These days, Belchertown cross country senior Jillian Paterwic finds herself running alone. But that’s not why she got into running.
Paterwic began running at 5 years old, following in the footsteps of her parents and older siblings. Running became a social event, as she enjoys running in groups.
During her high school cross country career, she has gotten to know many different girls simply by running with them. They bond together talking about a wide range of subjects. She credits these runs to friendships that she might not have made otherwise.
“We usually talk like the whole time we are running,” Paterwic said. “We just keep bringing up all these different topics and just talk about them. We have a lot in common that we didn’t know about before.”
Paterwic began her running career participating in the Richard W. Childs 2.4-mile Trail Races, held every Tuesday during the summer at Van Horn Park in Springfield. Paterwic would run with her older siblings, James, Sean and Kelsey. The races are for children 15 and under, older siblings and parents may run, but their times do not count. There are four different groups, with points assigned based on the results of each race.
“Pretty much as soon as she could walk she started running there,” Sean Paterwic said.
Running became occasions for Jillian Paterwic. Friendships developed between runners, and running became something she enjoyed as a social event.
“I don’t like running by myself,” Paterwic said. “I feel like it just takes forever and it’s boring. When I have friends to talk to it goes by way faster.”
Her father, Bill Paterwic, was running with Jillian during her first race at Van Horn Park. He said that Jillian wanted to run with her siblings, to be a part of the group of runners. There was also sibling rivalry.
“Competition was definitely very big in my family,” said Sean Paterwic, 26. “Definitely getting into little sibling fights. We’d always have races ‘who can get here first, last one there is a rotten egg.’”
Like many other kids, she wanted the candy that is offered to runners after the race.
“There’s a raffle where their name is called and they get to pick out a candy bar, bag of candy, or a soda,” she said. “The candy is the big motivator.”
Paterwic also plays in a Belchertown co-ed basketball league every winter, and played soccer until the eighth grade. When she entered high school, she had to make a choice between playing soccer or running cross country. She choose cross country because of her teammates.
“We are really close together and they are very supportive,” Paterwic said. “These people bring me up.”
Throughout her high school career, she has always been one of the better runners for the Orioles. In her first two seasons, she was the No. 2 runner. During her junior season, Paterwic became the team’s No. 1 and has served as the silent leader ever since.
“Jill is a quiet leader, a lead-by-example type, which every team needs,” coach Jay Woodcock said. “I cannot think of a day where Jill has not been at practice in four years. She shows up.”
Paterwic ramped up her training and become more serious about cross country for her senior year, which included four dual-meet victories. Her season came to a close at the Western Massachusetts Division 1 championship meet on Sunday at Stanley Park in Westfield. She finished the 3.1-mile course in 21 minutes, 53 seconds, finishing 30th in the highly competitive race.
She missed qualifying for the state meet by 19 seconds.