Sydney Owens never seems to quit.
When she placed second at state in her first year as a high school runner, she didn’t let success slow her down.
When her senior season wasn’t quite going to plan, she didn’t let that stop her either and fought her way to team and individual state titles.
Even at practice, Owens doesn’t leave after finishing her runs. She stays at the finish line to cheer on her teammates.
That attitude shows how Owens has never focused on awards, despite what her individual accomplishments and trio of team championships might suggest. She just wants to keep improving.
Now, Owens will take her never-quit mentality to the next level. She will join the University of Kansas cross-country team this fall.
“Sydney Owens is one of a kind,” Athletic Director Cara Kimberlin said. “An athlete of her caliber doesn’t come along very often in a small-town high school. She has a work ethic that doesn’t stop and is contagious.”
Owens said she’s looking forward to learning from new coaches and the new team who can help her grow as a runner.
“They’re definitely gonna push me to help me be the best I can be,” Owens said.
Kansas cross country assistant coach Michael Whittlesey said the team is excited to welcome Owens in the fall. He said Owens caught the coaching staff’s attention because of her competitiveness.
Sometimes, runners who make the jump from high school to college struggle with the increased intensity and amount of running, Whittlesey said. Another challenge is many runners have to take on a new role running in the middle or back of the pack.
But Whittlesey said Owens’ competitiveness will help her overcome the new challenges.
“Her competitiveness is going to put her in a situation moving forward that she’s going to really develop a lot,” he said.
Taking after her mother, Owens started running at age 7 and didn’t look back. She described her mom as her biggest running role model, alongside her coaches.
When she joined the middle school team, high school coach Jim Barnard already knew she was going to be special.
“I just remember thinking like, ‘Sydney is on a different level than these girls, like a completely different competitive level,’” Barnard said.
Owens was an impactful runner the minute she joined the Cardinals, placing second at state as a freshman. She joined a high school team on the cusp of a championship. Barnard and the team hoped Owens would help push them across the finish line.
Three state championships later, it’s fair to say she did.
But it wasn’t just Owens’ running abilities that caught Barnard’s eye, it was her leadership, which was evident when the team would run at practice.
“She’s probably going to finish faster than most every other kid,” Barnard said. “But she’ll be there on the track, cheering everybody on, cheering everybody through the finish line.”
Owens trains the same way she runs. She doesn’t let up because she knows someone might be right on her heels. That mentality is what has kept her as one of the top runners in the state year after year.
“Sydney is one of the hardest workers I have ever met,” said junior Hanna Keltner, one of Owens’ teammates. “That girl would run seven to nine miles a day and then go to the pool and swim, then go to conditioning. I admired how Sydney would never have an excuse for anything and had a ‘if you want it, go get it’ attitude that spread across the team.”
But that mentality isn’t just for the course. She is a leader both as a runner and as a student, where she has a GPA over 4.0 and takes advanced classes.
“In four years, she has never once thought or acted like she doesn’t need to keep working because she is a good runner,” Kimberlin said.
For Keltner, Owens wasn’t just a partner on the track, but a close friend off the track, too. She recalled stories of the pair fending off dogs, sipping cherry juice and watching the movie “Titanic.” Their competitiveness was always second to their friendship.
“If we didn’t have each other, I don’t think either of us would be as good as we are,” Owens said. “I think that on a daily basis, we push each other.”
As she approached her final race as a Cardinal, Owens stared down her last chance to achieve one of her top goals: an individual state championship. The girls didn’t race until later in the day, giving Owens plenty of time to think on the challenge in front of her.
But she wasn’t very nervous compared to how she often was before races. She had spent the whole year preparing for this moment. There was no more time to worry about splits and strides. All that was left to do was run.
And run she did, to the tune of a career-best time and first-place finish.
“To see her running the last 100 meters down the finish line and just smiling, just so happy, you know, like, that’s what I think of when I think of Sydney,” Barnard said. “She’s just always so happy to be out performing and running.”
The season wasn’t always easy for Owens and the team, who had spent much of the year finishing behind Baldwin. But that didn’t deter them from continuing to work hard. The payoff, she said, was worth it.
“One of the best parts was just seeing how proud people were, and like, how much they really cared for, not just me, but the whole team in general,” Owens said “And how, like, we wanted it really bad, but so did the entire Eudora community.”
Now, as Owens heads to Lawrence, her community is ready to watch her take on the next challenge.
“It will be fun to watch her this spring in track, and it will be fun to watch her compete at KU in the years to come,” Kimberlin said. “Eudora is proud to say that Syndey Owens is a Eudora Cardinal.”
At least one piece of advice from Owens’ Eudora community will stick with her.
“Hard work will always pay off,” Owens said. “It just might not be in the time zone that you want.”
Reach reporter Cuyler Dunn at [email protected]
If you appreciate our sports coverage, please donate. Our newspaper depends on your donations to provide coverage of Eudora and continue providing local news.
To donate to support our community journalism, please go to this link: tinyurl.com/y4u7stxj
