Sandersí drive results in state championship
By Sarah Meinecke
The Macon Telegraph

To a typical teenager, waking up at 5 a.m. on the first day of high school would seem like a chore.

 To First Presbyterian Day's Kelley Sanders, it was a necessity.

 Because if Sanders wanted to be the top cross country runner in the GISA, then he would need to be at the FPD weight room when the school doors opened at 5:45 a.m. Or he needed to be out running, even if it meant he would run twice because of the afternoon practice with the team.

 That dedication is the reason that Sanders, a junior, was undefeated as an individual in GISA competition, and the reason his team, the FPD boy's cross country team won the state title.

 It is also the reason that Sanders received the All-Middle Georgia Runner of the Year.

 "Kelley is an extremely confident kid, and he brings a lot of stuff to our team," FPD coach Chad McDaniel said. "It is neat when you have guys that are extremely talented who doesn't get caught up in his natural God-given ability. He isn't afraid to work."

 That work appeared to have paid off this season. Improving on his scores from last year, the slowest time that Sanders ran this season was 18:09 at the Stratford Academy course on Sept. 13. Less than a month later he ran his fastest time of the season, improving on his slowest time by almost two minutes. Sanders received a first place nod at the Riverside Military meet Oct. 4, with a time of 16:29.

 In the 2003 State Meet at Stratford, Sanders finished 20 seconds faster than his nearest competitor, FPD teammate Chad Bacon, with a time of 17:08, good for first place.

 The FPD boys ran a near perfest race in the state meet, and Sanders was undefeated on the season. Still, he said that some of his goals went unfulfilled.

 "Throughout the season, we had goals not involving times, and everyone tried hard and worked hard, and as a whole everyone's times came down," Sanders said. "There were a couple of us that were trying to take running to the next level, especially for college. So we worked hard, and we had some training plans, but we didn't really go about it the right way."

 But for Sanders, the thought of college is a fleeting one, especially with one more season at FPD ahead of him. He wants to work on his senior year before worrying about college and scholarships.

 Sanders, a two-year captain, didn't join the FPD team officially until his sophomore year because of eligibility reasons. He had transferred to FPD after a tumultous experience at Tattnall. But his Vikings teammates still voted him into the leadership position of captain.

 It was a role he took seriously, especially after the adversity he went through while attending Tattnall. Sanders is mum on the experience, but not what he took away from it.

 "I set a reputation for myself at Tattnall, and I wanted to get away from that," Sanders said. " I was just growing up,  and you have to go through some false people to find out who you really are.

 "Going to FPD helped because there is more of a do-good, be your best attitude at FPD, and being around those people helped me a lot."

 McDaniel is one of those people who Sanders credits with influencing his life, both as a runner and as a person. The bond between the two, according to both, goes beyond just athlete and coach.

 Sanders spends most of his free time at school in McDaniel's office, either talking or doing homework. When McDaniel was remodeling his house, Sanders spent Saturday's there, just helping out.

 As a runner, McDaniel has helped Sanders with a training schedule, making sure that Sanders wasn't doing too much too soon, and while McDaniel said he's excited about seeing what Sanders will do next cross country season, he also doesn't know what it will be like without Sanders around.

 "It's really neat when a high school kid seeks you out and wants a friendship with you," McDaniel said. "I am looking forward to seeing what he can do, but it is going to be sad, because I am not losing him as  a runner, but  a guy you have gotten to be close friends with.

It won't be the same after that, and I take advantage of every moment I have with him, and all these kids. "

Colungaís vow leads to fast success
By Sarah Meinecke
The Macon Telegraph 

It's all a mental thing.

 First Presbyterian Day's Erin Colunga knows it, she recognizes when she is psyching herself out and she tries her best to avoid it.

 Because Colunga, a freshman, has an acute awareness for when she is about to convince herself just to give up, she works that pushes herself that much harder. After a period of giving up or quitting, Colunga told herself she wouldn't do it again.

 It's that new mental attitude that helped Colunga become one of the top cross country runners for the FPD girls team in just two quick years, and how she became the All-Middle Georgia Runner of the Year.

 Colunga's best time of the season was 19:53 at the Riverside Military meet on Oct. 4. It had been Colunga's goal to break the 20 minute mark, and that was the only time during the 2003 season she did that.

 "Cross country was really hard when I started, but some people may train for a week, then quit," Colunga said. "But if you keep going, you get used to it, and it is not that bad at all. Now, the hard workouts are when we do sprints, not long workouts. It is really weird."

 Her ability to make herself believe she couldn't do something began when Colunga, an avid swimmer, started swimming competitvely. Just seven years old, Colunga would convince herself that she couldn't breathe under water, and would stop racing.

 But the disappointment to herself, her family and her coach was such an awful feeling that she vowed she wouldn't quit again, no matter how hard it got.

 That's one of the reasons that Colunga, still a swimmer, has the demanding task of training year round in the water and as a cross country runner.

 Difficult? Yes.

 Impossible? Not for someone who as just a freshman has high aspirations.

 "I have been attatched to swimming for so long that I love it so much and I don't think that I could ever give it up without regret of how good I could be," Colunga said. "Running is something new, and I fell in love with it.

 "Because I love to run and I love to swim,  I don't think I could pick one over the other. So in college I want to do both. I want to be the first girl at UGA to do running and swimming."

 Colunga started training with the FPD team during spring workouts when she was in seventh grade. Both her and coach Chad McDaniel realized that she could be one of the better runners on the team, and when McDaniel took the top eight runners to summer camp, Colunga, a rookie was with them.

 Not that the love for running clicked right away with Colunga, who remembers the early days when she would skip parts of a training route or just start walking.

 "I was horrible. It was so tiring, and I used to walk all the time," Colunga said. "But coach (McDaniel) makes you feel bad if you do, because he is always encouraging. His first goal is to help you not walk, and the second is to build speed."

 McDaniel's approach to Colunga, constant encouragement, had an effect. During her first season on the team, Colunga set a school record in the 5K for the fastest time from an eighth grader with a 20:51.

 Her 19:53 this season earned her the fastest time from a ninth grader. Colunga's slowest time of the season was 22:36, which she ran just a week before setting her fastest time.

 "She is starting to learn what she can do as a runner, and she is learning about things such as pace, and judging when she can surge during a race to catch someone or lose someone," McDaniel said.  "It is real neat to just watch her grow because she gets so excited whenever she tries something new and see if it works or not. It's just real neat to watch a young runner, who is very excited about, who is willing to work, and just really seems to be getting a lot out of it because she is able to do so much."

 But her goals for the team went unrealized when the girls finished four points behind Augusta Prep in the 2003 state meet. Colunga earned a third place finish with a time of 20:43, behind Augusta Prep runners Rebekah and Sara Madebach, who will both be attending Georgia in the fall.

 Her individual success, however, did little to help the disappointing feeling of losing as a team.

 "(Teammate) Jean (Hawkins) and I cried and cried when we didn't get the state title, because we wanted to win our entire high school years," Colunga said. "But now Jean  and I talk about it all the time in health class. We talk about winning next year, and how we are setting a new dynasty, a three-year dynasty."