Eastern senior runner Olivia Klauss leads the women’s cross country team.

Klauss said she decided to become a runner when she was in high school.

She took up cross country after she was cut from her volleyball team and said that running has been a major part of her life ever since.

Her decision to become a runner has paid off as she experienced success at the high school level.

She was an Illinois all-state cross country runner each of the four years she ran, including a state championship in Class A of her senior year.

In track, she medaled in all four years and won the state 4×800 race and the mile run as a senior.

Although she had a taxing schedule, she didn’t let her success as a runner distract her from her academics as she made the Illinois Academic All-State team and was a valedictorian at Eureka High School.

After her success in high school, she decided to attend Miami of Ohio.

Once on campus, she red-shirted before running during her red-shirt freshman season.

Following her red-shirt freshman season, Klauss decided to transfer to a school closer to home.

She decided that Eastern was the choice for her.

“Eastern was really the only school I could see myself going to,” she said. “I talked to a girl on the team and then eventually the coach. It just seemed like the team was a big family.”

Klauss said she hasn’t regretted her decision of transferring to Eastern.

“The track and cross country program here is a great one to be a part of,” she said. “The coaches here truly care about us and want us to succeed not only in athletics, but in our academic and future lives.”

Since arriving at Eastern, she has been one of the best runners, earning a spot onthe All-Ohio Valley Conference Second Team in her first season at Eastern.

She was named to the first team in each of the last two years.

As a senior, she has continued to be one of the best runners in the OVC, earning conference Runner of the Week honors.

She won the award after placing fourth at the first meet, the Walt Crawford Invitational, where she ran a time of 18:16.61.

She was even better at the Illinois Intercollegiate, finishing 21st overall with a time of 18:13. At the loaded Louisville Classic, she placed 21st with at time of 18:23.70.

With Klauss leading the way, the women’s team as a whole is to win the OVC championship for the second straight season.

Klauss said she believes the senior-laden Panthers can take the crown again.

“We are a team that improves as we get deeper into our season, compared to the other teams in our conference that will begin to level out,” she said. “The best is yet to come for us.”

Holden Fuehne can be reached at 581-2812 or hjfuehne@eiu.edu.