Since her stirring debut as a Panther freshman, Patch senior Julia Lockridge has steadily raced her way into the DODDS-Europe running elite. Last month, her career reached another milestone.

Already an accomplished track and field performer, Julia Lockridge sprinted onto the cross-country scene, capping a dominant regular season with a runaway victory in the 2014 European championship race.

As such, Lockridge is the Stars and Stripes girls cross country Athlete of the Year.

But to get to where she is today, Lockridge had to clear more than 5 kilometers. The more substantial barriers were all in her mind.

“In track, you know how many laps. But in cross country there are hills and turns and mentally getting over the hump,”

Lockridge said. “You’re in pain a lot longer than in track, and it comes down to who can manage the pain more.”

Once Lockridge cleared those psychological hurdles, however, her previous performances on the track suggested great things on the cross-country course.

In the spring of 2012, the then-freshman Lockridge gave the Panthers the boost they needed to break a long drought of Division I team track championships. She ran consecutive 800-meter races and anchored Patch’s victorious 1,600-meter sprint medley despite an ankle injury.

The wins came even faster as a sophomore. Lockridge earned a first-place individual finish at 800 meters while helping the Panthers repeat as 1,600-meter sprint medley champs and add the 3,200-meter relay title to their haul. Last spring, she led Patch to gold in the 4x800 relay. In between stockpiling DODDS-Europe hardware, Lockridge runs indoor track with a local German club.

Lockridge derived her interest in running from her parents, Beth and Darrell Lockridge, and now makes a point of crediting their influence and continued support after each race.

“My parents always ran, just to be fit and healthy,” Lockridge said. “And I’d be like, ‘Can I run with you?’”

Years later, Lockridge would pose the same question to the Patch Panthers, a storied DODDS-Europe program riding a half-decade streak of producing the European girls individual champion. Lockridge would be running in the footsteps of past champions Morgan Mahlock, Katherine Castro and Baileigh Sessions, the latter of whom won the last three European titles before graduating. Meanwhile, fellow Patch senior Mitchell Bailey was on his way to a second straight European boys title.

Lockridge admitted that she felt the pressure. But like she’s done with so many DODDS-Europe rivals over past four years, she simply outran it. Her time of 19 minutes, 53.82 seconds was good for a solid first-place finish.

“The bar was set high…so I wanted to keep that alive for the school,” Lockridge said. “And with (Bailey) winning, I wanted it to be a win for both boys and girls.

Lockridge still has one more spring season to add to her already-lengthy list of high-school accomplishments. Now that she’s successfully expanded her range from middle-distance track to long-distance cross-country, she’s considering a new challenge.

“This year I might look into running the mile,” Lockridge said. “Since I’m now over that mental barrier.”

broome.gregory@stripes.com

Twitter: @broomestripes

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