LANDISVILLE — After crossing the finish line at the 2022 PIAA state cross country meet, Ella Wolfe, Hempfield cross country runner and triathlete, fell to the ground and passed out. This occurred after other meets as well.
Conquering challenges is a task senior Ella Wolfe dealt with over the past year, but none of them restricted her from achieving major accomplishments.
In 2022, Ella struggled with COVID and a muscular knee injury with IT band issues as a result. This set her back in her training, and she did not have the season she wanted. Ella shared, “I can’t control what happens, but I can control how I react to it.” Regardless of these challenges, she ran in the league, district, and state meets. After each of these meets, Ella often passed out from running as hard as she possibly could. “Ella is always giving 100%, and is a leader and friend to all,” a teammate of Ella stated.
Now in 2023, Ella is running better than ever, injury-free. Many are not aware that Ella’s primary sport is triathlon. Her triathlon training is what she focuses on throughout the summer leading up to cross country, which sets her apart from other athletes. A typical day of summer training often involves two workouts including running, biking, or swimming. Cross training is an essential part of a runner’s training to avoid injury and build strength, and Ella’s training plan builds in plenty of this. During one of the meets this season, Ella had completed a ten mile bike ride in the morning, and then went on to place second at a large cross country invitational just a few hours later.
Utilizing her strong mentality and triathlon training, Ella was able to become the 2023 Lancaster-Lebanon League and District III champion, and place fourth at states. Prior to this year’s cross country season in August, Ella won the USA Triathlon Olympic-Distance national championships. Additionally, she was recognized as the Lancaster-Lebanon league runner of the year. Ella believes that none of this would be possible without the challenges she faced last year because they taught her how to be strong.
