By Tom Nader

Publisher and Editor

Growing up, afternoons in the fall were filled with soccer for Alana Santiago.

That changed the moment she chose to join the school’s Girls on the Run program in sixth grade.

“It started a running obsession for me,” said the Mogadore High School junior cross country standout.

It wasn’t that she no longer liked soccer, but it was the fact that she realized how much she loved running.

And how good she was at it.

Diana Morris recognized it immediately.

“Watching Alana grow and develop as a runner has been exciting because from the very early years, she has always displayed character traits that are essential for this sport,” said Morris, who is the Mogadore high school coach and was also Santiago’s coach in middle school. “She has always been coachable and responsive to what is asked of her.”

Some of that has been Santiago’s ability to learn how to manage injuries both physically and mentally, while also adapting her training to help with injury prevention after a series of injuries forced her to sit out large portions of her eighth- and ninth-grade seasons.

In total, Santiago has had three stress fractures in her legs. Two in her right and one in her left.

The first, in the lower tibia of her right leg, came during her eighth-grade cross country season.

“At first, I just thought that it was shin splints, so I kept trying to work through the pain,” Santiago said.

Eventually, it became apparent that the pain was something more. She was placed in a boot for an extended period of time, and she sat out her entire track season.

The next injury came just a few months later, leading into her freshman cross country season, when she suffered a stress fracture in her left tibia. She initially noticed the pain during summer training and recognizing the similarities to her previous injury, she spoke up quickly and caught the injury early.

“I was out for about three weeks, but I did a lot of cross training like riding a bike and going to the pool for aqua-jogging,” Santiago said.

Then, during her freshman track season, a stress fracture formed in her right fibula. Again, Santiago helped catch the injury early and she was only sidelined a couple of weeks, allowing her to eventually return to the track team and rebuild herself by the start of her sophomore cross country campaign.

“Those injuries were the hardest part,” Santiago said. “To be told that you can’t do what you love, especially when you are in season, was really hard.”

To attempt to limit future injuries, Santiago, along with Morris, changed her approach to training.

Santiago’s workouts are oftentimes focused on lower miles, but higher quality, while replacing the loss in miles with cross-training methods.

“Coach Morris has been great in helping me through all of that, too,” Santiago said. “The focus is for me to stay healthy, and I have expanded my stretching to also help with injury prevention.”

The plan has worked, with Santiago remaining healthy throughout a sophomore season that finished with her placing 11th overall at the Portage Trail Conference championships, then helping the Wildcats qualify for the OHSAA Division III state championships.

Now a junior, the success has continued, with Santiago recently running to a first-place finish at the East Canton Lee Sternberg Invitational.

She has worked hard to earn the individual success, but Santiago is always thinking about her team first.

“I love our team and everyone on it. Everyone is so amazing, and we are all best friends. We are a very tight-knit group,” Santiago said. “The team aspect is what helped me fall in love with the sport in the first place and that is the same thing I love the most now. I think we all realize how hard the sport is, so we are there for each other and support each other. I am so proud of everyone, and I am so proud to be a part of this group.”