Girls Cross-Country Outlook | Pattillo loves to run, and to win
By Michael Ko
Seattle Times staff reporter
BOTHELL — Paige Pattillo caught the running bug early, in fifth or sixth grade. Her mother, Jackie, ran every morning for fun and fitness, and Pattillo recalls tagging along, trying to keep up.
The love of running came easy.
The love of racing? That was difficult.
Pattillo, a senior at Bothell High School, finished fourth at last year's Class 4A girls state cross-country meet. Her mark of 18 minutes, 24 seconds is tops among any returning girl in the state in any classification.
But the personal-best time — and ensuing expectations for this cross-country season — didn't come easily, not until Pattillo decided to embrace the idea of competition.
Before last season, Pattillo reasoned if she never competed, she'd never lose, never have to face criticism and her high expectations. She became so nervous before races, her parents couldn't even talk to her.
"What I had a hang-up with is, running is the thing I do with myself, to get away," Pattillo says. "I didn't really at first like the fact that I had to take the thing that was my own and have other people judge me at it."
Pattillo grew up the youngest of three sisters, playing sports and riding horses on a wooded, 5-acre homestead in Bothell. She owns a 6-year-old pony named Charlie, a white Appaloosa with brown and black spots.
She ran laps around the other girls on the dirt track at Skyview Junior High, and found early inspiration in one of her sister's friends, Amy Lia, a 2003 Bothell graduate and two-time KingCo 4A Conference cross-country champ.
Lia, who went to the University of Washington and won an NCAA title in June in the women's 1,500 meters, presented the plucky Pattillo with some hand-me-down racing spikes, just in time for Pattillo's eighth-grade district mile finals.
Pattillo wore Lia's size 7 black-and-orange Adidas spikes and won in 5:21.9, just off Lia's district record of 5:21.3. The shoes are still stashed in a box in the Pattillo basement.
"I looked up to her so much," Pattillo says. "She always pushed me to reach her records."
After a so-so sophomore season, Pattillo broke through at the Sunfair Invitational in Yakima last year, finishing 5 kilometers in second place in 18:38, her first time under 19 minutes.
"It was totally a turning point," Pattillo says. "It made me decide I want to be a runner and I want to take it somewhere."
The 5-foot-4 Pattillo won't verbalize her expectations for this year except to say that she's put in more mileage than ever before, peaking at about 70 last week.
She credits a year-and-a-half of Yoga for helping her build endurance and teaching her how to breathe effectively and calm down mentally on race days.
Darrell Lee, Bothell's co-head cross-country coach, describes Pattillo's personality as "tireless towards excellence" and her running style as powerful, tough and "not so dainty." At practice, she trains with boys because none of the girls can keep up.
"She might be the one in 10 years doing the ultraruns," Lee says, referring to the 50- to 100-mile extended marathons.
Running remains Pattillo's release, her chance to construct clear thoughts and escape the demands of homework and the hectic high-school social life. But now there's another reason.
"More now, I love the high and the adrenaline rush of racing," Pattillo says. "There's nothing like it. I think you kind of grow to like it, grow to love it."
Michael Ko: 206-515-5653 or mko@seattletimes.com
Runners to watch
Some of the top girls cross-country runners from Seattle-area high schools:
Vanessa Bennum, So., Jefferson
Ellie Bonner, Jr., Snohomish
Chelsea Burns, Jr., Holy Names
Katrina Drennen, Sr., Sumner
Emily Farrar, Jr., Bainbridge
Manal Hamad, Jr., Roosevelt
Jordan Huegli, Jr., Edmonds-Woodway
Sarah Lord, So., Redmond
Sadie Mohler, Jr., Roosevelt
Haley Nemra, Jr., Marysville-Pilchuck
Terra Oldham, So., Bellevue Christian
Kenna Patrick, Sr., Jefferson
Alyson Piccolo, Sr., Stanwood
Caitlin Ramirez, Jr., Cedarcrest
Kara Sporrong, Sr., Snohomish
Olivia Thomas, So., King's
Nelly Evans, Jr., Auburn Riverside
Kalee Cipra, So., Auburn Riverside