A typical day for freshman cross country runner Eli Peveto is very different than most. Every day, he wakes up at 5:30 a.m. to run six miles, except on Saturdays when he runs 10. This has been his routine since the 7th grade, when he began to run track in junior high. 

“I’ve been involved in running since 7th grade track season, and I’ve been participating in cross country since the 8th grade,” Peveto said. “Sadly, we never got enough people to qualify as a team.” 

Last week, Peveto and the rest of the LCM Cross Country team traveled to Port Arthur to run in the 29th annual Pleasure Island Cross Country Meet. Many team members walked away with awards and Peveto claimed the first place title. 

“Receiving first place was great but kind of disappointing because of my time, but I was less disappointed because it was a hard course,” Peveto said. 

As of right now, Peveto has run over 1400 miles since he began recording his mileage in seventh grade. One of his greatest accomplishments was breaking the 5-minute mile last year with a 4:56 time and he said he has a good chance of advancing to state this year.