Peyton Dooloukas took up cross country in seventh-grade; she said she loves running because it “helps relieve stress and built-up anxiety.” Photo courtesy Rocky Mason.
Goshen sophomore Peyton Dooloukas is a two-time Southern Buckeye Athletic and Academic Conference cross country champion. Photo courtesy Rocky Mason.
Running with friends in the rain – a memory many have from their childhood.
One Clermont County student-athlete enjoys those experiences, really, any experiences, as long as she is running. For her, running brings out the sun.
Goshen High School sophomore Peyton Dooloukas will represent the school at this weekend’s Division I regional cross country meet in Troy after placing third in the district “A” race at Voice of America Park in West Chester Township Oct. 21. That was one week after she was crowned Southern Buckeye Athletic and Academic Conference champion in that league meet at Wilmington College – her second consecutive league title.
This from someone who took up the sport only three years ago. The then-basketball and soccer player took up cross country because she enjoyed running in those sports.
“I thought that cross country would condition me for my other sports, but little did I know I would fall in love with this sport,” Dooloukas said. “I love running because it releases stress and built-up anxiety.”
Her coach said Dooloukas understands what it takes to be successful, and that it takes time – though her ascent seems relatively meteoric.
“Peyton works very hard, she is highly motivated and sets her goals very high,” ninth-year Goshen head coach Rocky Mason said. “She does whatever I tell her to do and doesn’t complain. She has continuously improved over the last two years by working hard and by trusting my training. She understands that success doesn’t come overnight.”
Maybe not overnight, but not too far into the next day. As an eighth-grader, Dooloukas qualified to state in the 1,600-meter run. As a freshman, she qualified to regional. This season, she has six first-place finishes in cross country; in her still brief career, 38 first-place finished between cross country and track.
The SBAAC meet win was meaningful because, “it always brings me back through the whole season and how quick it flew by,” Dooloukas said. “My reaction was pure excitement because I was worried about the course change (at Wilmington).”
Flying by is the view most of Dooloukas’s opponents have of her. She was eighth at the 2022 district meet, in a time of 19 minutes, 15.80 seconds. This year she cut almost a minute off that time, running 18:22.50 to place third. Similar improvement at regionals could mean a trip to the state meet Nov. 4 at Fortress Obetz, south of Columbus. Dooloukas was 23rd at regional in 2022, with a time of 19:32.50. She will need to be in the top 16 to advance.
“I hope to qualify for the state meet because that has been a goal of mine since the state meet in middle school. I knew high school was more competitive so going again has always been a goal,” Dooloukas said.
Weather should not be a factor – Dooloukas may welcome a little bit of precipitation; sloppy conditions might work to her advantage.
“Moments that stand out to me at Goshen (are) the rainy day meets,” she said. “I remember the Lebanon cross country meet being awfully rainy and the girls running right before the thunder storm started. After our race everyone was rushed into the gym and all of the runners decided to play ‘duck duck goose.’ Even after we were allowed to go outside again the weather was still poor. It was raining sideways. I had so much fun running around in the rain with my friends.
“Another moment was at the Anderson track meet and all the sprinters went to hide from the rain while us cross country kids helped set up the tent. It was funny to me how the cross country kids were the only ones that were able to handle the rain.”
Mason hopes Dooloukas’s work ethic and leadership inspire Goshen’s other runners, on both the boys and girls teams. The Warriors had a small, young roster, and Mason’s goal was for every runner to “be the best they could be. My runners have exceeded my expectations for the most part this year,” Mason said.
Specifically, senior Nicholas Dean ran a season’s best 17:50 this year; his fastest time n 2022 was 19:19.
“They are a young team and hopefully they can improve a lot over the next few years,” Mason said.
They can look to their coach for inspiration. Mason ran cross country and track in high school, then got away from the sport until one of his sons took it up in middle school, about 14 years ago, “and it’s been non-stop ever since. I’ve ran or raced pretty much every distance up to the marathon.”
Goshen cross country roster
Seniors – Nicholas Dean. Gregory Jarvis.
Juniors – Brennen Smack, Matteo Vezzoli.
Sophomores – Levi Cline, Peyton Douloukas.
Freshmen – Emma Anderson, Nathan Burke, Rylee Freeman, Lucas Meadows, Noah Orr.