As senior Mary Monda Oewel sprinted along the cross country course, she ignored the burning in her lungs and the aching in her legs to focus only on her goal of cutting seconds from her 5K time.
It was this kind of determination that fueled Oewel’s desire to beat her fastest time at the California Interscholastic Federation (CIF) State Championships. She lived up to her own high expectations, placing ninth in Division II with a time of 18:04, the 22nd fastest time in all divisions and accomplished her goal of beating her previous time of 18:31.
Oewel also placed second overall at MCALs earlier in the season, and has taken a whopping two and a half minutes off her 5K time since just last season.
After placing second at MCALs, Oewel went on to place third out of about 120 runners in the North Coast Section (NCS) meet, after teammate Glennis Murphy. These results, while impressive, were to be expected after Oewel’s top performance this season––she consistently placed first or second at invitational and league meets.
Despite a lack of prior experience, Oewel joined the cross country team freshman year and the track team junior year. Oewel said she didn’t become a serious contender in cross country until this season, however.
“All the running I had been doing since freshman year finally caught up with me, and I kind of decided that I wanted to run,” Oewel said. “It’s a mindset thing.”
While Oewel has stood out individually, the entire girls’ cross country team has performed well this season, she said.
“We’re a really solid team,” Oewel said. “Our coach tells us that we’re the best team to come out of Marin in years. And we have a lot of depth, which is good. It’s not just Glennis, it’s not just me…we’re all really good.”
After the girls’ team won NCS by a landslide 70 points, they advanced to the CIF Championships State Meet, where they placed sixth in Division II.
Individually, Oewel’s performance at both NCS and state meets surpassed even her own expectations.
Oewel is the first Redwood girl ever to rank among the top ten in this division, according to coach Laura Schmitt.
Oewel credits her success in part to the close-knit team atmosphere, but also to the love she has for the sport.
“You just fall in love with it at a certain point, and so I fell in love with it and was just really dedicated to doing well. The success kind of came with it,” Oewel said.
Oewel hopes to run in college, and while she currently has no firm plans, she is in the midst of talking to a few different schools.
“At this point this is my only good season, and track was an okay season. Sometimes runners just have standout times…I’m not a standout runner,” Oewel said.
Regardless of whether she commits to a school, Oewel is certain that running will continue to be a part of her life, whether she walks on to a team or joins a club team.
“At this point, it’s just the only lifestyle I know,” Oewel said.
