Some athletes train for years in hopes of being able to peak at just the right moment. Johns Hopkins University junior track and cross country star Ellie Clawson managed to be at her best three times -- all in the same year.
Clawson, captain of a Johns Hopkins cross country team that won its fifth NCAA championship in the last six years last November, fought through the mental and physical ups and downs to earn All-America honors three times during the 2017-18 school year.
After not finishing among the top 50 in the nation at the national cross country meet the previous year, Clawson placed third at the NCAA Women's Cross Country Championships Nov. 18 in Elsha, Ill. She then overcome some minor injuries and illness to hit her stride in time to place eighth in the 5,000-meter run and seventh in the 10,000 meters at the NCAA Outdoor Track & Field Championships in La Crosse, Wis., May 24 and 26.
