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Freshman Keeping Up With The Best

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By LARRY BUGG Tribune correspondent

Published: September 22, 2007

SHADY HILLS - Ariel Grey is only a freshman, but the Wiregrass Ranch High cross country runner is already making a name for herself.

Grey, a 5-foot-4 runner, showed she had the strength to run with the big girls Saturday. She ran a 21:15 to finish fourth at the 11th annual Gator Invitational.

She was only two places behind Pasco County's cross country queen, Leeann Eble. Eble was second with a clocking of 20:42. The Pasco High runner was second behind Ocala Vanguard High's Tori Lawson, who won with a 20:02.

Eble was the 2006 Pasco Tribune Cross Country Runner of the Year, but she may be dueling with Grey before long.

With Grey as No. 1 runner, Wiregrass Ranch's girls may prove to be the best second-year team around. They were third in team points with 135. Sickles won with 93 points. Gulf, a perennial Pasco County power, was second with 124 points.

Her coach knows he has a gem in Grey.

'She is a good runner,' said Wiregrass Ranch coach Don Howard at the Land O' Lakes Invitational. 'We'll see how good she is. Leeann beat her by a good distance today. Grey knows where her competition is. This is her first high school race ever. She ran well. She has proven herself at middle school. She finished ahead of all the Pasco County girls except for Leeann.'

Grey is no stranger to distance running.

'I have been running since seventh grade,' she said. 'I started at Weightman Middle School and then to John Long Middle School and then to Wiregrass Ranch High.'

She took a back road to running. She started because she enjoyed another sport.

'I love soccer, so it started with soccer,' she said. 'People told me I should run. I felt really good running around the track. I didn't feel tired. I like soccer and cross country equally.'

Like all cross country runners, Grey wants to see that time drop - and now.

'My best is 20:27,' she said. 'I really wanted to break 20 minutes.'

Grey already has Eble on her mind.

'I really want to beat her,' Grey said of Eble. 'She hasn't been beaten for two years.'

Grey was born in Tampa and has lived seven years in Wesley Chapel.

She wants to attend college on a cross country, soccer or track scholarship.

She said she is thinking about becoming an attorney.

She is driven to take down the other runners, and that is part of the joy of running for her.

'Any time I am in a race, I want to beat the competition,' she said.

Grey is an excellent student with a 3.8 grade-point average.

Grey had a taste of state competition as an eighth-grader last year. Now 14, she finished sixth in the 1,500 meters, and her 4x800 relay team was fourth at a middle school state meet in the Orlando area.

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