Maumee’s Dugan ends freshman season at cross country regional meet

Arriana Dugan finished her freshman season in the Division III regional meet. / Pride of the Panthers

By JEREMY SCHNEIDER

IMA SPORTS

Every week has been a new learning experience for Maumee freshman runner Arriana Dugan, and last Saturday’s Division II regional meet was no different.

Dugan found herself bunched in a tight pack of runners for the first mile, which limited her stride, according to Panthers coach and Arriana’s mom, Jenni Dugan. Once that pack opened up, Arriana Dugan struggled to fully open her stride, limiting her to a 28th place finish in 20 minutes, 16.11 seconds at the Owens Community College Findlay-area Campus.

“We knew that Saturday was going to be a tough race with a fast start. Every girl there was going to be pushing herself to the max knowing it was either going to be her ticket to state or her last meet of the season,” Jenni Dugan said.

“As soon as she passed me at the (first) mile marker, I noticed that the girls were packed in there pretty tight and her stride looked very short and abnormal to accommodate. The entire first mile was run that way. This is the first time she had really experienced being stuck in such a large pack with limited movement and not being able to find her way out of it. They did finally start to space out some after that but unfortunately for Arriana, she had run tight for so long that she just wasn't able to fully open her stride back up after that.

“Of course neither of us wanted the outcome we got, but it did show that inexperience has an effect and we know we've got something to work on for next season.”

Despite falling short of qualifying for the state meet, Dugan had plenty of highlights this fall. She finished second at the Northern Buckeye Conference championships, earning first-team All-Conference honors.

Coach Dugan gave Arriana credit for being adaptable and rolling with the punches during a freshman season that didn’t go as expected. Some of the obstacles included runners from last year deciding to not run this season, leaving the Panthers with only three girls on the team, and an illness that kicked in right at the start of the season and lingered all year long.

“The mental aspect of running has always been Arriana's biggest challenge,” Jenni Dugan said. “I think that facing all of these adversities this year forced her to focus on her mental strength and I have seen drastic improvements in it. This will definitely carry over and benefit her in her future cross country seasons.”

Help and support is on its way, though. The Maumee Middle School girls team won the NBC team title, and eighth grader Cienna Fraley won the individual title. Both Dugans are excited to have that group join the high school team next season.

“They have some very talented runners who are definitely going to push the returning high schoolers,” coach Dugan said. “Cienna Fraley … ran extremely impressive times all season. Having her to run with and challenge at practices and meets next year is definitely going to be a boost for Arriana.

“Arriana pushed herself as much as possible this year on the days that she had nobody to run with or against. On days that we joined the boys or middle school teams, I could always tell that it was just easier to push the pace. Having the incoming freshman join us next year is going to make a huge difference at practices.”

Photo courtesy of Pride of the Panthers

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