,” Arch said.
“I think I’m probably gonna go there, but I don’t know. It’s in Texas. My sister is going be living in Texas, so I wanted to go check it out.”
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