Photo by Sarah Finnegan.
Vestavia Hills High School senior Sasha Allison is the top runner this season on the girls cross-country team. Her pursuit of excellence, however, extends beyond the finish line.
Brett Huber coaches a runner he wants people to meet.
Her name is Sasha Allison, and Huber said she represents everything his Vestavia Hills High School cross-country program stands for.
“She’s very humble and she’s very coachable,” said Huber, sitting beside the VHHS track on a September afternoon. “As a teacher or coach, to have someone working with you like that, that’s what you’re looking for.”
Allison, a senior, has been a staple on the Rebels cross-country team since her freshman year, when she helped the Vestavia Hills girls qualify for their last state meet. The team has not advanced past sectionals since then, but Allison is working hard to change that.
She now sets the tempo as the top runner on a squad that is deep in potential but shallow in experience.
“She really is the heart of this team, as far as doing what we do the right way and leading by example,” Huber said.
But that’s how Allison has always been, and it’s what makes her unique. Rarely does Huber encounter a runner who possesses such passion and determination for her sport. He calls it a “laser vision” approach, and it permeates all aspects of Allison’s life.
In addition to her command on the cross-country course, she is a standout student and extracurricular exemplar. Throughout high school, Allison has volunteered her time to Habitat for Humanity, Relay for Life and a number of other altruistic endeavors.
“I feel like I have this intrinsic desire to want to constantly be better, and this kind of goes for almost anything I do, but especially cross-country,” she said. “I just always want to be the best I can be.”
Her work ethic makes that possible. Take this summer, for instance, when Allison ran about six miles every weekday and up to 10 miles one day each weekend as she prepared for her final high school cross-country season. The training wasn’t easy, but that didn’t deter her.
Huber said Allison is one of the uncommon athletes who carries a competitor’s mindset into each training session. Most runners perk up for races, but few for inglorious workouts.
“She’s a competitor day to day with what has to get done,” Huber said. “That sets her apart.”
Already, her labor has begun to pay dividends.
Allison opened the 2017 cross-country campaign on Sept. 9 with a 5K time of 20 minutes, 2 seconds at the Chickasaw Trails Invitational in Oakville, where she placed in the top 25. It was the fastest season-opening time she has ever recorded.
Allison said the race provided her a good foundation on which she will aim to build as the year progresses. Last fall, she closed the season with a personal-best 19:29 to seal a 23rd-place finish at the state meet, for which she qualified as an individual.
Allison will try to punch her ticket to state again this year, and she hopes her Vestavia Hills team will be able to do the same.
‘You always try to leave a place better than you found it, and I’m really trying to do that here,” Allison said. “I hope it works.”
