Lee won his first race at Amherst College, during a tri meet between Amherst, Wesleyan and Williams.
Williams College junior Chris Lee of Longmeadow pictured in this 2011 photo.
Chris Lee of Longmeadow may be the fastest local runner you never heard of. Chris, a 20-year-old junior at Williams College, has never run a local road race, yet the pre-med and English major is tearing it up in collegiate cross country races.
Lee won his first race at Amherst College, during a tri meet between Amherst, Wesleyan, and Williams on Oct. 13.
Chris started running track in high school to stay in shape for his favorite sport, soccer. After transferring from Longmeadow High School to Loomis Chaffee School in Windsor, Conn., he surprised his coach and himself by running 4:01 for 1500 meters (equal to a 4:19 mile). He was injured his senior year but still garnered interest from many colleges.
He was off to a slow start his freshman year at Williams as he was not used to high mileage training. His coach decided to back off his training to 35 miles per week his sophomore year. By the end of the season, it paid off.
He helped his team win the 2011 ECAC Division III Championship, which qualified them for the Division III Championship Race in Wisconsin. Chris finished first on his team, and although the team didn’t place, Chris’s time of 25:58 for the 8K race was only 10 seconds off the qualifying time to be declared an All-American.
This year, with his mileage up to 55 miles per week (his teammates run 75 miles per week), he has continued to improve. On Oct. 7 at the New England Championships held at Stanley Park with 250 runners from Division I, II and III schools, Chris led his team with a 25:08 time for the 8K course. He finished 30th. The next week, he finished first, recording a time of 26:11 on the wet and hilly Amherst 8K course.
Last weekend, he placed seventh at the NESCAC Championships at Bowdoin. He recorded a personal best for an 8K, 24:36. He took the lead in the race at mile 4, while running with a pack of 12 runners, but couldn’t hold them off, finishing 10 seconds behind the winner. He learned from this race, and is looking forward to the ECAC Division III Championship to be held at Stanley Park on Nov. 10.
Although he prefers to run cross country, he also runs track in the spring.
IROMAN RESULTS: The three local triathletes I wrote about in my August column all finished the Ironman Championships Oct. 13 in Hawaii.
Paul McCloskey finished in 10:20 for the 2.4 mile swim, 112 mile bike ride, and 26.2 mile run. He placed 504th of 1,943. Elana Massa-Musiak finished in 11:45, and Jim Sullivan struggled to a 13:38 finish after walking the last 23 miles due to plantar fasciitis.
TURKEY RACES: My next column will focus on the races to be held over Thanksgiving weekend. Look for upcoming races in the road race calender in the Sunday Republican.
Seth Roberts writes the “On The Run” column biweekly. He can be reached at asethroberts@gmail.com