Shane Thomas | The Valdosta Daily TimesLowndes cross country runners Payton King, Armarius Patterson and Michael Kelly take a photo with fellow teammates and friends Tuesday at Lowndes High School.

VALDOSTA –– Home is where the heart is.

Valdosta State University cross country bolstered its roster with home grown talent as Lowndes athletes Michael Kelly, Payton King and Armarius Patterson signed letters of intent with the school Tuesday.

Kelly, who ran track his 10th grade through 12th grade year before joining the cross country team as a senior, spoke about what staying in Valdosta and joining the Blazers means to him.

“Honestly, (signing with VSU) means the world to me,” Kelly said. “Before cross country, I never really knew what I was gonna do with my life. Now that I’m running with VSU, it kind of gives me an opportunity to better myself and continue to improve.”

Patterson also joined Kelly as a first-time cross country runner this season. Despite it being his first time venturing into cross country, Patterson is excited to see what transitioning from high school to college in his hometown entails, calling the opportunity to compete for the Blazers “an easy choice.”

“Picking Valdosta State, it was really an easy choice with the school being so close,” Patterson said. “With Valdosta being as beautiful as it is, going to Valdosta State University and being on the cross country team kind of opened my eyes to what Valdosta really looks like. I’m really looking forward to running at Valdosta State. This is only my first year running cross country so I’m really looking forward to what’s going to happen my first collegiate year.”

After helping the track and field team capture its sixth straight Region 1-7A title, Kelly and Patterson were able to translate their track exploits into high-level distance running with the Vikings.

Along with King, who spent all four years on the cross country team, the three athletes all developed into top-shelf runners in the state. Lowndes community coach Rick Mazurkiewicz serves as the speed coach for the team while his wife Martha serves as head coach. Rick talked about the trio’s development from their respective starts with the team.

“(Kelly and Patterson) just started this year and had never ran any sort of distance,” Rick said. “They did track but never did long distance. (King) had been with us four years so they all started at different levels. Payton worked his way up slowly through the four years whereas the other two, we kind of put their feet to the fire right off the bat to run with us. It’s just been a solid development –– everybody has to start at a certain point but they’re all such hard workers in their own right and you just kind of plug them into the system. As a team, as a family they just all grow and they all did a great job.”

According to Rick, the adjustment to distance running centers around stamina. The Vikings’ cross country offseasons are spent testing athletes’ abilities to run long distances four days a week. While much of the training mirrors parts of track, there are a few subtle differences.

“Well, with distance, you’ve got to build your stamina,” Rick said. “A lot of the track stuff, it’s a shorter distance run so you’re only feeling the burn for a short amount of time whereas with the long distance running, it’s not as quick of a pace but you’ve got to have that stamina. We start in the summertime having them run long distances. Armarius didn’t so much get to run with us in the summer, but Michael did. Michael came out all the time in the summer –– we go about four days a week and he was there with us all the time running all the distances.

“We build their mileage up and that helps build their stamina. … The speed work is different for cross country. We do more of everything whereas with track, you do just a few 200s or a few 400s –– we do lots of them, 16-20 400s.”

King recalls his recruiting visit across town to VSU and his initial meeting with Blazers coach Todd Smoot, calling his tour “really good” and learning the ins and outs of the VSU cross country program was “fun”.

Spending four years under Mazurkiewicz, King says, has prepared him for the next step in his journey. Once enrolled, King plans to major in engineering –– choosing a two-year engineering program before transferring to Georgia Tech attain his degree.

“It’s a chance to continue my athletic career,” King said. “Running means a lot to me and to be able to continue to do that in college, that’s one of the main reasons I’m going to VSU.

“My time at Lowndes has really taught me to stick with what I’m doing because cross country is a sport that you have to train in the offseason to continue to be good at it. The sport really teaches you to stick with something….perseverance, I guess.”

According to King, developing a passion for running is born from setting and exceeding personal goals.

“My passion comes from that feeling when you’re crossing the finish line and you see you’re about to reach a personal record and you see the timer and you’ve never seen your time that low,” King said. “Those things make you thankful that you did all that training to get to that point.”

When it comes to Kelly, King and Patterson, Martha takes great pleasure in having coached them.

Martha praised the runners for their desire to pursue a higher level in cross country rather than abandoning the sport entirely. Setting the example of sticking to the trail, Martha says, can only strengthen future athletes in the sport.

“I’m honored to be their coach,” Lowndes cross country coach Martha Mazurkiewicz said. “These are three boys that can follow so many different paths and they choose to continue running. They excel academically, which is a great representation of the program. We have the finest students come and run with us. They actually support each other and the environment that they create, the culture that we have attracts very high-achieving students here at Lowndes. … For me, the program will be even that much better knowing that they will continue their running.

“They are quality people, all of them. All three of them are very close with their families. They’re family-oriented. They really want to contribute as citizens to the community and really, to the world. That’s what they see; they see themselves as contributing in a positive way to everyone around them and that just makes me smile. Usually if they stay in town at VSU, we get to continue our relationship consistently. I can see them, I can go to their track meets, I can go to their cross country meets so it’s a plus, absolutely.”

As the trio of runners move on to their collegiate careers, they can do so with the added comfort of home and a spirit of perseverance. 

“I feel like I’m right at home and the culture is going to be great,” Kelly said confidently. “When you’re right in your backyard, how much closer can you get than that? Here is home. Lowndes is home.

“I’ve learned to never give up, never stop because you only get one life, you know? You’ve just got to live, man.”