St. Dominic Academy’s Ella Brown was puzzled when she suddenly sputtered toward the end of each cross country race early in the season.

Who knew a trip to her doctor would cure Brown’s woes and give her more get-up-and-go at the end of the season?

Brown kept on going and her times kept on improving after a visit with her physician. The junior shined at the Class C South regional where she finished second with a time of 20:47.38, and she finished sixth in the Class C state meet at 20:54.88.

“I was trying to fix an iron deficiency issue I had, and I really got better toward the end of the season,” Brown said. “It really showed in my races. I was taking three or four iron pills a day.”

Her father and coach, Josh Brown, also became concerned with Brown’s progress during the season.

“We were hopeful that she would do well at the regionals,” Josh Brown said. “She had been dealing with some health issues previous to that.

“Basically, (it was) iron deficiency, which is a pretty common thing. We felt like she was definitely heading in the right direction. We were pleasantly surprised at how well she did at regionals.

“She puts plenty of pressure on herself to be honest with you. She has got very high expectations of what to do in athletics.”

With her health in order, Ella Brown and her father devised a strategy that would allow her to improve her times on courses.

“Her strategy was to try and run an even paced race,” Josh Brown said. “Lots of people go out much faster than they are capable of doing the entire race. Her goal was not to get caught up in that and not pass a lot people during the race, which she ended up doing.

“She has always been very focused at doing the best she can. She had a strategy that she knew she wanted to execute. I think that helped her focus on not worrying about whatever else was going on around her in a race, just focusing on executing her strategy, which she did perfectly. It worked out well for her”

According to Ella, this was the first time she used a strategy like this, and it was immediately successful.

“It was a lot more fun being able to pass people at the end of the race instead of going out too hard, feeling bad at the end,” she said.

Other than posting good times in the regional and state championships,  the best part of her season was having her parents as coaches.

“It was a really fun season with my parents as coaches,” Ella said. “I am excited for next year.

“I can’t wait to have another whole other year. I am just really excited to be in an indoor track season right now.”

For her accomplishments this season on the trails, Ella Brown is the 2015 Sun Journal All-Region girls’ cross country runner of the year.

All-Region Teams

They drove, ran, kicked, passed, shot and scored. And they did it better than anyone else.

Meet the Fall 2015 Sun Journal All Region Teams, led by the seven athletes of the year in their respective sports.

2015 Sun Journal All-Region Girls’ Cross Country Team