When a high school student tries out for a sport, there is some pressure to make the team or face the possibility of getting cut. If a student tries out for the Spalding High Cross Country team, there is no fear of that happening.

“The difference with me is that I don’t cut anyone. The only way you can’t run for me is if you don’t make the grades,” said Dolores Owen, Spalding High’s Cross Country coach for the past six years. “I know many of these kids have confidence issues and the like. I tell them that when you run, it’s all about finishing the race. Of course you run to win, but the main thing is to always finish the race.”

Owen always has the best of her runners at heart. The Biology teacher has been coaching for 36 years and always made sure that her athletes know that they will get life lessons from her.

“I believe that good coaches teach fundamentals - great coaches teach you about life,” Owen said. “That’s always been my philosophy.”

The long-term coach, who spent 28 years at Morrow High and had stints at Jackson High and Decatur High, believes that kids should strive to be the best athletes they can be and they can do that through running. In fact, Owen believes that running is the only true sport anyone can play.

“The other coaches and students laugh when I tell them this, but running is the only real sport. The rest of the so-called sports are just games,” she said. “Running is the best foundation for everything you do. You can be a football player and lift all the weights you want, but if you can’t run, what good are all the muscles? Muscle is heavy.”

Owen also said running is the one sport that allows you to become a healthier individual, which allows you to have a better quality of life.

“I’ve had kids who have tried out for cross country just to lose weight,” she said. “One male runner told me he dropped two pants sizes since he’s been on the team and that his mom was proud of him.”

The one thing Owen, who will be 61 next month, tries to stress to her teams is that as a runner, you don’t have to be a great athlete - you just need a big heart. She’s not one to yell and scream at her teams to motivate, she uses positive reinforcement.

“I may yell at them to focus, drop their arms, things like that,” she said. “You don’t have to yell at kids to get them to do well, I believe.”

Owen is proud of the legacy she has created at Spalding. The running program has netted five region titles and one runner-up finish and several students have achieved personal best times. Former Jaguar harrier Rabah Syed won the 2004 State Cross Country championship as a senior, beating 412 runners to achieve that honor. Syed is now the No. 1 runner at Georgia State.

“I’m so proud of former runners like Rabah and William Jordan and current runners like Will Ficklen and Sarah Adams. Rabah and William come back to help the current runners out,” she said. “I know that once Will and Sarah graduate, they’ll come back as well. That’s very important for me to have the kids come back to the community and help out. I’ve been very blessed.”