Theo Vadot ’19, Ava Petillo ’19: The Boys’ Athlete of the Month is cross country runner Elias Lindgren, Class of 2018. Lindgren has been running cross country since the sixth grade and has developed a passion for the sport. According to Jim Farrell, “When he enters a race, his goal is to win the race, no matter how good his competition is. If he does not win the race, it only fuels his fire for self improvement in future workouts and races.”
Lindgren did not fall in love with the sport right from the beginning. As far as he can recall, the origin of his running career began during his time playing Little League baseball. According to Lindgren, he was “terrible at everything in baseball except running the bases,” which ended up paying off when he won the Little League championship in the fourth grade by stealing home plate.
Lindgren started cross country in sixth grade, and then further worked on his running career by joining track in seventh grade. “I realized in seventh grade track that I had some talent for the sport,” says Lindgren, and since the beginning of his high school career, his sophomore year especially, he’s become more and more serious about the sport.
With another record behind him after breaking Jake Jorgensen’s school record, Lindgren has come another step closer to his ultimate goal of graduating with eight school records. Earlier this season, he broke the school record for EA’s cross country course with a time of 17:02, and four days later he ran at the Briarwood Invitational, and came in first place out of 160 runners. According to Jim Farrell, boys’ cross country coach, “breaking every possible distance at EA very much drives Elias.” He has accomplished his two main goals of breaking the school record and winning the Briarwood invitational, but he still has more to come for the rest of the season. Lindgren has now set his sights on breaking the overall EA course record, set by GA’s Sam Fritz in 2014. He has it as his goal to break that record, 16:28, on EA/Haverford day.
“Individual accomplishments are important to Elias, but winning the Inter-Ac team championship is most important to Elias,” says Farrell. Lindgren not only has his many individual goals, but as a strong leader on the team, he also has goals for the team as a whole. Lindgren’s teammates look up to him as a runner who leads by example. Kevin King ‘19, member of the Boys’ Cross Country Team, fondly remarks, “Elias leads by example in everything he does. If you ever have a concern, you can bring it up to him and he is there to help you. He always helps motivate the younger runners.” Lindgren, given that he finishes prior to his team-mates, can be found at the finish line cheering them on. Winston Bickhardt ‘21 comments, “Elias always has a positive attitude towards the team which is very important to have in a sport like cross country, where it is easy to let your mind get in the way of things.”
Lindgren still looks to improve his skills by training hard everyday, as he was throughout the whole summer. Despite all his personal willpower and skill, Elias claims that he owes it all to his coaches. “Coach adapts my workouts to how I’m feeling and how I’m performing, and as a result I’ve always gotten phenomenal training from him.”
Tony Herman, a coach of Episcopal Boys Cross Country remarks, “He’s just a determined, strong-willed kid, and when he wants something, he goes for it.”