Junior keeping Carroll cross country calm, competitive

Reed Brown has started the cross country season with a couple of strong efforts, and coach Justin Leonard said that he expects nothing less from the Carroll junior.

Leonard said that Brown brings a lot to the team and said that he is very excited about where the team is headed.

“Reed is a competitor,” Leonard said. “He brings a component in that competitive spirit to the team that really fires up the team. One of the other things that sets him apart is that he is very calm. A lot of times you go into a big meet, and kids are little nervous or jittery and wide-eyed, but Reed is real calm, cool and collected. It helps with his performance, but it also helps with other kids as well, because he’s kind of that calming presence.”

Leonard said that one of the things that most impresses him about Brown is his work ethic.

“I think he can do some exceptional things this year,” Leonard said. “He can perform well and perform at the highest level. I think that he can go as high up as he wants to and shoot for some big goals this season. He’s working extremely hard, and I think that hard work is going to pay off for him.”

Brown said that he takes his leadership role on the team very seriously and said it is important to him to try to maintain a positive attitude.

“I try to bring a happy spirit and kind of bring the team together,” Brown said. “I just want to try to motivate everyone to push themselves to their full potential.”

The Carroll distance runner said that he is optimistic about this year’s team, as well.

“I think that we’re going to have a pretty good team this year,” Brown said. “We just have to make sure that we stay healthy and no one gets hurt.”

Brown said that he has some definite objectives for this season, both individually and as a team.

“As a team, we definitely want to win state and qualify for nationals,” Brown said. “Individually, I would like to break 15 minutes and win an individual state championship as well.”

In order to have a successful season and accomplish these goals, Brown said it will take a couple of things.

“I think it is just going to take us making sure that we are putting in a maximum effort into every work out that we are supposed to,” Brown said. “We have to hit the paces that we’re supposed to and make sure that none of the workouts we are doing go to waste.”

This story was originally published September 4, 2015 at 4:10 PM with the headline "Junior keeping Carroll cross country calm, competitive."