When the Cross Country State Finals were over, senior Evan Parker sat in the woods, alone, grieving his results.
Parker ran three miles in 14 minutes, 30 seconds at the Nov. 9 race—an impressive feat to most. By placing 24th in the race, Parker earned his second All-State title. Even so, it was not what Parker wanted. It was not the result he had fought for.
Parker started running cross country in his sophomore year, barely missing State qualification by 0.88 seconds.
“Failing my sophomore year was probably very helpful in my running as a whole,” he said in an interview. “I never thought about if I was close to qualifying. So after [missing State qualification], I was like, ‘Man, there’s so much harder I can train and practice and get better.’ So after not qualifying, I was like, ‘Screw it, I’m gonna do everything I can over the next year to get better.’”
A year later, Parker, a junior at the time, was originally projected to place 76th at State. Exceeding all expectations, he finished in 14th place, a testament to all his training. In between Cross Country seasons, he dabbled in Track, placing 10th at State last May in the 3200-meter.
Going into his Senior season, Parker was ready to cut down time. Amping up his mileage all season long, including going on a 50-mile run in the summer just because he “wanted to prove that it was possible,” he worked to beat his time from last year’s State race.
It fits well with his coach’s impression of him that Parker would find a way to make his training fun.
“He is as joyful as he is intense, and he balances these two things extraordinarily well,” head Boys Cross Country coach John Roberts said. “He knows when it’s appropriate to not take the sport too seriously and knows exactly when it’s important to dig deep and give extra focus and intensity.”
Finally, the day of the State race came. Conditions were decent—slightly muddy but not windy at all. Unfortunately for Parker, he’d just barely gotten over a cold. However, for the first 800 meters of the race, he led in first place.
Jonah Diehl, a senior and a teammate of Parker’s, was there to watch him run.
“First mile, first mile and a half—solid,” Diehl remembered. “I got very worried after the second-mile marker, because he was not in first place, which is what he wanted to be in, but he also wasn’t in that lead pack.”
As the race went on, exhaustion caught up to Parker, which he attributes to his prior illness. Despite his tiredness, Parker still finished strong, sprinting toward the line.
“And just like every meet he has ever run, Evan fought every step of the way through a very difficult back half of his race,” Roberts said. “Watching his grit and determination on this day was inspiring and made me proud. There is no quit in Evan, even when things get hard.”
Parker was disappointed in the results. He’d been passed by competitors that he had beaten earlier in the season. But as he sat in the woods, his view shifted to optimism. Though he was initially disappointed by the results of the run, Parker is aware of the bright future ahead of him as several Division 1 colleges seek his commitment. According to Diehl, he intends to take part in the Foot Locker Cross Country Midwest Regional race on November 30, in hopes of finishing his season strong. And at the end of the day, running with his teammates remains his passion.
“I was thinking about my college application [essay], where I just talked about running and how you should never be sad while running. So I was like, Man, I can’t be that sad because there’s so much more valuable things to come. Like track and field, doing good, and just having long runs with friends and stuff. All [of] that makes running worth it.”
