Mead runner scores her own triumph
Sometimes the greatest victories in sport are not chronicled in media results. Mead cross country runner Veronica VanAuch’s victory has been in discovering herself.
Veronica has Asperger’s Syndrome, an autistic-like condition in which otherwise normally functioning people have difficulty thinking abstractly, socializing with their peers and are resistant to change.
Yet, said admiring coach Dori Robertson. “You wouldn’t guess there was something wrong with her at all.”
Veronica will never run varsity, in fact prefers not to, saying “I don’t like being pressured. I’m happy with being JV.” Her times are modest by distance standards, seven or more minutes slower than top flight runners.
But times are immaterial. Being part of the Panthers cross country team has helped her overcome emotional reticence. That, said her family, is every bit a victory as those posted by the GSL’s elite.
“Cross country was a huge factor in her personal development, giving her confidence and making her feel a part of something,” said Sharon VanAuch, Veronica’s mother. “It lets her have the socialization she really, really wants, but just didn’t know how to do it.”
There have been personal milestones as well. Last Saturday, when Vanessa finished her season with a 3.1-mile All-GSL Junior Varsity race at Mead, her time of 27 minutes, 26 seconds was a personal record by 44 seconds.
It was a far cry from last year’s 140th-place finish out of 143 runners in a time 3 minutes slower. Instead of being content to run at the back of the pack satisfied with finishing, Veronica has discovered the joy of competing and has become more comfortable racing in a pack.
“I’m just getting more into it, trying to prove myself,” she said. “But I never before thought I’d break 28 minutes, which I did.”
Diagnosing Asperger’s is difficult. At Veronica’s sixth-year birthday party she was more comfortable in conversation with doctors than with peers who played together elsewhere.
Because of that ability to interact with adults, teachers often couldn’t understand Veronica’s learning difficulties. Conversely, peer jargon confused and frightened her, so Veronica could not join in kid conversations.
She was ultimately placed in Mead District elementary school special needs programs. But it wasn’t until prior to her high school junior year that Veronica was diagnosed with Asperger’s.
By then running had become an outlet. She did it to get into shape, but also said she wanted to make friends and be with a team.
Veronica can’t say why she contented herself to run in the back of the pack during races, initially covering 3 miles in the 32- to 33-minute range. Those times didn’t vary by much until this, her senior year, which was marked by stark improvement.
“If she didn’t have sports,” Sharon VanAuch said, “she’d be a lonely little girl in her room. She could not reach out to kids her own age and those (Mead) girls reached out to her.”
There’s an old Peanuts comic strip in which one of the characters is pictured saying that no obstacle is too big that it can’t be run away from. Veronica VanAuch is running toward hers. There’s no greater victory than that.