After years of training Grady Lenn finally placed first at the state XC meet.
“I think it meant a lot to get the job done, finally,” Lenn said. “I think it kind of felt a little bit of relief. I was happy I could do it for my coaches, my family, and all my supporters.”
On Nov 1, Lenn ran a 15 minute, 3.2 second personal record time at Ridges Golf Course in Wisconsin Rapids. In the WIAA championship, he won by 21 seconds. In his previous 3 years Lenn placed 7th his freshman year, 3rd his sophomore year, and 2nd his junior year.
We caught up with Grady and asked him a few questions not only about his time, but also his mindset.
“There wasn’t really much of anything new to do,” Lenn said. “I mean, like previous years, it was probably a bigger deal, but this year it was more like, ‘Just treat it as another race.’ I already knew what to do. It was just like I gotta get the job done. Physically, preparations were pretty similar to other years. I had to build up for it all year.”
Lenn then stated that his key to being a successful runner was in the mental perspective of it. Lenn’s advice to younger runners is to not focus on winning.
“I would tell them to not focus on winning and tell them to focus on the day-to-day stuff,” Lenn said. “ It doesn’t matter if it’s 1st, 10th, or 20th. Focus on what you can do each day and each race. Also, do not fully focus on one outcome or else, when the actual outcome gets there, you’re going to be too freaked out and too nervous to achieve it.”
Another part of this interview was his relationship with Manny Putz, a cross country runner from Onalaska High School who now runs for the University of Wisconsin Madison.
From losing against Putz last year, to him showing up to watch Lenn get first, next year they will both be at Wisconsin together.
“We’re pretty good friends,” Lenn said. “I mean, I think that anyone who knows Manny knows that he is the nicest guy ever. I believe that I am a little more competitive than Manny. I think sometimes our philosophies are a little different when it comes to racing. That’s not necessarily a bad thing, since even though we are rivals. We are as close as rivals can be.”
Lenn was asked if he thought he would achieve his success early.
“I found success pretty early,” Lenn said. “I am the type of person to dream pretty big in myself, so I believed I could do it.”
Lenn was proud of his team for placing 4th with 165 points. The top 3 were SPASH with 69 points, Homestead with 113 points, and Marquette University with 115 points.
“I am proud of how they stuck it out,” Lenn said. “Even at the state meet, they were able to still perform well, whereas there are a lot of obstacles for other guys like injury or feeling stuck and hitting a wall. Our guys toughed it out and getting fourth, that is something we can all be proud of.”
Noah Zhang placed 27th with a time 16:22.6, and Daniel Zhang placed 64th (16:50.9), Vincent Hauser placed 86th (17:00.7), and Brett Spice placed 94th (17:05.4).
De Pere senior Bella Heideman placed 43rd in the Division I girls race with a time of 19:17.5.
