Honour Roll
Kendra Lewis
In 2019 Kendra Lewis was coming off an injury, and, though disappointed in her season, she still managed second-place finishes at both the B.C. and Canadian championships. Lewis’s successes attracted the attention of many ncaa schools, and she has settled on Villanova University, where she’ll start in fall 2020. Her career may be young, but Lewis is an athlete to watch.
Have you always been a runner, or did you do other sports before settling on running?
I started running when I was pretty young. I was in the second grade when I did my first cross-country race, and I didn’t really ever do other sports seriously. I played soccer for fun, but I always knew running was my sport.
When did you start to think you might have a future in it?
I came second in my first race. It was a pretty big race, and I didn’t expect that. I didn’t initially want to run, but my teacher made me try it, and I really liked it. It was pretty good, so I kept doing it.
You’re in Grade 12 — What are your plans for next year?
I’ve already signed with a school, so I’m going to Villanova, which is in Pennsylvania.
What attracted you to Villanova?
It was a pretty tough decision. I visited three other schools, and a couple of weeks before I made my decision, I still had no clue where I wanted to go. There were some really good options. I had to think about what was the best fit for me and what was going to benefit me the most, long-term. I saw myself fitting in most comfortably at Villanova.
Will you be running both cross-country and track there?
Yes.
What were your goals heading into the 2019 cross-country season?
In 2018 I won the national title in Kingston, so coming into this year I wanted to defend my title, but I didn’t have a great crosscountry season. I was pretty disappointed. I was injured. I had time to come back from the injury, but it just wasn’t really there. I wasn’t strong enough, so I was a little disappointed. [She finished second to Madelyn Bonikowsky of Nelson, B.C.]
So you do track as well. What’s your favourite event on the track?
Probably the 1,500m. I usually like long distances in cross-country, but that’s just a really fun one on the track. I also run the 3k – I like that also.
Have you had any races yet this year?
I ran at the University of Washington on Saturday, February 22. That went better than I was expecting, so I was pretty happy. I won the race, and it was a one-second PB, so a 9:45, which was pretty good for the start of the season, so I was happy.
What are your goals for this season?
The big goal is to try and qualify for the junior national team. This year the World Juniors are in Kenya. It’s going to be tough to qualify, but that would be super cool, to go and be on that team. And then just to try and do well at my provincial championships. That’s one of the big meets this year. [Note: as we went to press, it was announced that due to coronavirus, the World U20 Championships scheduled to take place in Nairobi in July are postponed.]
What has been the highlight of your running career so far?
Last October I got to be on the Youth Olympic team in Buenos Aires, Argentina. It was a really fun trip. We spent two and a half weeks there, and it’s just like the actual Olympics. You meet people from every country and from all different sports, and you’re with them in the village. That was a really cool experience.
How did you do there?
I ran the 1,500m, and everyone who ran a distance race had to run a cross-country race. They have this weird points system where they would take your score based on your placing in the track event and then add it to the cross-country placing. In my event, I came ninth overall.
What are your long-term goals and dreams in the sport?
Ever since I started running, I would say to people, “Oh, I want to go to the Olympics.” That’s obviously something that everyone in the sport would think about. I would love to do that, but that’s a long way down the road, so for now I just want to keep enjoying running. That’s why I do it, because I love to run.— Ben Snider-McGrath