Owen distance runner charts course for Mars Hill University

Peyton Draper to race with the lions

Fred McCormick
The Valley Echo
December 5, 2023

Teammates and coaches from the Owen High School track and cross country programs surround senior Peyton Draper, Dec. 1, as she signs to continue her distance running career with Mars Hill University. Photo by Fred McCormick

A couple of years ago, Peyton Draper never considered the idea of a career in competitive distance running, but when she joined the Owen High School cross country and track teams as a sophomore her passion for the sport grew as she logged miles on the trails.

While in the home stretch of her Warlassies career, the senior was joined, Dec. 1, by family, coaches, teammates and supporters to celebrate the miles yet to come, as Draper signed with Mars Hill University.

The ceremony marked a “really big” accomplishment in the young career of Draper, she said.

“When I started two years ago with track, I just thought of it as something pretty cool to do after school,” she said. “But, that next summer I started to get pretty serious about it.”

Her competitive running career began when she joined her friend, fellow senior Piper Berry, as a sophomore on the roster.

“She was like come join the team and we can spend more time together,” Draper said. “I was like, ‘let’s do it.’ I was a sprinter and wasn’t very good at it, but coach put me in the mile and I felt pretty good about it.”

Her development in the sport has been impressive, according to Warlassies head coach Kate Dost.

“She is almost like a student of running,” the coach said. “She’s interested in it, she reads up on it and she’s into the latest developments in training.”

Draper expressed interest in cross country as a sophomore, but a preseason injury kept her from fully committing to the sport until her junior season.

“She was very committed from the get-go,” Dost said. “It was clear she bought into the running and team cultures right from the start. I could tell she had a lot of potential, and she actually won our most improved award in her first year because she dropped around 5 minutes from August to November.”

The runner followed up her first season in cross country with an outdoor campaign in which she took first place in the 3,200 and 1,600 meter runs in the Western Highlands Conference Championship. Draper finished 7th in the 2023 NCHSAA 2A West Regional meet 1,600 meter race and 10th in the 800 meter.

Joined by her parents, Dec. 1, Owen senior Peyton Draper signs with the Mars Hill University track and field and cross country programs. Photo by Fred McCormick

In her final cross country season last fall, Draper and her teammates led the Warlassies back to the state championships meet in November. She holds the Owen record for the indoor 1,600 meter race and is in the top 10 of many distance events.

Draper, a four-time conference champion in 2023, is eager to test her endurance for the Lions.

“I’m excited to race against new people,” she said. “We race against a lot of the same people here, which is awesome because I’ve met some of my best friends that way. But, college running is very different, and I really want to experience that kind of competition.”

She was immediately impressed with the program when she visited the campus in Madison County.

“I really like that it’s not too far away from home, so I can come support my teammates and my brother and sister, who are both on the Owen teams,” Draper said. “But, I really liked the team there when I met them, and the coach seems invested in helping me become a better runner. I genuinely felt like that program was something I wanted to be a part of.”

While marking her commitment to Mars Hill University represented a significant moment in her career, Draper is focused on her final indoor track season in the outdoor competition in the spring.

“It feels really good to sign today, and have a big part of my future set early on,” she said. “This year, we’ve already qualified for the state in the 4X800 meter team and now we’re trying to qualify for nationals. So that’s a big thing we’re working on right now.”