Continuing his third year at La Salle, junior Sean Snow began with a new start. Unlike previous years, Snow decided to join the cross country team after finding his love for running late last year on the La Salle track team. 

Growing up, Snow participated in many different sports including basketball and swimming, as well as golf and soccer, which he continued in high school, but has since stopped. During his sophomore year, Snow decided to join the track team “to get in shape for soccer, and then I found my passion in running, and I just enjoy it more,” Snow said. 

What compelled Snow to join track last spring was not only to stay in shape, but also because “I knew a lot of people that were already going to do track, so I was told it would be a cool community to join,” he said.

Despite Snow being reluctant to join cross country last year because of the long distance running, he decided to do it this season because it would help get him prepared for the track season.

Snow’s favorite track event last year was the 800-meters, and it was also his best event. He enjoyed the 800-meters because of a competition he had going on with one of his friends. “It was just kind of a competitive thing that me and him had,” Snow said. “Someone would PR one meet, and then someone else would PR and get a better time.” 

During the winter when neither cross country nor track are going on, Snow stays in shape with winter conditioning.

Looking back on this season, Snow highlighted the Meriwether Invitational as his favorite cross country meet of the season because it was where he set his new personal record. “I set a time of 17 minutes and nine seconds,” he said. “I think a lot of the team PR’d that race too, so it was really great to see everybody else succeed as well,” Snow said.

For Snow, one of the most mentally challenging parts about cross country this year was “running super hard for 18 minutes… it’s very mentally challenging,” he said. “Getting through that wall is the hardest thing. I think it’s the hardest thing about running a 5K or longer distances, whereas track it’s only two laps around the track.” 

Looking into next year’s cross country season, Snow has set goals for himself and for the team. He wants the boys to make it to state, but individually, Snow wants to break his personal record in the 5K. “I want to break seventeen minutes just because I was so close,” he said. “I was only nine seconds away.”

After high school Snow wants to pursue music in college, despite the fact that he is currently juggling his sports with playing the trumpet. However, running is still something he plans to do for fun in the future. 

Although next year will be Snow’s last year running track and cross country, he is appreciative of the team environment both sports create. “The best part is definitely the friends around you and the team always motivating you,” he said. “But it’s kind of this thing where it’s a shared pain of running distance, so it’s a very bonding experience,” Snow said.