Rayna Maggelet is an ASU Walter Cronkite School of Journalism and Mass Communication student assigned to cover Arizona Lutheran Academy for AZPreps365.

Arizona Lutheran Academy’s cross country star Jack List had an unlucky start to his 2023-2024 season. However, that hasn’t discouraged him after he successfully posted his best time of the season in the 5,000 meter run at the Ojo Rojo Invitational Friday morning. 

The 17-year-old runner was battling congestion issues resulting in trouble breathing to being the season. Proper breathing plays one of the biggest, if not the biggest, roles to succeed as a runner.

“Starting off the season sick, I’m just not where I was last year,” List said. “I’ve been practicing really hard to get back to where I was and this is the first race where I feel really healthy.” 

List’s personal goal for the Ojo Rojo Invitation was a time that was sub 17 minutes.

He ended up finishing the 5K course at 17:40, which is over 40 seconds faster than his last meet.

“I’m pretty happy,” List said regarding his final time. “I know I can do better, but it is a good start.” 

Arizona Lutheran cross country coach Mish Aleisa has worked with List since his freshman year of high school and couldn’t be more in awe of his coachable, humble, and dedicated persona. 

“Even though he’s the fastest guy out there, he’s not for showboating,” Aleisa said. “He’s not looking at the other guys hoping they think he’s cool. He just wants to improve and then help the younger guys improve, too. He’s already pulled some of the freshmen under his wing.”

Freshman Will Meihak is amongst the top three freshman runners in the program. Meinak looks up to List as the leader he wants to be, according to Aleisa. The freshman PR’d by over two minutes in the Boys 5000 meters at the Ojo Rojo Invitational. 

Meihak said List is someone he can look to as a leader.

“He’s not the one goofing off in practice,” Meihak said. “He’s always encouraging us to push harder and to be our best.”

List’s first and only meets of the season, prior to Ojo Rojo, were Opening Night in Paradise and the Fountain Hills Invitational, in which he competed unhealthily.

The unlucky circumstances didn’t stop the runner from representing himself and his school to the best of his ability. 

The Opening Night in Paradise 2023 meet started off List’s senior season and he finished at 18:23.3 placing him 16th out of 104 runners in the Mens 5,000 Meters Varsity event, according to MileSplitAZ.

Arizona Lutheran’s second and most recent meet leading up to Ojo Rojo was the Fountain Hills Invitational. List, once again, finished as ALA's top performer at 18:22.70, placing him 44th out of 297 runners in the same category. 

After graduating from Arizona Lutheran Academy , which is located in Phoenix, in the spring, List hopes to continue his running career at either Arizona State University or Grand Canyon University while studying engineering.

Although his unlucky circumstances for breathing weren’t in the runner's favor, List managed to represent his school and coaches confidently but humbly. 

“I thank God. He gave me the opportunity to do this,” List shared.