During the sixth grade a lot of her middle school friends were planning on checking out the schools track team, Alexandra Chrisafideis went along and soon found out that she really enjoyed running. From that point the sixth grader worked extremely hard and perfecting her skills so that she’d be ready when she was able to run for the Ashland high school team.
“Compared to other sports, I found the competition much friendlier,” she said. “However, I quickly found out that that there was a big difference in running for the middle school compared to the high school. It was amazing how helpful the upper classmen were and how they encouraged you.”
It was during her sophomore cross country campaign that Chrisafideis realized that she had talent.
“I realized that I could do this when I started keeping up with the upper classmen,” the Ashland runner said. “I had worked hard but I didn’t think that I would be as competitive this soon.”
During the track season Chrisafideis runs the mile and 2-mile. She has a personal best time of 5:47 in the mile and while her 2-mile times are not as good, she finds herself undefeated in the race because of the lack of competition.
“I’m not bad, but my times are not as good as my mile times,” she said. “There are not a lot of girls that want to run the 2-mile because they’re afraid of the distance. They hear 24 laps and say forget it. I wish there was more competition.”
Ashland track coach Christine Avery likes the junior’s commitment to the sport.
“She’s one of the strongest distance runners in the league,” the Clocker coach said. “She’s always pushing herself to be better. She runs the 2-mile for us because we have no one and it helps us with points.”
As a triplet, Chrisafideis finds herself as the only one who runs track while her siblings participate in softball and tennis. According to the runner, her sisters tried the sport but were not into it. The three will occasionally all go for a run together.
Earlier in the season Chrisafideis got to take part in the Winter Festival at the Reggie Lewis Center where she ran in the mile.Unfortunately, it was not a good day for the Ashland runner.
“When we take part in big events against schools with larger numbers I like to focus on one race because there is much more competition,” she said. “It’s nice to get to meet new people and learn from them. At the race I tripped and fell so although I was disappointed in my results it was early in the season.”
Although only a junior, Chrisafideis will someday like to run in college.
“Running in college is a possibility. I still have plenty of time to think about it,” she said. “I’d first like to improve my times and then once I graduate see if I still love the sport. I’m sure I will, but you never know.”
For the meantime, the Ashland runner will concentrate on lowering her times in order to qualify for the states, where she is looking to give it her all on the track.