When Willow Lott’s parents showed up to the first cross-country meet of her career last season at Hillcrest Golf Course, they nearly missed her.
“We didn’t have any idea she was that good of a runner,” said her father, Bryan Lott. “Her first meet was in Durango, and we were running late to the meet, and we almost missed her because she was leading the way.”
Lott, an eighth-grader at Miller Middle School, has been running cross-country for the last two seasons. She finished second at her first race and has been steadily improving since.
She won every meet this season leading up to the Colorado Middle School State Cross-Country Championships last weekend in Denver. Lott completed her middle school running career when she finished 16th in the Blue Division with a time of 13 minutes, 55.50 seconds in the 3,500-meter race.
“I was actually a little disappointed because I had a really strong start and was in first place for the first mile,” Lott said. “Then, a big pack of girls came up behind me, and I wasn’t able to keep up. There were a bunch of little mini-packs, but I couldn’t keep up. But it was still an improvement from last year, when I finished 21st. It was still really fun, and I thought I had a great season overall.”
Lott, who will attend Durango High School next year, has also competed as a mountain biker with Devo, in track and field at school and with Durango Nordic Ski Club.
Her father said that no matter the sport, she has always been competitive.
“It’s been really exciting to see because my wife and I, neither of us are really competitive, so we’re just trying to encourage and support her, but we’re definitely not the type to push her,” Bryan Lott said. “It’s all herself, and she’s very self-driven. Whether it’s training in practice or a different sport like mountain biking, she’s 100 percent committed to doing her best all of the time.”
Willow Lott said that she would have to make a decision about which sport to choose next fall: cross-country or mountain biking.
“It’ll be a tough decision because I really enjoy both, but I’d say I’m leaning toward cross-country,” she said. “I went to the state mountain biking championships this past weekend and that was really fun to see. However, I’ve got great friends who are on the DHS (cross-country) team like Tea Forrest and Angela McManus, and they went to Miller last year and they’ve said it’s really cool and fun.”
No matter what sport Lott choses to compete in, she’ll have the right attitude and will be determined as ever to constantly improve.
“This season was really great,” she said. “State wasn’t my strongest race, but oh well, what can you do but move on.”
bploen@durangoherald.com
