Run, Logan. Run.

And she ran — until something unexpected pulled her feet right out from under her.

After raising eyebrows about her running ability since she was 5 years old, Logan Gillespie appeared poised to make her mark on the Jim Thorpe cross country team. Instead, a serious medical setback sidelined her for several months and forced her to the longest pause of her young athletic life.

Because of the lengthy road to recovery, Gillespie missed eight meets for Jim Thorpe this season. Through determination and perseverance, she worked her way back to competitive long-distance running and excelled for the Olympians. For her successful return to the sport she loves and her outstanding achievements on the course, Logan Gillespie has been named the 2025 Times News/Lehigh Valley Health Network Girls Cross Country Athlete of the Year.

“She’s very self-driven,” Jim Thorpe coach Marie Rosahac said, “but after her setback, we didn’t want to push her too much when she returned to our team.”

Gillespie’s recovery began with simply walking a few steps at a time. Gradually, she built enough stamina to ride a bicycle and eventually run short distances. As she increased her pace and mileage, her father rode alongside her on a bike — both as a safety measure and a steady source of encouragement.

“I’m just happy when I’m moving my feet, and I like to take in the different sceneries when I go out for a run and I’m not competing,” Gillespie said.

During her recovery, her Jim Thorpe teammates surprised her by wearing purple T-shirts emblazoned with the words: “From Start to Finish, Logan Wins.”

Gillespie’s first race of the season came at Palmerton, where she finished third with a time of 22:06.20. At Northern Lehigh, on a more demanding, hill-heavy course, she again placed third — this time with an improved mark of 21:23.41.

“She likes to start a race as one of the front-runners, then pace herself through the middle before making her move,” Rosahac said. “She’ll pass as many runners as she can with a big kick to the finish line.”

Once the competitive urge returned, there was little holding her back.

“After the Northern Lehigh meet, we decided it would be best to keep her out of an invitational that was held during the same week,” Rosahac added.

“It’s funny how Logan got into competitive running,” said her mother, Lauren. “When she was 5, I missed the deadline to sign her up for soccer, so she was left with running for the CYO.”

Gillespie competed for Catholic elementary schools, going undefeated and setting a course record during her eighth-grade cross country season. But just as she was preparing to take her talent to the high school level, she faced the biggest challenge of her young life.

For someone unsure whether she would ever run competitively again, racing in the Colonial League championships, the District 11 championships and qualifying for the PIAA Championships once seemed remote goals.

Run, Logan. Run.

At the Colonial League Championships, competing against sophomores, juniors and seniors, the talented freshman finished fifth with a time of 20:27.40 — nearly a full minute faster than her run at Northern Lehigh. Her performance also helped JT place fifth in the team standings.

Gillespie wasn’t finished.

At the District 11 Championships held at DeSales University, she earned a medal by finishing fourth in 20:07.20 — shaving another 20 seconds off her Colonial League time.

“The course at DeSales was challenging with more hills,” Gillespie said. “I like to know ahead of time how many hills there are so I can pace myself on the smaller ones and push harder up the bigger ones.”

At the PIAA Cross Country Championships in Hershey, Gillespie competed against a field of 249 runners and finished in the top third – 81st with a time of 21:33.

Asked why she has loved running since kindergarten, Gillespie said, “It relaxes me and gives me time away from life for a while. Plus, I like to see different surroundings when I’m not running competitively.”

She has also competed as a distance runner in track, but prefers cross country.

“When you run on a track, it’s just going around and around the same course,” she said.

“Logan just loves to compete,” Rosahac said. “She’s a great student, too. With a very young team this year, we’re excited about her continuing to compete and helping us get better moving forward.”

For now, Gillespie has one clear goal.

“I want to finish under 20 minutes,” she said.

“We are super proud of Logan,” her mother said. “Her resilience and dedication to getting healthy so she could run again has been remarkable.”

Because she truly was remarkable this past fall, Logan Gillespie is the 2025 Times News Girls Cross Country Athlete of the Year.