Demarco Hernandez joined the Cross-Country team in his junior year of high school to help a friend because his high school’s team didn’t have enough bodies on the roster.
He fell in love with the sport and improved throughout his senior year, getting recruited to run for the Emmanuel Lions. Now a senior leader at Emmanuel, he is entering the season with goals set for himself to make it in the top 25 in the nation by the end of his season and for the team to finish strong in conference and region.
In his first race of the season, he got off on the wrong foot…literally. At the beginning of the race, another runner stepped on his shoe, and it came off. Instead of giving up and feeling defeated, Demarco pushed through and won the race.
Even though the team is young this year, Demarco believes they can still be a top contender both in conference and regionally.
Emmanuel Cross Country alumnus, Jesse Kemmerer is in his first year as Head Coach of the program, and Demarco believes the team is in good hands.
“Coach K is an alumnus from Emmanuel, so he knows the culture and spirit of the team and school,” he said. “His personal goal is to make sure that his team still has Christ at the center of everything we do. He also shares a lot of the same coaching ideals that the previous cross-country coach had. So, the team still has the same goal of finishing the season off with both the men’s and women’s team in the top of both conference and regional ranking.”
Demarco credits Emmanuel University and the athletic department for teaching him that his relationship with Christ is extremely important and to lean on the Lord whenever he is struggling or needs guidance.
After a 2nd place finish at the Brickyard Invitational on September 8th, Demarco was named the Conference Carolinas Runner of the Week!
Congratulations, Demarco!
