Oxford Hills’ Mandy Ivey stays the course, and it is paying off for the dedicated sophomore.
SOUTH PARIS – There are no pains in her knee joints this season. And Mandy Ivey is no longer an inexperienced freshman.
While most freshmen who excel at a particular sport early tend to slip slightly in what is known as a “sophomore slump,” Ivey, who runs for Oxford Hills High School, is heading in exactly the opposite direction.
“Her dedication to the sport is something that is hard to find in a lot of athletes,” said coach Larry Coulombe. “She’s the kind of person that you don’t have to get on to do something because she’s already pushing herself.”
Last season, Ivey was frustrated for much of the campaign by a nagging knee injury caused by rapid growth. “Basically, I grew too fast for my knees, and they had a hard time adjusting to the strain I was putting on them,” said Ivey. “I couldn’t train as much as I wanted to last year because of my injury.”
Despite the pain, Ivey finished in the top 20 at the Class A state meet in Augusta, the only freshman to do so. This season, the aim is even higher, especially after two top finishes in two big races this season.
At a regular season meet at Maranacook, Ivey finished in second place, while at the Laliberte Invitational at Augusta, the Vikings’ sophomore placed fifth in a field that included runners from Mt. Blue, Mt. Ararat and Edward Little, three top schools in Class A cross country.
“There’s no doubt I have to judge how I am doing, at least a little bit, based on how other runners finish,” said Ivey. “Some runners that finished far ahead of me last year were in my sights at the race at Augusta.”
The turnaround, according to Ivey, is all in the training.
“Last year I couldn’t train properly,” said Ivey, “but this summer everything was better, and I ran a lot.”
“The biggest thing about this sport is that a lot of the work has to be done over the summer,” said Coulombe. “The best athletes are the ones that train over the summer. If a runner comes back and isn’t in proper shape, that’s when injuries happen.”
By all accounts, last Thursday’s practice was a light one at Oxford Hills. The runners, seven boys and two girls, each ran three miles at a slower-than-normal pace. For Ivey, the count was four miles.
“She works hard, sometimes maybe too hard,” said Coulombe, “but she’s dedicated. This sport needs more dedicated runners like Mandy.”
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