Mike Lennox knew he had something special when he dropped by a middle school class more than three years ago.
The Evans High School cross country coach was there to encourage another generation of runners. And his topic had the full attention of Elena Hubbard, then an eighth grader.
"Her eyes lit up," Lennox said.
He didn't have much trouble convincing her to come out for the team. Hubbard immediately went to work the summer before she started high school.
She'd run all three years during middle school, but never like this.
"I wanted to make a good first impression," she said.
Hubbard broke the Knights school record as a freshman, and did it again as a sophomore.
She lives on the same street as her coach, so it was tough to skip out on practice this summer. Not that Hubbard would miss time anyway.
Lennox said Hubbard rarely calls in late to practice, but when she does, she still shows up within five minutes of it starting.
In preparation for her senior year, Hubbard trained this summer with former Greenbrier runner Chelsea Maxwell, who will run for West Georgia this fall.
"We've been good competitors," Hubbard said. "We're good friends now."
Hubbard said Maxwell has talked to her often about joining her at West Georgia next year, but she's keeping her options open.
Right now, she has her eyes on the big-city feel offered by Georgia Tech and Emory, and is leaning toward majoring in biology or pre-med.
"I think I want a different feel than I have here," she said.
Hubbard is soft-spoken and chose her words carefully when labeling her goals for the season. She'd like to break her own school record again before the season's over. And she'd like to beat her new rivals, Lakeside sophomores Anna Bowles and Katie Townsend, who burst onto the local scene as freshmen and proceeded to finish 1-2 in about every event they entered.
"They were kind of a surprise," Hubbard said. "Both Chelsea and me were kind of shocked."
But Hubbard said she's also motivated.
She finished 11th at the Class AAAA state cross country meet in 2007. Her time of 20:03 was her best of the season, but slower than the 19:46 she ran as a sophomore.
She and Maxwell made runs of 8-10 miles several times a week during the summer, and Hubbard is hoping the extra work pays off.
She had a similar summer schedule during those months between her eighth grade year and freshman year of high school. She said she wanted to make a good impression on her high school teammates and coach.
Setting the school record as a freshman ensured that.
Now she'll try to make a lasting impression.
"She has aspirations of running in college," Lennox said. "I think she'll be very successful once she gets there."
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