To be successful in cross country it takes determination, patience, and perseverance. For Woodward freshman, Dathan Custar, these skills have helped him over the years. Custar has been an avid runner for the majority of his life. Although he’s just now entering his freshman year of high school, Custar is not a novice to the sport or competition.

“I have been running cross country since seventh grade, but started my running career at the age of seven when my dad’s work put on a 5k event which lit my interest in long distance running,” Custar said.

For Custar running is a tradition and is commonplace throughout his family. Custar has a mentor in the sport he can turn to for advice, his cousin, who has had a long and successful career running and competing across Oklahoma over the years.

“My running role model is my cousin who was an Oklahoma all state runner and ran at OBU in college,” Custar said.

While Custar will begin participating in high school competitions for the first time this year, he already knows that he has the ability to compete at a high level. Custar has already enjoyed success in previous years.

“My proudest accomplishment was when I won my first local 5k at the age of 11 with a time of 19:46,” Custar said.

Custar is looking forward to training, competing, and improving at the high school level. His goal for this season is to break a 17 minute 5k. Woodward coaches say that Custar is always pushing himself to improve and expect big things from him in the years to come.

Aside from cross country, Custar also runs track where he can show off his top speed and keep up with his conditioning. Outside of cross country and track Custar is an avid golfer and can probably be found taking a leisurely stroll around the local course when he isn’t on the track or cross country trail.