Cross Country, Unified Track & Field
Favorite athlete: Quade Green
Favorite team: Carolina Panthers
Favorite memory competing in sports: Beating Wissahickon and going undefeated at home for my last cross country dual meet.
Most embarrassing/funniest thing that has happened while competing in sports: One time I was running with my friend Liam Brown, and he ran into a pole.
Music on iPod: “Songs of Innocence” U2
Future plans: Attend University of Michigan with hopes of becoming an entrepreneur afterwards.
Favorite motto: “If you have to eat every day, why wouldn’t you run every day.” –Coach Sexton
One goal before turning 30: Run a marathon and start my own company of non-profit organization.
One thing people don’t know about me: I’m an aspiring vegetarian and have beaten an entire Pokemon game in a few hours.
By Craig Ostroff
When Aaron Ngo marches in the Cheltenham High School graduation processional in just a few short weeks, he will leave behind an athletic legacy as a two-year co-captain for the boys’ cross country team, a lead-by-example role model who put in more time and ran more miles in practice than anyone else, and an individual who epitomized team spirit.
Not too shabby for a guy who had never participated in cross country before high school.
“I remember there was a cross country meeting at the high school, and a couple of my friends were going to see how it was,” said Ngo, who had played soccer during the fall months in middle school. “So I went with them.
“Everyone there had to say good things about the program. I decided to try it in practice, and I liked it. I wound up just putting in more miles, practicing over the summer, and I ended up choosing cross country.”
Ngo had had some experience running—he competed in track and field in middle school. But he spent his time as a sprinter. And he soon found that navigating three miles of ever-changing terrain was a whole lot different than a run along a track.
“It was difficult at first,” Ngo said. “I remember trying to run two miles and just having to stop. But all the conditioning definitely helped, the encouragement from my coach and my teammates. Over time, it became easier and easier. It became, ‘I can keep up with this guy … now I can keep up with this guy.’”
Panthers’ boys’ cross country coach Tom Sexton saw that even as a freshman, Ngo had the dedication and work ethic to make him a successful runner.
“Right from the beginning, you could tell that Aaron was the kind of kid who wants to do everything right,” said the longtime coach. “He would always be the most faithful coming to summer practice. That’s just the way he is. He’s been a co-captain since his junior year, and that really came naturally for him, I think. He’s a natural leader because of how responsible he is. Every year you could see him growing in his maturity and his responsibility. As a senior, he’s practically like an assistant coach.”
That work ethic has served Ngo well over the course of his high school cross country career. His intense summer workouts made him a strong role model for younger runners, and helped him get a leg up on the competition in the early stages of the season.
“Aaron runs more miles than any of our runners,” Sexton said. “We meet twice a week during the summer, and he was always running the most miles. He knows he’s not the fastest natural runner, so he’s got to run more miles to put on more strength.
“I think it was hard for him in a way. He would run a lot every summer, and in the beginning of the season, he’d have an edge on the faster kids who hadn’t run as many miles. But as the season went along, some of these kids would outrun him. I’m sure it was frustrating for him, but the great thing about Aaron is that he never changed his attitude or how hard he worked. He didn’t get the places he wanted all the time, but he never let it affect his attitude.”
In those situations, Ngo would simply put the team’s needs and success ahead of his own.
“It used to bother me,” he said. “But I started to think, ‘I want the team to do the best that it could.’ If those guys beat me, they beat me, but I’m not by any means going to just let them beat me. My season didn’t go as well as I had planned as far as my times, but this year, the team bonding was really strong. I don’t have any regrets with the way things happened. I wouldn’t trade it for anything.”
Off the field, Ngo is just as dedicated and hard-working. He is a member of the National Honor Society—where he serves as secretary—and is a fixture on the Cheltenham Honor Roll. He’s ranked in the top 20 in the senior class, and is finishing out his high school career with a courseload that includes four Advanced Placement and one Honors class.
Those academic accomplishments helped earn him acceptance to the University of Michigan. He will enter the university’s Ross School of Business, where he is looking at majoring in entrepreneurship or finance.
“I definitely like the school spirit, I like the town,” Ngo said. “My sister went to Penn, and she always said to me, ‘As good as it was being close to home, I wish I had branched out a little bit.’ That inspired me. I wanted to kind of distinguish myself. A lot of people here have influenced me a lot because I’ve been hanging out with them all my life. I think I just wanted to be alone for four years and figure out what I’m really about.”
One thing that Ngo has proven time and again that he is “about” is giving back. As President of the Student Council and co-chair of the charity committee, Ngo was heavily involved in planning fundraisers and charity events throughout the school year. This year, the Student Council held a pair of blood drives, a Thanksgiving basket collection, provided a donation to Easter Seals, and planned and ran Lose The Shoes, a double-elimination, 3-on-3 barefoot soccer tournament that helped raise awareness and funds for HIV AIDS research and prevention.
“I remember as a freshman and sophomore, Lose the Shoes was run by a separate committee, and last year, they dropped it,” Ngo said. “This year, we decided to pick it up and incorporate into Student Council. I’m really proud of doing that and being able to set it up so the tournament will continue as a Student Council event.”
Ngo has also been heavily involved in Unified Track and Field this spring. Along with Abington and Souderton high schools, Cheltenham fielded a team of Special Olympics athletes who competed against each other, with fellow students and coaches helping train and encourage them.
“I had done track in ninth and 10thgrades and I was going to try to do it again this year, but with everything I had going on, I didn’t think I was going to be able to make the time commitment,” Ngo said. “Mr. (Dave) Clark, who I worked with through Student Council, told me about Unified Track and told me they need people to help out. I told him I’d do it.”
Once or twice a week, Ngo would help coach, train and encourage his Cheltenham schoolmates with special needs as they prepared for their meets against Abington and Souderton.
“I did not know what it was going to be like at all,” Ngo said. “It was really inspiring. It’s great to see them get so involved and excited to run. And even though we were there for the Cheltenham kids, at all the meets, everyone would cheer for each other. It was really great to see that.”
While Ngo’s school colors won’t change in the fall, his surroundings most certainly will. Those who know him well know he’ll be able to tackle any challenge placed in front of him.
“This Aaron, whatever the job was, whatever I needed him to do, or whatever he needed to do for school, he’d do it and do it the right way,” Sexton said. “He’s been a really important part of our team for four years and a great role model for the younger kids. I really can’t say enough about him, he’s someone I really have a lot of respect for. He’s a kid who’s going to be successful no matter what he tries to do.”
