T&F: Harless taking her running skills to next level
when she signed a national letter of intent to run cross country and track at
Evangel University in Springfield, Mo. (Photo courtesy of Jenny Rhodes-Cassell)
CENTER -- Cala Harless has found a way to take advantage of one strong love in her live to continue to be blessed with a second one.
Harless, who fell in love with a new-found long-distance running career just last year at Center High School, said she received direction from God when she visited Evangel University in Springfield, Mo., and after talking to the track coach there, signed a national letter of intent to attend the university.
Evangel isn't where she thought she'd end up at college, especially since her brother, Cyle, attends the cross-town rival, Central Bible College.
"It's really funny how it all came about because it was always a joke with Cyle because he goes to CBC says nobody should want to go to Evangel," Harless said this week at the Center Athletic Banquet. "But when I went up to CBC to visit, I wanted to go to see Evangel because it's a great Christian university and has a beautiful campus.
"They have a clock tower there and I went and sat under it and I just felt God telling me that's where I need to be."
Harless then went to talk to the track coach, and after following her progress through her senior season, he invited her to run on the indoor and outdoor track teams, as well as the cross country squad at the university.
"I really love running and I had to write a paper on why I wanted to attend college there," Harless explained. "And one of the things I wrote in the essay is that God has given me the ability to run and I wanted to take advantage of that.
"I knew, going into my senior year, that this was it and I didn't want my running career to end as far as competition. Now God has given me the opportunity to compete at the next level."
Three years ago Harless would have never dreamed her life would have taken the turn that it has. She didn't attend public school until high school, so she didn't have an association with a track program.
When she arrived at CHS, she began running on the track team, but as a sprinter, not a long-distance runner.
"I wanted to run track as a freshman, so I went out for the team and I've loved it ever since," Harless commented. "I was a sprinter until some crazy blonde-haired lady (Center Cross Country Coach Donna Shannon) came up to me at a basketball game and said, 'You need to run cross country.'
"I thought she was the craziest woman on earth. And I just went out for the team and I've loved (long-distance running) ever since."
Harless has learned that there is a big difference between being a sprinter and a long-distance runner - both physically and mentally.
"[Long-distance running] is definitely a mental sport," she reasoned. "It's not as easy as it looks. People go out there and think that running two miles is hard, but when you have to really push yourself and push yourself, and tell yourself not to give in, that's when it gets tough.
"You have to be mentally prepared every time you run. And when you don't think you can run one more step, you have to run three."
Harless said she actually had fun last November when she ran a half-marathon along with Shannon in Shreveport.
"Running the half-marathon was different," she admitted. "I didn't think about doing it until one day at practice I ran eight miles. Coach Shannon told me I could do it. So then I started running 10 miles and building myself up.
"It was definitely fun."
Harless can't stop smiling when she thinks about her collegiate career ahead now. She's off to the unknown, but trusts that God is leading her in the right direction.