Cross Country, Track & Field
Favorite athlete: Dalilah Muhammad
Favorite team: Pittsburgh Steelers
Favorite memory competing in sports: When I won a very competitive 800 at a duel meet and the entire team ran up to me to congratulate me.
Most embarrassing/funniest thing that has happened while competing in sports: I false started for the very first time at one of the high school meets in my sophomore year, and I would say I overreacted, but my teammates definitely laughed at me.
Music on playlist: One Beer by MF DOOM give it a list for sure.
Future plans: I would like to go to college where I will major in Biology or Psychology and also continue to compete in track on the collegiate level.
Words to live by: “Always focus on yourself not others.”
One goal before turning 30: To go skydiving
One thing people don’t know about me: I can play the piano.
By Craig Ostroff
Lanae Carrington hadn’t actually planned on running cross country her senior year.
A standout indoor and outdoor track athlete, Carrington had dropped cross country after her sophomore season in order to focus on track.
But knowing how young this year’s Harry S Truman girls’ cross country team was going to be, coach MJ Powlowicz—also an assistant coach on the girls’ track and field team—approached Carrington in the spring asking her to consider coming back.
Carrington agreed to return to cross country, primarily as a way to remain in shape for track season.
“Last year, I wanted to focus on track,” she said. “I usually do summer track with AAU, so I didn’t want to get right into cross country. I wanted to take my last two last years to train on my own instead of running cross country.
“When I started back this year, I looked at it as a way to stay in shape, see where this takes me. Honestly, when I first started the workouts, I wasn’t enjoying it. After two years of straight track, it wasn’t easy to get back in the groove of running long distances on grass.”
Through those preseason practices and early season meets, Carrington noticed how quickly she was reacclimating to the sport
“I’m really starting to enjoy it again,” she said. “It’s helping my mentality a lot. When you’re running so long, you have to have a strong mentality, keep pushing yourself, not give up or stop, so I feel like I’m getting back to that again.”
Of course, Powlowicz’s reasons for having Carrington return were twofold. First, she was an experienced distance runner who could be counted on to provide consistent scoring for the Tigers. Second, as a senior and a standout runner in track, she’d be looked upon to lead the young Truman squad.
“We don’t have many upperclassmen – with Lanae we have three seniors, two juniors, and then all underclassmen, so we’re a really young team,” Powlowicz said. “I told her, ‘I need you to come in here, set an example for these kids.’ She jumped into it 100 percent.
“When you’re a senior with a bunch of freshmen, it can be tough, but she’s done a really good job. The younger kids look to her. Anything she has to say, they turn and they listen. Lanae isn’t a super-vocal leader, but she sets an example and when she does talk, they listen. They trust her, and that’s huge in cross country. You need people around you who are going to pick you up and show you some love. I’ve absolutely seen that in the way she’s interacted with the younger kids.”
Stepping into that leadership role didn’t exactly come easy to Carrington. But just as with her return to cross country, she’s learned to enjoy the added responsibilities.
“I am more the quiet, reserved type,” Carrington said. “When MJ told me I was going to have to step up, I was like, ‘I barely talk, what do you mean be a leader?’
“But it’s actually pretty fun, it’s nice to encourage my teammates. Because I’m not the most vocal, I try to lead by example, so they see me on the course and they try to stay with me. And I’m bettering myself, too. It’s helped me break out of my shell a little bit more. I used to keep to myself more, now I talk to people more, I’ve been able to gain new friendships as well. We all help each other on the track, and in cross country, and in we keep each other in check in the classroom.”
And when they’re out on the course, the Tigers are looking to improve with every meet and provide a serious challenge to opposing teams. Truman may not have the numbers of some of Suburban One cross country teams, but their heart and effort will never be questioned.
“Even though we are a small team, we’re all great runners on our team,” Carrington said. “We’re tiny. Sometimes we have only 5 or 6 people in a race. But we’re going to compete with you as though we have 28 people.
“I’m hoping we can keep putting up PRs on the board, get to districts and states, that’s the main goal here.”
Once she’s able to leave the uneven terrain of the cross country courses and return to the level track, that’s where Carrington truly shines. The defending Patriot Division champion in the 300-meter hurdles and 400-meter dash as well as a member of the Tigers’ league championship 4x400 relay squad, Carrington is primed and ready for bigger and better things in her final indoor and outdoor track seasons.
As a junior, Carrington put an exclamation mark on the indoor track season when she won the Ocean Breeze Freedom Games 600-meter White Run in 1:44.04, the top indoor time in the state.
Everyone will be looking at Carrington in her senior campaigns. And they’ll be looking to dethrone her. She’s looking at her frontrunner status as motivation, but she also knows she can only control her own races.
“That’s most definitely going to be a little motivator, you have a status to uphold in a way, but I don’t want to make that my main focus,” she said. “I’m there to get a new PR, run my race. I don’t want to worry about the people surrounding me, that’s going to mess up my plan if I’m worried about what others are thinking or doing.
“This is probably the most excited I’ve been for track season. I’ve been itching for track to come. I’ve got big goals in mind, but I know I can get them done if I really work hard, stay focused, keep looking at those goals.”
•••
While Carrington’s success on the track is unquestioned, her athletic prowess is just a small part of what makes her such an important and highly regarded member of the Harry S Truman community. A stellar student and member of Truman’s National Honor Society, Carrington’s senior courseload is packed with honors-level classes.
“My original plan was, ‘Let’s take it easy. You’ve taken AP and honors classes the last two years, I think you should chill,’” Carrington said with a laugh. “No … that did not end up happening. A majority of my classes are honors.”
Outside of school, Carrington volunteers at her church, often working with children and helping out at camps for local kids. In recognition of her efforts, Carrington was honored as Miss Unity by the Boots on the Ground Foundation, and was recognized for this achievement at the Bristol Township School Board meeting in September.
“I didn’t know I was going to get recognized by the township for that,” Carrington said. “It was really nice, and a little bit of a shock. But when I’m not running—when I’m ‘Outside-of-Track Lanae’—I do a lot of volunteering work and I really enjoy being able to do that.”
As she continues to navigate her senior year in the classroom and athletic fields, Carrington is acutely aware that the milestones, achievements, and opportunities she will reach this year are her last as a high schooler.
“I’m honestly still trying to get used to being a senior,” she said. “We won’t be coming back after this. My mind is still processing that. We recently had our assembly where we went over everything, graduation and all the things we do as seniors and it hit me, ‘Wow, it’s my turn for all this.’”
Carrington is still looking at and narrowing down her list of options for college. She’s considering pursuing a major in either biology or psychology, and wants to continue her athletic career at the next level.
“I like running,” she said. “I know it sounds crazy to some people, but I do like running. If the opportunity is there to run in college, I’m taking it.”
And once she’s moved on from Harry S Truman High School, she will leave a void that extends far beyond the track or the classroom.
“There really is not enough praise I can heap on Lanae,” Powlowicz said. “She’s a heck of an athlete, heck of a kid, really smart in the classroom, she’s involved in the community with all the service stuff she does, she’s just an all-around great kid.
“Everyone asks about Lanae. She’s pretty well known about the township, and that’s because of the type of person she is. She has a really positive impact on the people she comes in contact with. She’s a great athlete, but more than that, she’s a great kid and a great person. And that’s the most important thing.”
