Athlete of the Month: Riley Peterson
By Diza Pandey
Athlete of the Month: Riley Peterson
By Diza Pandey
Cross country running involves teams and individuals who run a race on open courses over natural terrain. Riley Peterson (12) talks about her passion for running on the Apex Friendship Cross Country team. Peterson explains how she started running track and field in middle school and her mother inspired her to join the team because she also ran cross country. It had been a bit of a surprise when she began running, she says, “going into high school I really never thought I would run cross country.” She had “committed to a different sport at the time” not expecting the collaborative aspect of the sport to appeal to her as much as it did, compelling her to participate on the team for her whole high school career.
Peterson wants to pursue a career in Environmental Science.
@AFHS_XC_Track. Photo by Diza Pandey.
Peterson has many personal goals in regards to cross country. She states, “at the start of the season we kind of made goals on what we wanted to achieve this season, and me and all of my team have come so far and our end goal is to have fun.” She has won a couple of races this year, and takes pride in these victories. Many obstacles have helped Peterson overcome a lot as a runner. During a race sophomore year, she fractured a bone, which prohibited her from running. Peterson persevered and realized she needed to get her “head back into the game and get over mental and physical blocks.”
When talking about her plans for the future, especially with college coming up, Peterson explains she doesn’t intend to pursue cross country competitively, but would enjoy participating in club activities. She hopes to get into either NC State or Appalachian State and pursue a career in Environmental Science. Peterson advises underclassmen to “stick with it, and running all those miles can be tough, but just being able to grow in the sport during high school is just such an experience and I would have not done anything differently.