Podcast
Our passions can be discovered at different times in life. For Phoebe Dunham, her passion for running didn't start at a young age but came to her in high school. Once she figured out that passion, a whole new world opened up to her.
 
"I had a friend ask me to come run track my freshman year. She said 'Phoebe why don't you come and run the 800' so I said I would come and give it a go. And that year I learned I am not an 800 runner and it's not my main event," says Dunham. "That same friend roped me into running cross country my sophomore year I realized that if I put some work into this I can be good. So I dedicated myself to cross country that year in high school and haven't stopped."
 
Dunham ran for Dutchman High School in Prairieville, La., close to Baton Rouge. In just three years of running, she helped guide her program to a ninth place finish at the Louisiana HS Athletic Association 5A State Championship meet in her season coming in 46^th place overall. The meet prior, at the LHSAA 5A Region II championships, she posted a personal best time of 20:45.9.
 
None of that would have been possible if it wasn't for her friend and the discovery of family genes. A big piece to the success of Dunham's running was the encouragement of her mother. But it was more than the encouragement that she received from her mom.
 
"My mom and her dad and her sister all ran at a collegiate level. My mom ran for the University of Lafayette when it was USL and also for McNeese State. She is my biggest supporter and encourager when it comes to running. She is always there to tell me this is how it's going in either picking it up or slowing it down. She is the biggest influence in my running career for sure," said Dunham. "My mom is a beast at running. She still is a beast. She will go run four to five miles at noon and it's the hottest part of the day in Louisiana. I don't know how she does it sometimes. She was a crazy athlete in college."
 
Once the love of running was discovered, the family genes started to break through. Dunham began to train harder and longer around Baton Rouge. She started to see a future in cross country past high school. She says, "My junior year I pulled my high school coach aside and said I was serious that I wanted to run at a collegiate level. We then worked and trained hard for me to meet that goal."
 
Through those goals, she had beautiful places to run passionately in Baton Rouge. With the passion of running flowing out of her in her junior season, the coaches took her to different places in Baton Rouge challenging her and the team to grow in their running. Even though those days were tough, Dunham says those were some of her favorite days. "In Baton Rouge we have a park called Highland Road Park and I loved running there. Even though it was very hilly, I loved it. Another place was on LSU's campus around the lakes. We would do long runs around the lakes and those were my favorite days."
 
When she started getting serious about going to college to run, she had no idea where to go. Enter ETBU but not in the way you would think in the recruitment process. She didn't hear of ETBU until her freshman of high school and that is only because she came to campus for a church camp.
 
"Going into my freshman year of high school I was involved with my church and our student ministry and we came onto the ETBU campus for a week in the summer. We went to Cross Camp and I thought the campus was super cool but then I went back home and I thought I didn't like getting woke up at 7:00 a.m. by the trains so that is not my place."
 
ETBU wasn't even on the map for college, but God had other plans. God works in mysterious ways and when it came time to make a decision, ETBU was back in the picture.
 
"In my senior year, my parents were telling me I needed to pick a college and I didn't know where I wanted to go. I always wanted to go out of state and to a Texas school. ETBU – I thought, I've been there before but I didn't like those trains but I loved the campus. So I reached out to former head coach Natalie Prather and then now head coach Zach Richardson talked to me and said I would love to have you here. That's when I decided 'Yep, ETBU is my home and I want to run for you. I want to be there.'"
 
Continuing to follow her passion into college, she didn't know what to expect. ETBU was new territory and she was coming in still learning about the sport. That learning curve was quick as she became the top runner in the first meet for the Tigers.
 
"She has been tremendous stepping up as a freshman," says Richardson. "It has been great seeing her run the times she has run and the girls behind her supporting her 100 percent of the time. It is awesome to see because it is more of a team and not just individuals out there."
 
Dunhams says, "Coming in as a freshman and being a top runner was a surprise. I didn't expect that this year. It's an honor and I love leading. It was not expected. One of my goals is to be top five in the conference this year which I think is achievable if I continue to work hard and listen to what Coach Zach has to say. My goal as a team is for all of us to go to NCAA Regionals."
 
The same passion she had for her team in Louisiana transferred to leading this team and creating moments that will be remembered for life.
 
"The time I get to spend with my teammates are some of the best moments for this year already. They are a joy to be around. They make me laugh and they have become some of my best friends."
 
From discovering ETBU through church camp to finding her passion in running and now starting a new chapter in life, ETBU has become home for Dunham. Only time will tell how much of an impact she will have on this program.