Poland runners set goal for lengthy postseason

October 3, 2008 at 12:00a.m.

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Kim Graf’s cross country squad formed a book club to stretch their minds.

POLAND — Poland senior Alexis Begezda, junior Anna Pompeo and sophomore Meg Sweeney are the catalysts of a cross country team that continues to improve with the postseason rapidly approaching.

Kim Graf, in her 10th season with the Poland cross country program and eighth as girls varsity coach, has been working with 29 athletes, including seniors Marissa Bucher, Ali Fortunato, Colleen Patterson, Samantha Robertson, Erin Sweeney and Begezda.

“The girls get along extremely well together,” Graf said. “The seniors dictate what are team does and make sure that things we need to get done, get done. They have motivated each other with hard work throughout the season to get where they are.

“We prepare with quality rather then quantity as far as running goes and the most important thing is to improve and have fun as a group.”

Poland didn’t get out of district competition last year.

“The kids have their hearts set on getting out of district this year,” Graf said.

The Bulldogs are intelligent, too, Graf said. They started a book club this season and read “The Last Lecture” by the late Carnegie-Mellon professor Randy Pausch, who wrote about achieving childhood dreams.

Begezda raised money this summer to buy a wheelchair for her friend Laura, then pushed her in the Smoky Hollow 5K run in the downtown streets of Youngstown.

Begezda (21:47) has been running cross country since the seventh grade. She carries a 4.0 grade point average and is a member of the National Honor Society, Poland High Leadership Club and Latin Club.

“We run from three to six miles each day in preparation for big meets and we encourage the underclassmen, try to motivate them to have fun and do their best,” Begezda said.

“I believe in running and love the girls on our team,” said Pompeo, the Niles Invitational champ (19:59) who finished second in Tuesday’s All-American Conference championships at Salem.

She has a 3.8 GPA is a member of the Latin Club, speech team and band, and runs the mile and two mile for the varsity track team in the spring.

“Maybe this year we can make it to the regional; that would be awesome as a team and it would be amazing if I made it individually,” Pompeo said. “This is my first year running cross county in high school and Coach Graf is the best coach I have ever had. She runs with us everyday is a good friend and motivates us with goals that we can actually reach.”

Sweeney, who has a 4.0 GPA and is a member of the Latin Club, student council and the Poland Leadership Club. She participates in cross country because she loves to run.

“We, as a team, run together every day four to five miles [35-miles a week], mostly at the high school, but around the town occasionally,“ Sweeney said. “We’re friends, we get along well together, have fun and encourage each other to do the best we can and Coach Graf is a great coach.

“If it weren’t for her, we wouldn’t have made it this far.”

miller@vindy.com