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Dec. 2007 Monster Runner – Amanda Merrill

Published by
Shane   Dec 1st 2007, 11:41pm
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The Monster Runner Award

The Monster Runner Award is designed to celebrate the runners in our community who excel in race finishes, overcome personal challenges, run personal bests, contribute to a better life for those around them, and go far beyond their comfort zone to find something special within.


Amanda Merrill

This month we celebrate a runner with diverse talents and a focused future. Amanda not only excels in her running pursuits, but also challenges herself academically and culturally. Currently 14 years of age and a freshman at Springfield High School, Amanda was born here but has lived in a few different places with her military family. While Amanda admits that she really enjoyed living in the Portland area, she’s having a great time being back in her hometown, drawing on a lot of family support (including a younger sister and two older brothers) that contribute to her multi-faceted success. While Amanda particularly enjoys her math courses at Springfield, she has found success across the board as an honor student and as the student body president for her ninth grade class. Her success, however isn’t limited to the running scene, as Amanda has reigned as the Lane County Outstanding Teen and performed the National Anthem for various events.

This past fall, Amanda competed on her high school cross country team, earning a varsity spot as a freshman. In the past several weeks since the end of the season, Amanda’s finishes in local events have been quite impressive. At the Lifeforce Challenge 10K trail race, she dominated her age group en route to a 4th place overall finish in the age-graded results with a 57:10 clocking over a hilly muddy course. On Thanksgiving morning, Amanda captured a third place finish in her age division with a 21:54 finish at the Turkey Stuffer, and then followed that up with an age group win at the Jingle Bells Run 8K, finishing in 38:18.

As an athlete with dreams of running at the University of Oregon, it’s no surprise that Amanda’s favorite place to run is Hayward Field. She starting running as a sixth grader in a meet at school, has trained with her grandpa (him on his bike), and proudly displays a poster of Steve Prefontaine in her family’s living room. In fact, her favorite quote from Prefontaine, she indicates has served as a beacon for her focus: “To give anything less than your best is to sacrifice the gift.” Amanda has a unique pre-race ritual of not running through the finish line before she starts, cites the annual Butte To Butte as her favorite race, and notes the “great sense of accomplishment” she receives as her favorite aspect of running. Congratulations to Amanda for great success in many divergent realms – we look forward to seeing where your dreams take you.



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