It’s a Saturday night at Rockledge High School on Sept. 24, as senior Marc McDonald is about to cross the finish line with a time of 15:58 – setting a new personal best for this cross country star.

“It was pretty crazy, especially because it was a 32+ second personal record,” senior Robert Bellamy, the team captain said. “He kept up and beat a lot of the fast people that we did not think he could beat. He has been training a lot harder and a lot more and pushing the rest of the team to do better.”

Marc McDonald has been running high school level cross country for all four of his years at OHS. His hard work has proved  people wrong and pushed the team to succeed and become better runners themselves. 

“Marc has progressively improved each year with his running,” said Mary McDonald, Marc’s mother. “He has always been a natural runner and exceeded my expectations.”

Marc McDonald pushes himself in each workout he runs. Some of his most challenging yet rewarding runs consist of 800 meter repeats on the Red Bug Bridge. Not only does Marc run after school, but he will also do morning long runs averaging eight miles a morning. He does this to maintain his shape, speed, and average mileage of 47.2 miles per week.

“I am very proud of Marc for breaking 16 minutes in his 5K,” said Mary. “His Dad and I were thrilled to watch him accomplish this and we’re excited to see what the future holds for him and watch him continue to get faster.”  Marc credits his success to all the hard work he puts in and the friends and family that support his mission to break the school 5k record.

“One of my greatest motivations on the track is my teammate and friend, Robert Bellamy,” said Marc McDonald. “He pushes me to work my hardest and makes me strive to be the best athlete and role model I can be to the team.”

While already exceeding expectations of many, Marc is only continuing to improve. It’s apparent that his strength and passion will shape him into an athlete that will go the distance.