LEWIS CENTER – Runners at the finish line of a cross country meet vary from exhaustion to outright sick. It’s a painful experience where the reward is relief.
Olentangy Orange coach Adam Walters offers a perspective when describing what the 5,000-meter endeavor feels like and how to make it through.
“Running is like hitting yourself with a hammer,” explained Walters, who leads the boys cross country team in the fall as well as both boys and girls track and field programs in the spring.
“It’s going to hurt whether you go slower or faster unless you’re going really slow and staying comfortable. So, you might as well go as fast as you can and get it done and you’ll feel good about the effort.”
The explanation was part of a response in describing the strengths of the Pioneers’ top runner, senior Cowen Allender.
Allender is particularly adept at running through the pain.
So, how does he fight through it?
“I try not to look around,” Allender said. “I just focus on the back of the person in front of me. And then once I catch him, I just move onto the next person.
“I also just think about the team over myself,” he said. “I know that the better I place, the better the team places. The end goal is – yeah, I want to do well. But it’s also good for the team to do well.”
Allender has been a part of the last three Orange team trips to state. He ran last year’s meet in 16 minutes, 16.9 seconds to finish 50th, shaving almost 16 seconds off his time at the same meet as a sophomore.
This season, he had a strong showing where he finished 19th of 303 athletes at 15:40.5 at the Trinity Valkyrie Invitational at Tom Sawyer State Park on Sept. 19 in Louisville, Kentucky.
“The end of (our) workouts is the hardest part,” Allender said. “And that definitely prepares us. There were some days I wasn’t as tough as I’d like to be. Your mind is trying to say that it can’t, but the body can.
“The repetition of (our workouts) just showed me that it’s possible and that your mind is trying to limit you.”
He followed it up with a personal-best 15:20.9 to finish eighth of 176 runners at Olentangy Berlin’s Bear Den Dash on Oct. 3.
“He’s just a tough runner,” Walters said. “Our sport is predictable. You know it’s going to hurt. (Allender) has always been good at (fighting through the pain).
“But in the (Huber Heights) Wayne track invitational 2-mile last spring, I think he took a big step.”
Allender ran a personal-best time of 9:32.6 seconds to finish ninth in that event. The experience gave him a lot of confidence.
“The beginning of the (track) season, I really just wasn’t running that well,” Allender said. “My training was there. It was the mental aspect that was holding me back.
“As the season went on, I was going up against tougher competition. And at (Wayne), I raced really well and had a PR.
“I raced a lot better than maybe I expected to and it just showed me that I could compete at the level I wanted to. I’m just trying to carry that into this season.”
Allender and Pioneers compete in the OCC-Central Division meet Oct. 17 at Hilliard Bradley, where they seek their fourth consecutive league title.
Then, 15th-ranked Orange begins its postseason schedule at the Division I regional meet Oct. 31 at Pickerington North, seeking its fifth consecutive trip to state and seventh overall. The state meet is Nov. 7 at Fortress Obetz.
Allender is a legacy at Orange. Both his older brother Bradyn and sister Bailey competed for the Pioneers. Bradyn graduated in 2025 after appearing at state three times, and Bailey is a 2023 graduate.
“They both ran in middle school, and I played basketball and baseball mostly,” Cowen said. “(I started because) I knew it would help me in conditioning. My brother and my sister were pretty good, so I thought I could be good too. So, I felt like I might as well try it out.”
Cowen hopes to continue running in college but is undecided. He wants to pursue a career as a pilot, which takes precedence over his athletic endeavors.
“This last month or so, I’m really just trying to leave it all out there,” Allender said. “So, if this is it, then I know I did everything I could do to be the best I can be.”
