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04/12/2019 12:00 AMJoe DeLucia has viewed running as a positive from the time he signed up for cross country in 6th grade. Now a junior at North Branford High School, Joe is a year-round runner who competes for the boys’ cross country, indoor track, and outdoor track teams. Joe has been doing cross country and indoor track since his freshman year and recently began his first season with the outdoor track squad.
“I see running as challenging, but the way I see it, I look into the future and focus on how I feel after—not how it feels while I’m doing it,” Joe says. “That helps me get through it. It makes me feel great about it, because I know I’m getting in a great workout.”
While Joe has mostly done long-distance running, he’s really taken a liking to the middle-distance events. This winter, Joe ran a career-best time of 1:31.76 in the 600 at the Shoreline Conference Championship to take seventh place and qualify for states.
“As much as I like distance, I’ve always liked the quick races, too. With the 600, I found my middle ground,” says Joe. “I love doing those races, because it’s not too fast, but obviously it’s not a 5K. I feel more comfortable in the middle ground, because I get to use my speed, but I also get to use my pacing ability.”
Joe also served as a strong leg in North Branford’s 4x200 and 4x400 relays during the recent indoor season. Head Coach Chelsea Harris was impressed with the work ethic that Joe displayed throughout the campaign.
“Joe shows up to practices the same way he shows up to a meet—and that’s ready to run hard,” Harris says. “I admire his drive and enjoy coaching him.”
Joe goes into every practice with that attitude that the harder he works, the more he will improve. Joe says that Coach Harris’s workouts made him a stronger athlete for the indoor team. Now, Joe is looking to make an impact with the T-Birds during the outdoor season.
“As the year went on, our workouts would get harder, but at the same time, my skill increased. The workouts were difficult, but I knew they’d pay off, and it would be best for me,” says Joe. “I saw a lot of improvement from my previous seasons with indoor. I wanted to keep growing from that and, hopefully, it would lead to me doing even better the following year—my senior year.”
Joe wants to make the most of his first go-round with the outdoor team this spring. Joe plans on running the 400 and the 800, but he’s also hoping to get in some other events, as well.
“Since I did the 4x4 relay for indoor, and there’s an individual 400 in outdoor, I’m going to run that since I already have some familiarity with it. Since there’s no 600, I’m going to replace that with the 800, because it’s a similar distance,” Joe says. “But also, this year, I’d like to try new things. Steeplechase is something I’m already looking at that seems interesting.”
With a full year still ahead of him, Joe plans on staying dedicated to becoming the best runner he can be at North Branford. Next fall, Joe wants to start off his senior year by breaking the 20-minute barrier for a 5K with the cross country squad.
“One of my main things I want to work on is continuing to practice during the offseason. When my season is over, I’m not practicing every day, so my speed tends to decrease,” says Joe. “For cross country, my main goal is to get below 20 minutes for a 5K. I was close this year, and it’s something I’ve always wanted to do.”