In high school, he was told he had the potential to win state. He did it twice. In college, he wanted to become an All-American cross- country runner. He became one.

Simeon Wright is one of three men expected to lead the Cyclone cross-country team this season. He is an accomplished runner who has set goals and done the work to meet them. Because Wright is such an accomplished runner, he makes running look easy. But he has spent the last nine years of his life making himself the athlete he is today.

Wright did not choose to become an athlete. In high school, his parents made him get involved.

“My parents told me I had to do something, so I decided to try [running],” Wright said.

In 1989, Wright went out for the Dubuque Senior cross-country team. As a high school freshman, the Cyclone’s current top runner was not the best man on the team. In fact, he was the second slowest. But soon things changed.

By the end of his first season, Wright had moved up in the ranks and competed at the state meet as his team’s sixth man. When his sophomore year rolled around, he was the fastest on his team.

“I realized as I got into it that I had some talent. I had a really good coach, and he was really motivational,” Wright said. “He told me I had the potential to win state, and I guess I made that my goal.”

Wright won the state title his junior year. Unsatisfied, he reached for more. His senior year, Wright won every meet he ran, including the state meet where he captured his second-consecutive title. After state, he competed at a national meet, the Kinney Meet (now the Footlocker Meet), and finished 14th.

Iowa State was one of many schools who tried to lure Wright to their program. Wright said he chose ISU over Iowa and Wisconsin because Bill Bergen, former men’s coach, “seemed the most interested, the program had really strong tradition, and academically, it had the best program.”

Even for a two-time state champion, collegiate athletics took some getting used to.

Wright said he found the level of competition “to be so much higher.”

Wright said high school running was more structured and motivational, and in college it is “more on your own,” and the motivation is self-generated. Accustomed to being the front runner, Wright said he struggled and thought the workouts were tough.

But Wright continued to improve and to strive to become a better runner.

He red-shirted his freshman season and began his collegiate career the 1993 season. The next year he said he felt in practice he “was able to run with some of the guys that were really good.”

Kevin Bourke, ISU men’s cross country coach, said that Wright is “an outstanding cross country runner” who has “steadily improved every year.” Wright continued to make progress and said that he began to come around in competition during the 1996 season. He decided he wanted more. He wanted to be an All-American.

So last season, he became one.

At what Wright described as the most competitive regionals in the nation, he made the cut earning him the right to travel to the NCAA meet in Arizona.

“I didn’t realize I needed to run that well at regionals because I thought the team would go,” Wright said.

Wright said he did not feel he had any pressure, but was glad to be competing.

“I was going in to see what I could do,” he said. “I went out slow, moving up the entire race.”

In the end, Wright finished 35th out of 173 competitors and made the All-American team by being one of the top 25 American finishers in the 10K race.

Although Wright is pleased with his lifetime accomplishments and his success at the NCAA meet, it does not seem to be enough for him.

He said, “I don’t think I’ll ever be satisfied. I always feel like I could’ve done something.”

This year he said he’d like to repeat as an All-American and do as well as he did last year.

“Simeon is an outstanding cross country runner,”Bourke said. “He proved himself last year as an All-American. “

Bourke said if Wright continues to make progress as he has in the past, achieving All-American status is likely.

After Wright finishes his final track season in May 1998, he said he does not want to continue running competitively. He said he will keep running, but he wants a chance to put some of his time and energy into other things.

However, he said he wants to do a marathon. And someday, he probably will.