Junior Zach Haire was named part of the 2021 Summit League Men’s Cross Country All-Academic team, according to a press release by the Summit League on Tuesday, Nov. 23.

Haire, who has a grade point average of 3.99, placed fourth in the men’s 8k during the Summit League Championships, helping the Tommies secure a second place finish.

“Zach Haire is just a special kid in terms of everything that he does, whether it be school or running or the other interests that he has,” coach Pete Wareham said. “Anybody would be lucky to have a kid like Zach in their program because he’s such a good leader.”

Haire is the only member of the All-Academic team, men’s or women’s, from St. Thomas. The rest of the team is made up of students from South Dakota State, North Dakota State, North Dakota University and South Dakota University.

Haire was initially introduced to cross country through his mother, who took him to races as a child, but he decided to pursue football throughout middle school instead. However, Haire switched gears and returned to cross country shortly thereafter.

“I gave cross country a shot my freshman year,” Haire said. “I was also running track at the time too, and I thought it would help with track, and that’s how I stumbled into cross country overall.”

Haire said his passion for the sport had begun to wane after four years of high school cross country.

“There were some times where running and the rest of my life seemed completely separate,” he said. “It was taking up a lot of my time, taking away from friends, taking away from my faith, taking away from my classes and things like that.”

Haire said that St. Thomas came up “late on his radar,” at a time where he wasn’t even sure if he wanted to run cross country in college.

However, the team atmosphere and the coach’s training philosophy attracted him to St. Thomas, along with the university’s business school and strong faith tradition. After joining the team, Haire rediscovered his passion for the sport.

“When running’s in check and going well, then it’s a lot easier to transfer that to the rest of my life,” Haire said.

For him, a big part of that is the team aspect. As a captain this year, Haire said that his teammates made it easy for him to be a leader.

“I love the guys around me, and that’s huge,” Haire said. “The teammates, the support system around you, the guys who are willing to be there every day and work hard and joke around with you—it made the trips… a lot better.”

During the Summit League Championships on Oct. 30 in Tulsa, Okla., Haire posted a time of 24:48.09 in the men’s 8k, placing him fifth overall in the Summit League and just short of a personal record.

“Looking ahead to next year … I am beyond excited for the traveling again and having that base as a team and having that competitive success,” Haire said. “We’re not just dipping our toes in the water and seeing what happens. We’ve dove in already and we’re continuing to improve.”

Owen Larson can be reached at lars6521@stthomas.edu.