The Gatorade Company, in collaboration with ESPN announced Lauren Sara of Bunnell as its 2009-10 Gatorade Connecticut Girls Cross Country Runner of the Year.
Sara, the Register Area MVP, is the first Gatorade Connecticut Girls Cross Country Runner of the Year to be chosen from Bunnell High.
She is now a finalist for the Gatorade National Girls Cross Country Runner of the Year award to be announced in January.
The 5-foot-3 senior won the Class L state championship with a time of 18:29 this past season and was the state’s top finisher, third overall, at the New England Cross Country Championships.
Sara, who orally committed to UConn, was sixth at the 2009 Foot Locker Northeast Regional championships and finished 32nd at the national Foot Locker Cross Country Championships.
Sara has maintained a B average in the classroom. She has volunteered on behalf of the Special Olympics and as part of a local fundraising campaign for cancer research.
“Lauren never has a bad day,” said Bunnell coach David Johnson. “It’s really amazing—every day you know she’s going to have a good race. This year she kept getting better and better. If there was another race after Foot Locker, I think she’d be even better in that one.”