Running 3.1 miles is a long way to go for some people, but for freshman cross country runner CJ Meeks, there’s nothing to it.

“I like to run a lot,” he said. “I feel like I’m getting somewhere in life.”

At the first full 5K meet for the cross country team on Saturday, Sept. 11, Meeks ran junior varsity and placed third with a time of 19:50. As the season continued on, he would only continue to improve that time. By the end of the season he had set a personal best of 18:39, over a full minute better than his original time. In junior varsity at the Kaw Valley League meet, he placed first out of 67 runners. It earned him a spot on the Regional and State team as a replacement, though he never ended up running at either meet.

Cross country coach Mark Chipman believes that the current seven varsity runners better watch out for Meeks next season.

“If they’re going to slack off, there’s a good chance CJ is going to pass them,” Chipman said.

Meeks also believes that he will be able to make varsity, because of his work ethic.

“I think I will because I work hard and I am almost there,” Meeks said.

In spite of the physical effort required, some people do not consider cross country to be a sport, something Meeks disagrees with.

“They think it’s easy because they think they could do it any day but they can’t because it’s really hard,” Meeks said.

Chipman meanwhile said he would like to see Meeks run track and continue on with his cross country career as well.

“He lettered as a freshman, which is hard to do,” Chipman said. “He could be a valuable member of the team the next three years.”

Chipman will not be disappointed. Meeks does plan to continue his cross country career.

“I will because I’m good at it and it’s very fun,” Meeks said.

Meeks may be at the top, but his advice to new or struggling runners is simple: they should keep on running and not give up.

It worked for him, didn’t it?