AIKEN – Ryan Uhle will tell you that he joined the Aiken cross-country team simply because he felt it would be a good fit for him. He certainly wasn’t expecting to break any team records or otherwise standout in the sport, but it offered a way to keep in shape and stay involved in after-school activities.
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What Ryan didn’t expect was that three years into the sport the high school junior has built friendships with dozens of people, both young and old, whom he has never seen. A disease early in his childhood took away Ryan’s vision.
“When I started cross country, I just wanted to do a sport, I wanted to be more athletic,” Ryan said in a recent interview with scrunners.com. “Now, while I like running, I enjoy cross-country more for the people I’ve met and become friends with than anything else.”
Ryan will be competing with the Green Hornets’ JV team in this weekend’s Bob Jenkins Coaches Classic at Sandhills. He will be tethered to one of his coaches, per SCHSL rules, who will help guide Ryan through the 5,000-meter course.
“Only coaches are allowed to run with Ryan during meets,” said Aiken coach Bradley Verenes. “Either (assistant coach) James Jackson or I usually run with Ryan.” The coach wears a belt around their waist, which is tethered to a belt around Ryan’s waist.
Ryan said he’s able to get around the various courses across the state without too much difficulty.
“Some are worse than others, but none of them have been to the extreme where I couldn’t run on them,” he said, adding that he enjoys the Sandhills course.
Most of the conversation on the course between the coach and Ryan comes from the coach, who will let Ryan know when the two are coming up on rough stretches of ground or the threat of obstacles on either side of the trail.
“When it’s a large meet there are always going to be people in the way and we have to navigate around that,” Ryan said. “Other than that, it’s kind of hard to talk and race at the same time.”
Ryan said the biggest obstacle to competing in cross-country typically comes at the larger events, where he and his coach must navigate through a larger field of runners on the course.
“You have to go a little bit slower so you don’t accidentally run into the person running next to you,” he said.
During a race, Ryan focuses primarily on setting a comfortable pace, conserving energy and getting through the course, and he leaves the navigating to his coach.
His coaches say Ryan’s presence on the team reaches well beyond what he does on a cross-country course.
“Ryan has been a source of inspiration for all the athletes that have been a part of our program since he’s been here,” Verenes said. As our team travels throughout the state to various meets, Ryan is often viewed as a celebrity. Teams throughout the state are always interested to know how he manages to cope with his loss of sight and still perform well while running.”
Teammates run with Ryan during practices, including fellow junior Sam Owen who has been inspired by his friend both on and off the track.
“He is one of my best friends,” Sam said. “He has really shown me how no matter what life gives us, we can keep rolling and make the best of it. As a member of the cross-country team, he has shown me that I can always improve. During workouts and when I am running with him and starting to slow down, he always tells me I can do it and just keep going.
“Running with Ryan, especially when other people see what he does, is a great encouragement to keep running and beat my previous time. Knowing him in general is a blessing: to both have a great teammate and an even more amazing friend,” Sam said.
One memorable moment in Ryan’s young cross-country career came while he was a freshman competing in a JV event. He doesn’t recall the particular event, but Ryan clearly remembers hearing a runner approaching him and his coach from the rear. Not knowing that the two were tethered, the runner tried to pass between Ryan and coach.
“We clotheslined him,” Ryan said.
Ryan said that while he hasn’t competed yet this season, he’s hoping to build on his progress from his sophomore year.
“Based on what I did last year, I’d be very happy to hit in the 21s this year,” he said.
Ryan said he hopes to attend Clemson following high school graduation and continue running, though probably not competitively.
“I know I can’t get on the Clemson team, but I would like to keep running,” he said, displaying an approach toward the sport that isn’t lost on his coaches.
“Too often we get too caught up in the competitive nature of the sport and we fail to stop and appreciate the enjoyment that running gives us all,” Verenes said. “Ryan helps us as coaches remember why we are all involved in the sport.”