The Mycenaean

North Carolina is home to some of the best women’s track and field and cross country runners in the nation.

Ruth Metaferia, sophomore, is one of those fantastic females in a class of their own. 

Metaferia started her running career in sixth grade at Magellan Charter school. 

“I started running because my science teacher told me I would be good at cross country. I’m not really sure why I like running. It’s just a sick disease we all have as runners,” said Metaferia. 

On the daily, Metaferia runs anywhere from 5-7 miles and her longer runs are upwards of 9 miles. Easy runs comprise of most of the weekly mileage that Metaferia runs, second being workouts. 

“I started out in middle school doing like 2 miles a day which isn’t anything compared to what I do today. I usually do 2 workouts a week, and my favorite workout right now is 800m repeats. It’s somewhere in between a longer distance and a shorter distance workout so its a good balance,” said Metaferia. 

Oftentimes, Metaferia will hop in with the boys on workouts to ensure her pace is up to speed. 

“Ruth is an insanely fast runner, but I don’t even think that’s what makes her the person and teammate she is. Her positive energy she brings everywhere with her lifts up everyone around her. She’s a sophomore and I’m a senior, but I’m learning more from her than I could ever teach her,” said Ashton Layh, senior.

Metaferia does a great job with lighting her teammates up on bad practice days. With her positive attitude towards just about everything except mile repeats, Metaferia lights up the whole track team.