Athlete Spotlight

By Julie Newell

Sports/Photo Editor

The Lookout Sports Editor Julie Newell recently talked with LCC freshman cross country runner Carter Lovejoy.

How long have you been running cross country?

"Since my sophomore year of high school."

What made you start running cross country?

"My former teammate … he encouraged me to do it a lot. I finally caved in and said, 'Yeah, sure. Why not give it a try.' I guess he saw some potential in me."

Why do you love cross country?

"The whole team thing and the whole entire community, the running community, everybody supports you, whether you're from the same school or not. You always get support from everybody because everybody knows the pain you're going through and everybody is really nice."

Who inspires you the most?

"The person that inspires me the most is my dad. He is the type of man I want to be when I get older. He is always on top of everything. When he talks everybody listens and that's the type of guy I want to be."

What struggles do you face as a cross country runner?

"Staying healthy, I've had a few stress fractures in my career. A couple weeks ago I was in a boot because I had a stress fracture in my ankle."

Do you have any embarrassing moments in your career?

"Just last week we were running a race and we did a few loops around different things. On the second to last loop I thought I was done so I was speeding up, and then I was dead the rest of the race. So that was pretty embarrassing."

What are your future cross country and life plans?

"I would like to transfer somewhere and continue to run at a four-year school. Depending on how that goes, professional running would be something I would like to do as well."