Elizabeth Trump, cross country

Elizabeth Trump has battled and overcome a few major medical issues during her career at Albert Gallatin High School.
So, naturally, she wants to become a physician.
The AG senior has compiled a 4.44 grade-point average while running for the Lady Colonials cross country and track teams.
For all of these reasons, she was selected as Albart Gallatin’s fall sports female recipient in the Centennial Chevrolet Scholar/Athlete Spotlight program. She is a daughter of Chuck and Shelly Trump of Fairchance.
After a likely top-five finish academically in a class of 280, Trump will study and continue her running career at Waynesburg University.
“Actually, this season was kind of a struggle,” Trump said. “We found out I was anemic in the middle of the season because my times were not where they were last year at all. It was kind of a humbling experience because it was my senior year and I was performing underneath one of our freshman runners who did really well. I learned a lot about being an actual member of the team. Ever since I’ve run, I was always on top, but I wasn’t my senior year. My health is fine now, I’m doing a lot better.”
So, that’s where Trump realized her calling to the medical profession? Not really. There’s more to her athletic and medical story.
“During my eighth grade year, I had back surgery,” she said. “That’s kind of why I became a runner. I had played soccer all of my life, but after my back surgery soccer wasn’t really an option. That’s why I want to major in pre-med. I really learned a lot about health then. I was really blessed to get into running afterward because it allowed me to have an outlet to get away from school because I have a lot of work there.”
Along the way to becoming an All-County cross country runner, Trump got to know AG cross country and track coach Joe Thomas, who was inducted into the Fayette County Sports Hall of Fame after a stellar career at Uniontown. In fact, Trump became attached to Thomas’ tough style of coaching.
“He was a really good athlete in high school,” she said. “He was phenomenal and he expects a lot out of us in return. He was such a good athlete that he knows what it takes to become one. It’s kind of inspiring to run for someone like that.”
“She is a very mature young lady for her age and she is very dedicated,” Thomas said. “When she makes up her mind that she is going to do something, she is going to do it. That’s very hard to find in a young person today. When you ask her to do something, you know that it’s going to be done.
“Even though I named all seniors as captains, Elizabeth is a person that really loves running and I hope when she leaves here that she continues on with her running career. When she goes to college, Liz is liable to be a very good cross country runner. I hope she does. Waynesburg has a real nice program.”
“I’ve thought about it a lot and talked to the cross country coach there,” Trump said of running at Waynesburg University. “Julie Gerber, one of the girls who ran for Uniontown, runs at Waynesburg. I think it would be really cool to run with her at Waynesburg.”
Of course, Thomas hopes to get another great track season out of Trump first. She will again run the mile and 800 for the Lady Colonials.
“It really hurt her,” he said of her battle with anemia. “She had a problem last year and really thought it was dehydration. But she just kept losing weight, so I thought there were other problems. I told her to go to a doctor and get a blood test. They found out that her iron was way down and that was her problem. She has come back and she’ll be ready for track season.
“The thing I emphasize a lot is that she doesn’t have enough fat on her body. She is a tall, slender young lady, but that’s young ladies, they all want to be slender. But being an athlete, especially a runner, you have to have some fat to burn and if you don’t have fat, you’re burning all muscle and that’s not good. I hope she realizes from this last incident that she needs to put some weight on. Not too much, five or six pounds. It isn’t going to hurt.”
While Trump is very typical of female high school seniors, she is atypical when it comes to social media.
“My family was never in support of it, I was never allowed to have a cellphone when I was younger,” she said. “Now that I kind of have a choice, I decided not to use social media. I really don’t have time for it and I don’t like a lot of what comes out of it.”
Trump plans to major in pre-med at Waynesburg, with a minor in biblical and ministry studies. She is quite active in the youth group at Abundant Life Church in Uniontown and volunteers for the Fairchance Exchange Club, where her father is a member.
“Whenever I grow up and hopefully become a doctor, I really want to do mission work,” Trump said. “Going to Waynesburg, being a christian university and minoring in biblical and ministry studies, I think it will really prepare me for being able to use my job in a mission setting.”