Houlton junior Isaiah Brown falls into all three categories.
A talented, 5-foot, 11-inch 16-year-old athlete at Houlton Middle-High School, Brown made tremendous improvements in his overall race times, shaving several minutes off his finishes from his sophomore to junior year.
In December, Brown will join more than 3,000 youth athletes as he journeys to Albuquerque, NM for the 2015 USATF National Junior Olympic Cross Country Championships.
“After my cross country season had completed I decided to continue on in the United States Track and Field Association’s XC Junior Olympic program,” Brown explained. “This past Sunday (Nov. 22) I competed in the Region 1 national qualifier and came in 10th place which qualified me for the USATF National Junior Olympic XC championships to be held in Albuqurque, New Mexico.”
The expenses to participate in this event are very high. To aid in his fund-raising effort, Brown started an online campaign at https://www.gofundme.com/isaiahjoxc. As of Monday afternoon, he had raised $805 of the $1,800 needed for the trip.
“I train hard for moments like this and earned this opportunity. I run as much as I can all year long, even in the cold winter weather. I put in lots of effort and unfortunately this race is very costly. I want to experience this event because I love cross country, I want to compete, and I can’t think of a better way to visit New Mexico for the first time than this.”
Brown moved to Houlton from the Michigan area with his parents Sara and Bruce Davis, brother Austin and little sister Christy prior to the start of his sophomore year. He tried out for the cross country team at his new school and quickly found a niche for himself.
“At first I felt, ‘why am I doing this to myself?’” he said of his passion for running. “But when I finally got into shape, everything changed. I became a better athlete and it has helped me in other areas like Ultimate Frisbee.”
He came into his junior season motivated to lower his time under the 18-minute mark, which had been his common finishing time as a freshman in Michigan and as a sophomore at Houlton a year ago.
His best time in a 5K event came at the Region 1 national qualifier in Smithfield, R.I., where he completed the course in 17 minutes, 6 seconds.
Brown’s cross country coach, Chris Rines, has spent the past two years working with him to hone his running skills and has seen remarkable growth from last year to this year.
“Isaiah has done a lot of work to become a better runner,” Rines said. “He came to our program last year and didn’t have a very good summer of training. But he did really well throughout the season, progressing each week.”
Brown said running helps him focus both on the course and in life. He plans different strategies for each race.
“I never try to lead a race start to finish,” he said. “A lot of kids go way too fast at the beginning and are just done by the end of the race. I try to plan my moments.”
Rines said Brown was just hitting his stride during his sophomore year when the cross country season came to an end. But he stuck with a strict running program during the offseason
“Isaiah had a goal to be the best runner he could,” Rines said. “He had a lot of help from some of the many runners in the community. There was a lot of support from friends and family.”
His growth from his sophomore year to his junior season was incredible, the coach said.
“He came into this year, miles ahead of where he was,” he said. “He spent nine months training for the start of this year, which allowed him to go right into speedwork and hill training right away. It was huge.”
Speed also runs in the Brown family as his brother Austin was a standout running back and defensive back for the Houlton football team this fall. Isaiah admitted in short distances, Austin was faster than him, but when it comes to distance running he normally prevails.” Both are members of the school’s track and field team.
Brown said he wants to have a strong showing at the race in New Mexico and plans to continue his year-round training in the hopes of lowering his overall times into the low 16-minute area. After high school, he plans to continue his running in college.
“I just enjoying running and plan to continue with it well beyond school,” he said.
