NEWS

Shelby runner forfeits her own race to help a stranger

Courtney McNaull
Reporter

With about a half a mile left in the two-mile race, Makenna Finnegan was on track for a personal best.

Shelby Middle School's Makenna Finnegan, right, holds hands with a runner from Findlay as the pair finish a race in Galion.

But although the Shelby Middle School student was keeping up a good pace at the Galion Cross Country Festival on Sept. 19, she didn’t hesitate to stop and help a struggling runner from another team.

She could have kept running when she saw Findlay runner Elaine Hohman clutching her stomach, but Finnegan said that didn’t even cross her mind.

“I basically came upon her and I didn’t know what was wrong at first, so I asked what was wrong,” Finnegan said.

Hohman told Finnegan she had a bad stomach cramp.

“She was about to stop, so I grabbed her hand and we kept running,” Finnegan said.

The girls finished the race together, hand in hand.

Finnegan’s mom, Kimberly Finnegan, who was unable to attend the race, said she received a message of gratitude from Hohman’s mom, who is the coach of the Findlay team, explaining what her daughter had done.

Lexington mom Sarah Whitesel said she didn’t know either of the girls, but was moved by Finnegan’s kindness.

“It was just really good sportsmanship,” Whitesel said. “It was like the best finish of the day, even though it didn’t count.”

Both girls were disqualified from the race because holding hands is considered blocking, said Finnegan’s coach Steve Clark.

Finnegan said it doesn’t matter, she would do the same thing over again.

“It’s just Kenna being Kenna,” Clark said, adding that he's proud to have girls like her on the team.

Finnegan said she stopped because she could empathize with Hohman as she, like most runners, has felt the same pain.

“I’ve experienced cramps, and I’ve watched as other people have that happen, and no one has really stopped at all to help,” Finnegan said.

For Finnegan, cross country not as much about making it to the finish line in a certain about of time as it is about finishing the race.

And a week ago Saturday, Finnegan helped a stranger do just that.

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