BY MARK MORING, Eastern Shore Post —
The best distance runners have at least these two things in common: discipline and competitiveness.
Aaron O’Shea, a senior at Arcadia High School who will run in the Class 2A State Cross Country Championships on Saturday, Nov. 16, has plenty of both. But he has an alternate name for that competitive streak: stubbornness.
“I’m very stubborn,” he says. “If there’s someone trying to pass me or I see someone ahead, I will push myself to not let them pass or to catch the person in front of me.”
And that discipline part?
“There were days when I would wake up at 4:30 a.m. to work out and then go for a run afterward,” he says. “There were times I would miss hanging out with friends to fit in a run. Once I have a goal in sight, I will work as hard as I can to achieve it.”
O’Shea has had the state championships in sight all season long, including at the recent regional meet, where he finished second in the 5K race, about eight seconds behind Poquoson’s Jacob Wines. The 6-foot-5 O’Shea had a strong kick near the end and closed the gap but couldn’t overcome Wines.
“Jacob is a great runner and deserves that victory,” says O’Shea, who was aiming for a 16:30 but was satisfied with his 16:48.7 finish.
O’Shea knows he’ll need to run his best race to have a shot in the state meet, held on a hilly course at Virginia Tech in Blacksburg. His goal is to finish in the top ten. Last year’s 2A winner, Derek Mitchell, of Lebanon, won with a time of 15:39. O’Shea’s regional time of 16:48.7 would have landed just one second out of 2023’s top ten in the state.
O’Shea says his discipline and stubbornness come from his parents — Sean O’Shea, the principal at Arcadia High School, and Katie O’Shea, an executive director at Commonwealth Senior Living in Onancock.
“And maybe a little due to Irish blood,” he adds.
Another thing O’Shea inherited from his mom: a love of running. He started running in elementary school and started taking it seriously the summer before his sophomore year. He has played some soccer and basketball along the way, but as a senior he decided to focus solely on running, partly in hopes of getting an offer to compete in college.
Sports runs in the family: Sean’s older sister, Lindsay, is a sophomore on the volleyball team at St. Xavier University in Chicago.
O’Shea enjoys running “because of how it makes me feel physically and mentally but also the community. The running community is like no other. Runners understand what other runners have gone through, so there’s a level of mutual respect.”
O’Shea says his faith also motivates him to run well … and to live well.
“Jesus plays a big part in my life,” says O’Shea, who attends Modest Town Baptist Church and was recently baptized. “I’ve really started getting closer to God.”
His favorite Bible verse, 1 Corinthians 9:24, is, of course, about running:
“Do you not know that in a race all the runners run, but only one gets the prize? Run in such a way as to get the prize.”
On Saturday, O’Shea will run for the prize — stubbornly, all the way to the finish line.
