On a crisp October Saturday morning, Lena Finucane ’09 stood at the starting line alongside her teammates and runners from twelve other teams and readied herself to compete in the Pennsylvania Independent Schools Cross Country Meet.  Mercersburg hosted the meet, so Lena was technically on home ground.  But she had only run the academy’s course a couple of times because Lena was not on the cross country team.  She played tennis.  In fact, Lena started and finished the tennis season without ever relinquishing her #1 ranking.   

Lena was born in Sweden and returns there every summer for a couple of months.  She is fluent in Swedish and, until her fourth grade year, Lena lived in Sri Lanka and then Indonesia. Then the family returned to her father’s home in southern Pennsylvania.  Lena remembers bits and pieces of her life in Sri Lanka, while her memories of Indonesia are much more fresh. 

She enjoys being at the same school as her older brother James ‘08, who had already linked the Finucane name with running . . . of the 'very fast' variety.  Last month, for example, James smashed the Peddie School's cross country course record as he posted an incredible 5k time of 15:55 to take the MAPL crown for the second straight year.   Lena readily credits James with helping her get motivated to run on a regular basis.  “On days when I feel like being lazy, James is able to get me out.  I usually like to run with him on his ‘easy runs.’”  James also works with Lena on race strategy.  For the PA Independent Schools meet, recalls Lena, “James told me to stay relaxed and don’t go out too hard.”  After a few seconds of reflection, she adds, “But maybe I did go out a bit too hard.”

Lena finished in third place at the meet with a strong time of 20:13 on the 5k academy course.  She had been hovering near the twenty-minute mark in past races and finished less than a minute behind the winning time.  Both Lena and Mackenzie Riford ’11, who came in seventh that Saturday, earned all-state honors, while senior Annie Spencer placed well enough to grab a spot on the all-state second team.

When it came time to receive the awards, Lena wasn’t there.  First off, she simply didn’t feel very good that day.  But she also had a tennis match against the visiting Peddie School’s #1 player.  “It was hard convincing [varsity tennis] coach Sweeney to let me run in the meet,” she says with a smile.  But, despite some fatigue and feeling physically off, Lena stormed the court and won her match in consecutive sets, 6-2, 6-0.  It was, she said with certainty, her best tennis moment of the year.  And then, after an all-state finish in a 5k race and a sweep in a singles match on the court, Lena paired with lower-middler Valerie Garcia and shared victory in a doubles match as well.

MAPL rules prohibit athletes from competing in two sports in any one season.  So Lena was not able to travel with James and the other Blue Storm runners to run in the MAPL meet at Peddie.  In fact, Lena only ran in two school meets this past season.  The first was at Hedgesville in West Virginia where, on “one of the hottest days I’ve ever had to compete in,” Lena took second place.

In September, Lena woke regularly at 5:00 am to get in a 5-6 mile run before commuting to school.  October saw Lena running at Mercersburg during free periods.  Some days she ran twice while managing also working in a full tennis practice.  Lena loves playing tennis, but playing only tennis has never been an option for her.  “For me, playing on the tennis team is a lot more fun, but my passion really is the running.  If it came down to just one, it would have to be running.”  She finds competitive races throughout the year.  During Thanksgiving break, Lena went to New York to run in the 2007 Foot Locker National Cross Country Championships

Winning the #1 seeded tennis match shortly after placing third in the PA Independent Schools state meet caught the attention of The Public Opinion newspaper, which named Lena its ‘Female Athlete of the Week’ on October 29.  Now both Lena and her big brother are running winter track.  Then, of course, there’s spring track, which will may well be the last time the two siblings both run in the same program.  But Lena is looking forward to her senior year.  She’ll be living on campus and will have more time to squeeze in those extra miles.

-- by Phil Kantaros

-- tennis photo by Renee Hicks