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January 10, 2008

La Salle's Jeanne Mack named Gatorade girls cross country runner of the year

The Gatorade Company, in partnership with RISE Magazine, today announced Jeanne Mack of La Salle Academy as its 2007-08 Gatorade Rhode Island Girls Cross Country Runner of the Year. As Rhode Island’s honoree for 2007-08, Mack becomes a member of the inaugural Gatorade State Girls Cross Country Runner of the Year class.

The award, which recognizes not only outstanding athletic excellence, but also high standards of academic achievement and exemplary character demonstrated on and off the racecourse, distinguishes Mack as Rhode Island’s best high school girls cross country runner. Mack is now a finalist for the prestigious Gatorade National Girls Cross Country Runner of the Year award to be announced in mid-January.

The senior distance runner captured the Class A and All-State individual championships by 21 seconds and 32 seconds, respectively, leading the Rams to team titles at both events. Mack finished second at the New England Cross Country Championships with a time of 18:29.4. She placed 25th at the Foot Locker Northeast Regional in 18:48 in addition to winning the Varsity D Race at the prestigious Manhattan Invitational this past fall.

Mack has maintained an A-plus average in the classroom. In addition to volunteering as a teacher’s assistant at Little Friends Preschool, she participates in multiple community-service initiatives, making jewelry for charitable sale to benefit the Special Olympics and donating her time to Arts Alive by helping inner-city youths build confidence and creativity through expressive art.

“You wouldn’t know it by looking at her, but she’s a very fierce competitor,” said La Salle Academy Head Coach Kelly Martin. “She never repeats a mistake twice; she always learns from her mistakes. She made a lot of progress coming off her junior year, all of it from work ethic.”

Mack remains undecided upon a collegiate destination.

Posted by Corey Bourassa  at 5:08 PM to High School | Permalink

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