Frankfurt International’s Seth Leishman approaches the finish line at the 2024 DODEA European Cross Country Championships on Saturday, Oct. 26, 2024. Leishman won the boys’ race in 16:59.49 to win his first individual title in his fourth year running at the Rolling Hills Golf Course in Baumholder, Germany. (Jennifer H. Svan/Stars and Stripes)

Coming Monday: Athletes of the Year in volleyball.

Seth Leishman’s hard work over the summer put him in a great shape on the cross country courses this season, winning his first meet by almost a minute.

The Frankfurt International School senior seemed well on his way toward running away with the boys individual European title after breaking the Stuttgart course record the week after with a time of 16 minutes, 24.07 seconds.

Then, it nearly all slipped away during an innocuous moment. During fall break, Leishman tweaked his knee on a treadmill, forcing him to stop training for two weeks.

“It took me a bit to get back into that (grind) and the Vilseck race, my first race back, I still won, but the people who I had beaten by a minute before were only a couple of seconds behind me,” Leishman said. “That kind of brought me back to Earth, and I had to lock back in and train hard again to get ready for Euros.”

Leishman didn’t reach the times he did early in the season, but he recovered enough to put himself atop the boys podium on Oct. 26 at the DODEA European cross country championships in a time of 16:59.49.

Because of his performances throughout the season, Leishman has been named Stars and Stripes boys cross country Athlete of the Year.

The son of Warren and Nadine Leishman qualified for the European meet all four of his high school years, with his highest placement prior to winning this year being fifth in 2023. That year, he ran the course at Rolling Hills Golf Course in Baumholder, Germany, in 17:26.10.

To move up the podium this fall, Leishman said he ran 40 or 45 miles a week during the summer and more tempo and interval runs once the season began. He had built up his fitness to a point he hadn’t been at his entire career.

Yet Leishman credited taking it easy for saving his season after his injury. His coach, Manika Mookerjee, advised him against pushing himself, which allowed him to recover faster.

“Coach Manika, she really helped coach me to not really train hard while I was injured, which was smart because if I had, I would have made it worse,” Leishman said. “So, I was able to not lose as much fitness as I had worried, but I definitely didn’t quite get back to where I was earlier.”

Leishman said he had tended to peak early in races and during seasons, and he wanted to avoid that this year. In 2023, he won the first race of the season, never to repeat again.

Even with the injury throwing a wrench into his plans of posting his best times at the end of the season, he stayed the course and didn’t lose a single race.

At the European championships, he decided on a new tact. Instead of going pedal to the metal from the gun, he waited until 3 kilometers into the race to make his move on a downhill section.

He created enough separation that when he counted the number of seconds between him passing fans and them cheering for his competitors, he realized he didn’t need to worry about anyone outkicking him to the line, be it AFNORTH’s Logan Conrad (second, 17:14.05), Stuttgart’s Jackson Balfrey-Boyd (third, 17:14.30) or Vicenza’s Mitchell Horrigan (fourth, 17:15.03).

“Basically, my whole running career, I’ve suffered from going out too fast and then fading at the end,” Leishman said. “Going into Euros, I definitely wanted to make sure that I wasn’t the one pushing the pace. I didn’t want to have to do the work. So, I went in with the plan of not really going out super fast and just following whoever took the lead, and it really worked out for me.”

Looking ahead, Leishman has a spring track season to help make his case to potential collegiate coaches. The Frankfurt senior mentioned wanting to compete at a Division I or Division II school, but he must drop time to do so.

Whether he reaches his goal of running at the next level, Leishman said he loves the sport and people surrounding long-distance running. That helps fuel him to go even farther and faster.

“There’s so much community in running because we’re all doing something that most of us hate and yet we still show up every day,” Leishman said. “When you’re surrounded by people with that same mindset, it’s really humbling and awesome to meet people who have that same level of insanity that you do.”