STRATFORD – Since she never ran competitively before entering high school, Bunnell senior Lauren Sara wasn’t expecting much when she tried for out for the Bulldogs’ cross country team as a freshman.
She figured it would be a good way to get in shape for basketball season. There was only one problem – her petit five-foot frame wasn’t well-suited for the hardwood.
“I wasn’t very good, either,” she said. “I made the freshman team, but I didn’t play much. Then I realized it wasn’t the sport for me.”
Sara decided to concentrate all her efforts on cross country, and Bulldogs coach Dave Johnson has been amazed watching her progression for the past four years.
As a freshman, she finished 24th in the South-West Conference championships. A year later, she climbed to ninth and lasted year jumped to third.
As a junior, Sara placed second in the Class L meet, up from sixth the year before. However, she made a quantum leap in the state open competition, seemingly coming out of nowhere to finish fourth after being 54th as a sophomore.
Johnson is still at a loss to explain how Sara pulled off that feat. The strong performance at the state open meet earned her a berth in the New England championships, where she came in 23rd. The top 25 runners were named to the all-New England first team.
Sara became the first cross country runner in school history – male or female – to place at the state open (top 25) and qualify for the New Englands.
She runs with the Bunnell boys because the girls don’t push her hard enough.
“She is absolutely the best distance runner this school has ever had, period,” said Johnson, who is in his sixth season as the Bulldogs’ coach. “Boys or girls, it doesn’t matter. She is absolutely the best.”
During the regular season this year, which concluded Tuesday, Sara was undefeated in eight races, winning five SWC dual meets and three invitationals.
Only once was she even challenged. That came on October 3 in the Woods Trail Invitational at Vermont’s Thetford Academy, where she found herself second with only a tenth of a mile remaining. But she prevailed with a late kick, beating 764 runners to the finish line.
Running in rainy and muddy conditions, she covered the 3.1 mile course in a time of 20:11.
A week earlier, in better conditions, she won the championship division of the New Balance Ocean State Cross Country Classic in Warwick, Rhode Island with a time of 18:18.
“Connecticut is a tremendous state for cross country,” Johnson said. “So for an individual to go through an entire season and compete at a very high level and not only to go undefeated and not only to turn in quality times, but with only one exception, (she) hasn’t even been challenged, (it) is extraordinary.”
The regular season may be concluded, but Sara’s scholastic career is far from over. She competes in the SWC championships next at Bethel, with the Class L (October 31), state open (November 6) and New England (November 14) meets to follow. The later three events all take place at Wickham Park in Manchester.
Sara also is entered in the Foot Locker Northeast Regional championships, which are set for November 28 at Sunken Meadow State Park on Long Island.
In the summer, Sara established a goal of qualifying for the national championships December 12 in San Diego. To achieve that, she must finish in the top 10 at the regional meet.
“I want to get even faster and better,” said Sara, who hopes to run in college at a Division I program.
Sara has made an official to Connecticut and plans to make another one to La Salle University in Philadelphia. Johnson thinks she actually will be a better runner at the next level because the college meets are longer (6K, as opposed to 5K in high school).
“She’ll be an even better runner in college because the longer the distance, the better she is,” Johnson said. “She doesn’t have tremendous speed. But she has an amazing work ethic and tremendous stamina. She could run forever.”
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