Moynihan Scholar-Athlete: LeCours sets pace on course, in classroom

Dave Dyer, The Eagle-Tribune, North Andover, Mass.
·2 min read

Oct. 25—Haverhill senior Brynne LeCours believes in the theory.

The theory is that, in general, dedicated cross country runners — and particularly the good ones — make good students.

LeCours, who is our October Moynihan female Student-Athlete of the Month, can certainly make a case for herself.

She's generally been the Hillies' No. 2 runner in cross country for three years and she's a proficient runner on the track as well, with a top mile time of 5:35.

In the classroom, there are few better than LeCours. She has an unweighted GPA of 3.88 and she is ranked 10th in her class. She's a member of the National Honor Society, the National Business Honor Society and the Foreign Language Honor Society.

And this is despite taking a heavy dose of college courses at Northern Essex over the last two years. She is taking two this semester, giving her seven overall.

"When I go to college, I'll enter as a sophomore," said LeCours. "It's a huge advantage, especially financially."

A runner since the third grade, when she competed for the Bradford Huskies team, LeCours has no doubt that there is a link between distance running and academics.

"I think they go hand-in-hand," said LeCours. "A lot of running has to do with pacing and you need to pace yourself with your academics to be successful. You need to know when you have to really buckle down. I know a lot of runners who are good students."

One of them LeCours knows exceedingly well. It's her sister Ariann, who is a freshman at Westfield State, started running at the same time as Brynne and graduated last year 11th in her class.

"I was inspired by my sister," said Brynne, "She took courses at the college and I wanted to do the same thing. I wanted the challenge."

Although she is undecided about college, Brynne is thinking in terms of majoring in exercise science and, like Ariann, run in college. For the LeCours family, running is a way of life. Both parents, Steven (with a best time of 2:39) and Kelly, who recently ran the 26.2 miles in Chicago, are marathon runners.

When asked if she ever gets tired running year-round, LeCours is emphatic.

"Absolutely not," she said. "I've been around running so long, I don't think I could ever get tired of it."

At the same time, LeCours doesn't expect to ever slack off on her academics.

"I try to do everything to the best of my ability," she said. "I'll stay up as late as I need to get my work done. That's just the way I am."

Which is typical of all Moynihan Student-Athletes of the month and maybe nearly all runners as well.