By Brittany Bowyer
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PHOENIX — Before most of the world begins its day, Chantel Newman is already chasing her next goal, one stride at a time.

For the Xavier College Prep senior, the challenge is part of the appeal. A standout cross country runner, she’s learned success comes through the miles logged in training, the discipline to keep pushing when fatigue sets in and the determination to become better with every race.

The same commitment carries over into the classroom for Newman, where she has found just as much success as she has on the course.

“She is highly motivated in the classroom academically, putting studies first,” Xavier Cross Country Coach Nissa Kubley said. “That motivation translates in her sport.”

In the classroom, Newman has distinguished herself just as much as she has on the trails, earning recognition as a Commended Student by the National Merit progaram, while balancing the demands of a competitive running career. The unique blend of athletic achievement and academic excellence show Newman’s commitment to push beyond expectations, regardless of the challenge lying ahead. Entering her final year of high school, she’s proving why qualities like perseverance, focus and an unwaivering work ethic will carry her far beyond the finish line.

For Newman, her achievements came as a shock. She was notified she was one of six  at XCP in her graduating class who earned the honors.

“I wasn’t prepping for the PSAT that year, I was prepping for the ACT later that March, so the fact that I was able to even qualify was really exciting for me,” Newman said. “To receive the award was really such an honor, especially being one of six people in my grade to get it. Being able to balance school with running at the highest level, D-I 6A Conference in Arizona in the AIA is super exciting, and I think it’s really such an honor to be able to be recognized for that.”

While XCP is known for its rigorous courseload, Newman really challenges herself to go above and beyond. She’s in an intensive program called Great Books, which is the step above AP classes. In order to qualify for the program, you have to score high enough on placement testing leading up to your freshman year.

“All students take what’s known as the HSBT, which is a test assessing your math and english academic abilities,” Newman said. “From there, they also look at, you write an essay, and your teacher recommendations. Based on those qualifications, you can qualify to be a part of the Great Books program.”

Newman describes the program as a group of about 30 individuals who take a handful of different classes from their peers. She said the greatest part about it is that everyone’s engaged and eager to learn.

“It’s a lot of other people who also really care about academics, and you’re able to have really good discussions about different topics,” Newman said. “Really, having those discussions enhances what you’re learning in school to another level, where you’re able to actually apply it in conversation.”

By the time Newman graduates, she’ll also have 14 AP classes under her belt. As of now, Newman said she’s currently one of the top three overall in her graduating class at Xavier. In order to balance her academics and running, Newman follows a very structured schedule.

“School days, morning is for running, the rest of the day is for school,” Newman said. “So after school, I have a lot of extracurriculars so I’ll often times be in eighth hour, and then have some sort of get together or meeting or something. But the rest of the time is spent on homework and college.”

Newman said meet days are an exception to the rule, as she’ll allocate a lot more time to running on those days.

“Meet days I would literally allocate all of the time before my meet that day and an hour or two after, to get in the right head space,” Newman said. “To do stretches, roll out my body, all those types of things.”

Her preparation has proven to be successful. Just recently, Newman set a personal best at the Epic Tourneys Cross Country Invite with a time of 19:00.5 in the 5,000 meters.

“She is very determined,” Kubley said. “She’s definitely a goal setter, and works hard to achieve her goals.”

With the finish line for the season in sight, Newman wants to keep spirits high amongst her team.

“Really I just want to help uplift the team as much as I can,” Newman said. “We’ve done really cool things this year like doing glitter at races and doing theme day, but being able to keep up that team bonding and that team chemistry going into the end of the season I think is really important.”

“She cares about her team,” Kubley said. “She supports them in workouts and races, and organizes team activities for team bonding.”

She also wants to help cheer on any personal records her teammates are chasing.

As Newman continues preparing for college, she knows she has a lot of options when it comes down to where she can go. She says right now she’s really interested in the University of Notre Dame, but she’s open to her options.

While she’s not exactly sure what she wants to be when she graduates college, she knows she wants to major in something in the sciences. She says she hopes by getting involved at college, meeting people and taking different classes, she’ll be able to figure out a career perfectly suited for her.

Brittany Bowyer is a Report for America corps member, covering sports for Independent Newsmedia in Arizona. Report for America places talented journalists in local newsrooms to report on under-covered issues and regions.