Photo by Austin Drucker ‘17

Hailing from right around the corner in Bethlehem, Pa., freshman cross-country runner Alexa Deemer claims that she never envisioned herself going to school so close to home. But with Deemer’s recent success, she has certainly made her team happy that this mindset changed during her college search.

“I had always wanted to go to school far away from home. I was looking at local schools but I never really envisioned myself here,” Deemer said. “I wanted a school that would challenge me academically and also one that I could run at, so that’s why I chose Lafayette.”

Growing up in Bethlehem, Deemer went to Freedom High School just minutes away from Lehigh University’s campus. Though still in semester one of her career at Lafayette, Deemer has made it clear that she wants to contribute to Lafayette’s side of the Lafayette-Lehigh rivalry.

“I would definitely like to see us place or move up in the ranks in the Patriot League,” Deemer said. “And definitely beat Lehigh!”

Deemer recently made noise in the Patriot League, as she was the first Leopard to cross the finish line at the Patriot League Championships last Saturday at Metzgar Fields. She finished with a time of 22:43 and was the 14th runner to finish overall.

Not only was she the first runner from Lafayette to finish—she was also the first freshman competing to cross the finish line. Deemer’s performance in this meet played a pivotal role in her being named the Patriot League Rookie of the Year.

“It means a lot to me. It was a goal in my mind throughout the whole season to be one of the top freshmen.”

As a softball player turned distance runner, Deemer’s switch to cross-country came during her freshman year of high school. Deemer credits her success to Coach Thear, her coach from her senior year at Freedom High School.

“He really focused on trying to increase my mileage which led to better times. He really inspired me to continue running in college.”

Despite Deemer’s outstanding performance at the Patriot League Championship, Lafayette was unable to meet Deemer’s goal of defeating Lehigh. Finishing eighth overall, Lafayette was far from competing with Lehigh’s runner-up finish last weekend.

“Alexa worked very hard this summer and fall giving her a great training base,” Coach Jen Curran said. “Alexa is a true competitor and has a lot to look forward to in the upcoming track seasons.”

As Patriot League Championship was the final cross-country race of the season, Deemer will have to wait until next year to have another chance at fulfilling her goal of defeating her hometown rival Lehigh.