Seneca Valley Junior Sam Owori has had many accomplishments throughout his high school cross country and track career. However, one of his proudest moments running came this September at Schenley Park where he beat Seneca Valley’s school-wide 5k cross country record.

On September 9, 2017 Owori and the Seneca Valley Cross Country team participated in a Pittsburgh area race invite know as the Red, White and Blue Classic. It was at this race where Sam ran a 15:35 minute 5k (3.1 mile race), breaking his pervious personal 5k record of 16:40, as well as the school’s old record. Sam also finished with a fourth place overall for the event out of two-hundred and sixty other Pittsburgh area kids.

When asked if he had expected to break the record, Sam told the Scout, “My time wasn’t really a surprise to me because I knew it was going to be a faster course than usual. I’ve been training all summer so that also helped out a lot.”

Sam also spoke on the challenges he was faced with, saying, “I had to overcome to push through to the front of the race. The race was packed at the start and it was hard to get to the front of the pack.”

The team has multiple upcoming important races including the North Allegheny Duel and the Cooper Lake Invitation where they will look to improve their record.  The team is also beginning to prepare themselves for the WPIAL Finals race towards the end of the season where they are hoping to repeat last year’s victory. Following the WPIAL race, the team will most likely travel to Hershey, PA for the state championship race in November. Sam is looking to improve his times at all of these races and says he “feels like we can go back to back and win WPIALS this year and win states.”

Following high school, Owori says he would like to run in college if it is possible. Currently, he does not know what field he would like to study in college, but he is interested in attending Syracuse or Penn State.

Sam’s recent accomplishments are not only personal achievements, but have also helped contribute to the continued success of the cross country team at Seneca Valley.