By DAVE O’SULLIVAN Publisher Mainland Regional sophomore Alyssa Aldridge is less than halfway through her high school running career, yet she already has become one of the top cross country runners — not only in New Jersey, but in the entire country. She burst onto the scene as a freshman when she finished second to Ocean City’s Devon Grisbaum — a Vanderbilt University recruit — at the 2014 cross country Meet of Champions at Holmdel Park. Aldridge came into this season ranked among the top five female runners in the state, according to nj.com, and has lived up to that billing. She won the sophomore race at the Cherokee Challenge, tore through the field at the Cape-Atlantic League Championships in Millville in late October, then posted a time of 17:52.55 to win the South Jersey Group 3 individual title — running the fastest time in course history at Delsea Regional High School. She also is one of the top distance runners in the area during spring track and field. She scored top-5 finishes in both the 1,600 and 3,200 meters at South Jersey Group 3 last spring, and finished 16th overall in Group 3 in the 3,200. So what else can Aldridge accomplish this year? How about appearing on the pages of Sports Illustrated? Aldridge said she got the news from her mother, Amy, late last week that she would be featured in an upcoming edition of the famed magazine in the “Faces in the Crowd” section. Alyssa said she thought her mother was playing some kind of joke on her. “She told me (Friday) after my friends left. It was crazy. I was like, ‘wait. What?’ I had no idea and never expected something like this to ever happen. I thought she was kidding at first,” Alyssa said. “When she showed me the email, I was like, ‘oh, wow.'” “I think (my friends) will be really excited for me, and shocked as well. It’s such a great magazine, everyone knows about it.” 
Alyssa Aldridge, a sophomore cross country and track star at Mainland Regional High School, was honored this week as one of the selections in Sports Illustrated’s “Faces in the Crowd”. (Glory Days Magazine photos/Dave O’Sullivan) She was featured in the Nov. 11 edition, the one with Olympic swimmer Michael Phelps on the cover. Of course Alyssa is familiar with the magazine, she said. Sports Illustrated has been one of the premier national sports magazines since its first issue, on Aug. 16, 1954. The magazine is read by more than 20 million people each week, and has been a staple of athletes’ lives growing up for generations. “My brother always got the magazine growing up,” Alyssa said. “As a kid, when you are looking at the magazine, you are thinking, oh, that would be really cool to be in there someday. But to actually be in it is just crazy.” Alyssa’s brother, T.J., is a senior at Mainland who is on the golf team. Amy said he was just as shocked as Alyssa when she shared the news with him, as were other family members. “He had a big smile on his face. I showed him the email and he lit up from ear to ear. He was like, ‘for real? Sports Illustrated?'” Amy said. “I told her aunt, and her aunt was like, ‘what? The publication that my son gets? Are you kidding me? She’s going to be in that?’ So it’s exciting for her to be in that.” Alyssa said there was no jealousy on the part of T.J. “My brother is so supportive in everything I do, I couldn’t ask for a better brother,” she said. Alyssa’s dad, Tom, said the family isn’t exactly sure how Alyssa got on the radar of the folks at Sports Illustrated. “We know that last week she just broke into the top 30 in the nation, according to Dyestat (a running website). So I don’t know if (Sports Illustrated) was keeping track of that,” Tom said. Alyssa said she’s not sure how her friends, teammates and classmates at Mainland will react once they hear the news that her face will appear in Sports Illustrated. “I don’t really know what is going to happen (once the issue comes out). I think it will get my name out there a little bit more, which is a little scary and intimidating, but I think it will be for the better,” Alyssa said. “A lot of training has gone into this, a lot of work, and I’m just really excited that it’s paying off. I do have to thank my parents for everything they have been able to give me, and also my grandmother (Marge Casey Aldridge), for my Casey blood, as we like to kid.” Despite the groundswell of attention she is starting to get, from everything from local newspapers to national running websites, Alyssa said she is focused on staying humble and continuing to put in the kind of effort that has paid such dividends so far in her high school career. “You just have to keep it real at the end of the day. You have to make sure it doesn’t get to you, and you keep pushing and training. You can’t let the publicity get to you. You have to keep it real. It’s not so much of a shock anymore for me, but every time it happens it’s still exciting to see your name in the paper,” Alyssa said. “It’s all been really exciting, and with the bigger races to come it’s just going to get more and more competitive. All those girls have been training so hard. For all the hard work to be paying off is so exciting for everybody.” She also said it will be cool to appear in the “Faces in the Crowd” section because so many kids her age look at that page, and in a way can relate more to those athletes than most of the professional athletes that generally are featured in the magazine. “Part of the cool things about (Faces in the Crowd) is that a lot of kids are looking at it, and it’s relatable to them, where as the professional athletes are what everyone aspires to be but there are only a few who ever make it,” Alyssa said. “The high school kids who are in the magazine, younger kids are looking up to them and saying, ‘hey, that could be me someday.’ That was me as a kid, and now I’m in it. It’s so crazy.” Contact Dave O’Sullivan: sully@acglorydays.com; on Twitter @GDsullysays [adsense]
Mainland Regional sophomore Alyssa Aldridge thrilled with appearance in latest issue of Sports Illustrated
