NXR Southeast Champion Lowered Her Summer Miles And Dedicated More Time To Weight Training To Prepare For Cross Country

By Ricky Quintana for DyeStat

Junior Averi Lowen (Bowdon GA) raced to a meet record 16:52.95 at the Bob Blastow Invitational Saturday morning at the McIntosh Nature Preserve.

Lowen darted out to the lead in the first 200 meters and never looked back, hitting the mile in 5:15 and the 2-mile in 10:38 (5:23 second mile), en route to breaking the meet record of 17:30.99 set by Pace Academy’s Zahara Bernal, who is now a senior at Columbia in New York City.

“It was a great start to the season, but there is still a lot of work to do,” Lowen said. “(A time of) 16:52.95, I was pretty proud of that.”

A sore Achilles kept her from competing in the track post season. She did attend the Nike Outdoor Nationals as a spectator though.

“I was really biting my teeth because I really wanted to be out there and compete with the best because here I have to be mentally tough because I am mostly by myself, ” the defending NXR Southeast champion said. 

Lowen’s time didn’t surprise her. She competed in the Founder’’s Day run in Bowdon on Aug. 2 and sped to a win in 16:38, a course record on the USATF certified course. Both her efforts in August have been huge personal bests.

“Last year at Bob Blastow, I ran a 17:48, so that was a big improvement by almost over a minute. And then for the 5k road race, I ran 17:20 last year and this year I ran 16:38.”

Lowen credits her improvement to lowering her mileage and hitting the weight room. Last year, she ran 70-80 miles per week, but has lowered that mileage to 50-60 miles per week this year. She has also added weightlifting to give her more strength.

“I think that’s the best thing for my body right now. If I want my body to develop how I want in college, I don’t want to burn out right now. Just quick effective mileage over quantity is more efficient.”

Lowen’s goals this season are lofty: A top 10 finish at NXN and running her best during the regular season, which includes the Great American XC Festival on Oct. 4.

Lowen fell at the start last year at NXN and worked her way from last to finished 78th in 18:45.2.

“I really want to win the big races and win the important ones. I really want to put myself on the map nationally,” she said. “Focusing on the short term goals and then the long term goals will come into play. When you get to the college level, it will be tough, but I really want to be competitive. I want it to be fun too. I love it. I can never stop. I want to go run right now, but I just got done so I shouldn’t.”

Lowen’s time was second to Jenna Hutchins’ (Science Hill TN) course record of 16:39.06 set in 2020 at the Coach Wood Invitational. That year, Hutchins became the first high schooler to run under 16 minutes when she won the RunningLane National Cross Country Championships in 15:58.42.

In the spring during track season, she ran a 5,000-meter national record of 15:34.37.