Senior Addie Engel running hard at a cross country meet. Credit: Courtesy of Addie Engel
When it comes to running cross country, being one of the best means training nearly every day for hours upon hours and giving your all to cross the finish line before the person next to you, who is giving their all to do that same thing.
That is what Addie Engel brings to Ohio State’s women’s cross-country team.
Now in her fourth season as a Buckeye, Engel has become one of the most decorated Ohio State women’s cross-country athletes of all-time and continues to add to her record this season.
But it wasn’t always her dream to run cross country, especially not at this level.
A native of Springfield, Ohio, Engel didn’t run cross country while growing up but was inspired by her older sister to try out the sport.
“I had been playing soccer and swimming most of the time growing up, and then, my older sister, she wasn’t much of a soccer player, but she did swim, and she started cross country in junior high, or middle school,” Engel said.
Engel also has a twin sister who swims for the University of Kentucky. The two would watch their older sister swim and run in cross country meets.
“Me and my twin sister would always go to her meets and go to support her, and I found that I loved the running part and loved running — I found so much joy in that,” Engel said. “I think the extra inspiration to do cross country just for the running aspect and watching my sister do it was huge in getting me into running.”
Engel began her running journey nine years ago in the seventh grade. Since she started, she never looked back.
Now, with three years of collegiate cross country and track in the books, Engel has broken and set multiple program records and became one of the most successful Buckeye cross-country runners of all time.
Following the conclusion of the 2022-23 season, Engel won Big Ten Women’s Cross Country Athlete of the Year, becoming the first Buckeye to win the award.
“It’s a huge honor, I was really grateful for the opportunity and everything, but I think you still can’t put that into words,” Engel said. “It’s honestly just such a great experience that I’ve been able to do as well as I have here and receive all the support that I have. None of that would be possible without it.”
Additionally, Engel was named the 2022 Big Ten Cross Country Champion, as she finished first at the Big Ten Championships in Ann Arbor, Michigan, Oct. 28, 2022, becoming the first Buckeye to win the individual title in the program’s history.
“She knows that she can run with anybody in the Big Ten, and we’re really trying to expand that thought into her believing and knowing that she can run with anybody in the country,” head coach Sara Mason Vergote said.
Engel was a 2022 All-American, 2021 and 2022 First Team All-Big Ten nominee and 2021 and 2022 All-Great Lakes Region nominee — all are just her cross-country accolades.
Also an indoor and outdoor track runner, Engel won the 2022 Big Ten Outdoor Track Championship after going toe-to-toe with Michigan senior Ericka VanderLende and finishing 1.27 seconds ahead of her to claim the title.This season, she has placed first overall in two of the four Buckeye meets, as well as a second-place finish in the most recent meet — the Sean Earl Lakefront Invitational in Chicago, back on Sept. 29.
Off the track, Engel is praised by others for being a great person to be around.
“She talks to everybody, and so I think that makes people more comfortable around her. And then, especially me, she’s someone that I would go to for just about anything,” second-year runner Audrey DeSantis said. “She’s like the nicest person ever, 100 percent.”
Engel and DeSantis have been running together since Engel was a junior at Central Catholic High School and DeSantis was a freshman at Springfield Shawnee High School six years ago.
“We went to high schools in the same city, and she had a really small team, and they wouldn’t practice in the summer, so her and her sister and a few other girls on their team would come to our practices in the summer,” DeSantis said.
DeSantis said Engel’s influence also played a part in bringing her to Ohio State.
“Her mom had become good friends with my dad because my dad was like my coach,” DeSantis said. “She would text my dad occasionally and be like, ‘I talked to the coach and I told her that Audrey should come here,’ so it was kind of nice to hear someone wanted me to go to their school so bad and be on their team, so that was definitely a big check on the pros column for the school.”
DeSantis said Engel chooses to check on others to see how they did after their races.
“I remember after the Big Ten cross-country meet last year, she won the race, and I came in way behind her, so I didn’t know if she won or not, and when I finished, I asked her if she won, and she was so hesitant to tell me because she’s just so humble, but all she wanted to hear about was my race,” DeSantis said. “She was just like, ‘Oh my gosh, you did great.”
