This Butler sixth-grader medaled at Adidas Nationals and is running times that would beat many varsity runners
Quite literally, Aria Harcar is ahead of her time.
The sixth-grader from Butler compete at the Adidas Indoor Track Middle School National Championships, held in Virginia Beach March 20-21.
She ran in the 2-mile race, finishing fourth with a time of 11 minutes, 33.58 seconds, over 14 seconds faster than her previous best. The top six finishers are recognized as All-Americans.
Many girls in the race are two years older than Aria.
“This is the first time Butler has produced an All-American at that level,” Butler varsity track coach Mike Seybert said. “Her time would put her second on our all-time high school top-10 list, and she’s only in sixth grade.”
Aria also ran the mile in Virginia the next day and finished 10th at 5:36.19. Both of her efforts were personal-best times.
“In any race I run, the goal is always to get a personal record,” Aria said. “It doesn’t always happen, but I was really happy with how I did (at Adidas Nationals). Standing on the podium and getting the medal for the 2-mile was really cool.”
Aria had already shown much promise in youth cross country meets and triathlons. She was urged by Seybert to compete in indoor track meets over the winter, including ones at Youngstown State University and Kent State.
“Most of the people competing at those meets are older than Aria, but they’re open events, which means anyone who wants to run can join,” said Aria’s father, Sean Harcar.
It was her best times over the winter that qualified Aria for the event in Virginia.
“New Balance also has a national championship meet (in Boston), but Aria was just a few seconds off their qualifying standard in the mile. That’s a lot of travel to compete in just one event. She was able to run twice in Virginia.”
Aria’s workouts total between 12-15 hours per week between running and strength training.
“I enjoy the training,” she said. “I just remind myself that it’s all going to help me stay in shape and run faster times. I love the challenge of distance running.”
She has received guidance and inspiration from her step-mother, Jamie Harcar, who is heavily involved in ultra running and often competes in races of 100 miles.
“With my wife and daughter both competing, I try to learn as much about running as I can,” Sean said. “I try to stick to a better diet like they do, too. We eat a lot of whole grains, fruits and protein, have salmon once a week. Aria drinks a protein shake after her workouts. It’s nothing drastic, just eating healthy.”
And when Aria sets a personal record, she gets a special treat — her dad’s mac and cheese. She recently earned a batch of it with her performance in Virginia.
“My dad’s mac and cheese is really, really good,” she said. “It tastes better than the medal.”
All the more reason to keep improving. After all, medals are best displayed, not eaten.
