When the Washington Township cross-country team goes for a training run, Kyle Leonard doesn't just set the pace with his legs.
He sets the tone with his mouth.
"My teammates will tell you, I talk a lot," Leonard said. "I talk a lot during those runs."
Leonard has backed up his words with action as a senior. He has excelled as an individual and led the Minutemen into position for one of the best seasons in the history of the program.
Leonard ran a personal-best time of 16 minutes, 0.16 seconds at Six Flags Wild Safari Invitational at Great Adventure on Sept. 29. He led Washington Township to a second-place finish out of 80 schools in a school-record average team time of 16:24.
Leonard also won the Mixed Open Race at the Shore Coaches Invitational Oct. 6 at Holmdel Park and captured first place at the Gloucester County Championships Oct. 13 at Gloucester County College.
Leonard is a top student who plans to major in engineering and also run in college. He is considering MIT, Lehigh, Johns Hopkins, and Lafayette.
Question: How long have you been running?
Answer: I used to just run for fun but I started getting a little more serious in seventh grade. I ran a school mile and was pretty fast and realized that this was the sport for me.
Q: What do you like best about cross-country?
A: The team aspect. That's the best part. You're involved with your teammates and everybody is supporting and pushing each other.
Q: What's your favorite place to run?
A: Gloucester County College. That's where we practice as a team and we seem to run well there.
Q: What's your favorite subject in school?
A: Physics. I've had a great teacher [Devin Wright] the last two years and I just enjoy the subject.
Q: What kind of music do you like?
A: I'm a big classic rock fan. Pink Floyd is my favorite.
Q: What's your favorite movie?
A:Anchorman.
Q: What are your individual goals for the rest of the season?
A: I've been running well and now I want to finish as strong as I can. I'd like to place in the state race and maybe get in the top 15 at the Meet of Champions.
Q: What's the outlook for the team?
A: Things have changed for us. Before the season, we were thinking top three in the sectionals [Saturday at Delsea]. Now we think we can win the sectional title. That would be huge for us.
