Fisher Catholic's Aaron Wood

[anderson2012]

I want to shine some spotlight on a very talented runner some you may be familiar with. Senior Aaron Wood from Fisher is having a breakout season, and below is a very nice article written by Tom Wilson of the Lancaster Eagle-Gazette. I cut out a few quotes to give an abridged version and drive home the magnificence of his accomplishments. Aaron has been a gifted runner from the beginning, but he has worked tirelessly to cut down on his times and he is seeing immediate results and better times almost race-by-race, as the months go by. Aaron qualified for the state tournament in Cross-Country as an individual and the state tournament as a part of a very talented and strong Fisher golf team in his sophomore year, 2013. Last year he qualified for both state tournaments as an individual.

The link to the full article is FC's Wood is on another level and can be found at the hyperlink provided. Go Aaron! Also, credit to the Eagle-Gazette for writing such an article about cross-country. XC from my experience has been really at the bottom of the pecking order for already overwhelmed journalists, so this is awesome.

LANCASTER — Most high school athletes seem to turn it up a notch when they become seniors, mainly because they know it is their last chance to show what they can do.

Fisher Catholic’s Aaron Wood, who already has had an ultra-successful career, has taken it to a new level.

Wood has competed in five high school cross country meets and has come in first place in all of them.

“Now that I’m a senior, I know it is my last chance to leave something that people will remember you for,” Wood said. “I have just tried to get better every day. My number-one goal is to get better every day. Being a senior, it’s kind of an all-or-nothing deal. Kind of my last hurrah.”

Wood started the year by winning the Newark Catholic Invitational (15:46.3), and then followed that with a record-breaking performance by not only winning the Canal Winchester Invitational, but breaking a course record (15:30.3).

“I knew if I got out fast and just kept pressing the whole way, I would have to be there in the end,” Wood said. “I had a really good first mile, running it in 4:54, so I knew my pace was on par to have a really good run.
After his record-breaking performance, he then won the Circleville Kiwanis Invitational (16:19.3), the Watkins Memorial McGowan Invitational (16:10.3) and the Fairfield Union Falcon Invitational (16:27).

Wood has accomplished all this while also being the No. 1 man on the Irish golf team.

He shot 72 at the Mid-State League-Cardinal Division preseason meet to earn medalist honors, and his 77 at the midseason meet also earned him top honors. He also shot 73 to finish runner-up at the Lancaster Invitational.

Even though Wood, who qualified for the state golf tournament as an individual in 2014, has been solid on the golf course, he admits he has concentrated a little more on cross country.

“I’ve played well, basically about the same as last year, but I have definitely put more focus on cross country,” Wood said. “It still doesn’t mean that I don’t want to do well or our team not to do well.

“We have a really good team and we feel like we can qualify for the state tournament again.”

Most days, Wood will get his running in before school and golf after school, and there are some occasions where he will run again after school if he doesn’t have a golf match.

It is obvious all of Wood’s hard work in the off-season is paying off, and that is not lost on him.

“There is no better reward than seeing all of your hard work pay off,” Wood said. “All of the miles that I have put in and all the practice time in golf, there is no better feeling than having success when it counts because of all the work you put into it. It is very satisfying.”

[john]

Pretty impressive.

[john]

But what about Andrew Jordan of Watkins? Ranked 2nd nationally with a PR of 14:44.70. Wow.