By By Catherine Laroche
Sarah Weir is used to doing things just in the nick of time.
After spending two years at Lamar University, Weir, a senior exercise science major and member of the cross country team at the University of Louisville, packed up her bags to get as far away from Lamar as possible.
While most students leave school because they are homesick or unhappy, Weir was leaving school because of Hurricane Rita. Beaumont was ground zero for the hurricane and Rita destroyed Lamar, causing the school to close for several months.
Before the hurricane hit, Weir was keeping track of how close the hurricane was getting to her campus. A mandatory evacuation was put into affect, which is when she made a split-decision to rent a car and hit the road to her home country of Canada.
30 minutes later, Rita began its destruction.
“I got phone calls the whole time it was going on from friends who were trying to evacuate,” said Weir, who finished he collegiate career in November. “Friends were saying that people were going on the other side of the motor way to drive up and people had guns because it was just panic everywhere. I’m so glad I didn’t have to go through that whole situation.”
Weir said that experience impacted her life significantly.
“I was also in panic mode for a while,” said the Canadian-born Weir. “But every experience makes you stronger.”
On her way back to Canada, Weir stopped by several colleges, taking campus tours and meeting with cross country coaches. She just happened to stop by U of L while on her way to visit a friend at the University of Kentucky.
After meeting the U of L coaching staff, it didn’t take much more to convince Weir to transfer and join the Cardinals.
“I really liked U of L,” Weir said. “I’m really grateful for the opportunity that Coach [Ron] Mann and Coach [Brice] Allen gave me to run here. It’s been really great.”
When Weir joined the team, she was one of the very few women on the team. However, she helped the program by bringing in more people from out of state and the country.
“We’ve brought in a lot of talent and diversity to the program,” Weir said.
Sophomore Kathryn Long is one of those women that joined the team soon after Weir. Long said Weir has helped her plenty throughout her college career.
“Sarah is a great person and was an amazing teammate,” Long said. “She is very dependable, loyal, and easy-going. She was probably the main person I would turn to if I had any problems. I really look up to her and value her advice.”
Coming in as a junior, Weir quickly became a leader.
“Since she was the junior we all automatically looked up to her and voted her our captain,” sophomore Kelsey Page said. “Sarah is a quiet person but she was definitely leading the team. She was always there for me when I had a bad practice or a rough race.”
Although Weir is no longer competing for the Cardinals, she is still very involved with cross-country. She’s an assistant coach for the girl’s distance team at Assumption High School in Louisville and continues to run as a member of Derby City Athletic Club.
Weir recently finished sixth out of 8,000 people competing in The Anthem 5K; an improvement from her seventh-place finish the year before.
“I thought it was pretty good effort on my part,” Weir said. “I was really happy about improving.”
Weir finished second out of 500 people competing in the Frostbite 5K at Cherokee Park.
“It went really well,” Weir said. “It was unexpected. It was four seconds off my personal best in the 5K. So, it’s been going real good.”
When Weir is not competing or practicing, she’s focusing on graduating in May. Although, she’s excited about?graduating, she’s not in a hurry to make a decision on her that she will still be involved in cross-country.
