Alexander High School graduate and former track team member Leslie Stewart is now a rising sophomore on the Berry College cross country team in Mount Berry.

Upon graduation in May 2011, Stewart had just finished her fourth year on the cross country and track teams. During her high school tenure, Stewart and her cross country team were able to advance to the state meet numerous times.

“The cross country team went to state all four years that I was there. I got to be a part of that,” Stewart said.

During her four years, Stewart placed in the top 10 for the 1600-meter and 3200-meter runs 18 times in various meets, including the Region 5-AAAA Championship and the Douglas County Championships.

During her senior year at Alexander, Stewart was also able to make some personal accomplishments.

“I won the coach’s award which is like a leadership award for ‘giving your all,’ like MVP,” Stewart said.

Stewart also said she was able to make her best run times during her senior year as well. For the 1600 meters she ran a 5:37 for second place and 12:17 in the 3200-meter run for third place — both in the Douglas County Championships in April 2011.

Stewart now has finished her freshman year at Berry where she is part of its cross country team.

“It was a wonderful year for me, the team is great. There were five incoming freshmen who I became great friends with,” Stewart said. “I could have done better on the team but I’m doing a lot of summer training.”

Stewart’s coach at Berry, Paul Deaton, shares a similar sentiment concerning her performance.

“She is still working on her study habits, time management, and training discipline. Hopefully her second year of college will see improvements.”

Deaton believes she can improve however.

“As she improves as a student, I am sure she will do so as a runner as well,” said Deaton.

For the summer, Stewart said she will be doing “a lot of distance.” Part of her training involves the running schedule given to her by Deaton, she said she is also working as a summer assistant coach with the Alexander cross country team.

Stewart is also training for the Peachtree Road Race, which also will help her prepare for her sophomore season.