Maya Rowe is a biology major in her junior year at Buena Vista University. She is from Sheffield, Iowa, where she attended West Fork high school. During her three years at BVU, she has been a part of both the track and field and cross country programs.  

Rowe contributes to the small but mighty women’s cross country team by being a strong upperclassman and always being a positive role model when it comes to taking on the day.  

Colt Slack, the head coach for the women’s cross country team, says, “Maya brings an easy-going attitude and she is well-liked on the team and across campus. She works hard, and she competes as one of our top five runners.”  

Rowe says it was in middle school when she first fell in love with cross country and running.  

“I love running cross-country because it gives me an opportunity to run off some stress from school or life in general,” says Rowe. “I am also a big fan of being outside. Being able to run around on different courses to experience the beauty God has blessed us with is something that makes my day.  I also enjoy being able to eat all of the junk food that I want, and then going for a run so I feel like I won’t feel as bad about it.” 

When it comes to her biggest influences, she has a few people to thank.  

“My biggest influences are all of my coaches.  They show up to practice every day with a positive attitude and a championship mentality which really helps motivate me to be the best runner I can be,” says Rowe.  

When it comes to expectations for the season, Slack says that Rowe is a key competitor.  

“Maya has been a little banged up, but she has been running great at practices lately. We are just looking for her to compete hard and be confident. We definitely need her this year to compete with some other conference teams,” says Slack.  

Maya and her teammates have two more regular season meets left before the American Rivers Conference Championships on Oct. 27 in Lincoln, Nebraska.