Drew Mayes – Men's Cross Country  

Drew Mayes has many miles to run this summer as he prepares for his freshman year as a member of the Skippers’ Cross Country team. 

“My peak this summer will be 60 miles,” he said. “The most I’ve done is 50 [in a week] and that was pretty brutal, so I’m excited to see how that goes.”  

Mayes just graduated from Port Huron Northern, where he ran track and cross-country.  

“I did track every year, and my freshman year instead of cross country, and that was a big mistake,” Mayes said. “A bunch of my friends from track saw I gravitated toward the distance events, so they were like, ‘You should come out for cross.’ All of my best friends are from the cross-country and track team now.”  

This new transition from high school to college isn’t completely foreign to Mayes. Prior to coaching the Skippers, head cross country coach Craig Dickinson coached at Northern. Mayes had the opportunity to run for Dickinson before he retired during his freshman year.  

“It was familiar to see him. I just felt comfortable because he knew where I started from, which is kinda cool, and he’s seen my progression,” Mayes said. “I’m excited to work with him again.”  

Mayes talked about his beginning of running with a bit of a chuckle, as he said he could barely run a mile in middle school. 

“I start running during track in seventh grade. I thought it wasn't for me. I ran like an eight-minute mile and could barely do it without stopping,” he said. “Now I can do like a half marathon, so it was a very humble beginning.”  

Chasing this kind of progress and achieving goals is Mayes’ favorite part of running. He said his best memory was during his senior cross-country season. 

“My favorite memory of running was when my team qualified for states this past year for cross-country,” he said. “It’s something a few of our girls go every year and we always went to watch them, but this year we were able to go and actually race.”  

It was also at that state-qualifying race when Mayes ran his personal best time in the 5000-meter run. He went on to place in the top 100 of all Division I runners in the state of Michigan.  

When he’s not putting in the miles or running races, Mayes will be studying to get his associates degree in science from SC4, with the goal of advancing from there.  

“My dream is to transfer to U of M and get an engineering or computer science degree and then work for a big tech company,” he said.  

And, if the opportunity allows, he said he’d also love to continue his running career. 

“I’d like to keep running, and if I get into Michigan, I’d probably just be running club there,” he said. “But I’d definitely like to keep running. The best part of it is the social part, for me at least.”