Photo Apr 22 11 51 16 PM CLELAND2Finding any extra time for a teenager is very rare, especially when they are involved in extra-curricular activities. Northwestern senior Ryan Cleland will have plenty on his plate during his final year of high school, as not only will he emmersed in academics to conclude his days in high school, but he will be focused on three sports as he tries to finish his senior year strong with the Warriors.

Cleland stars on the cross country team in the fall, hits the basketball court in the winter, and just finished another solid track season with the Warriors. While he excels in each sport, picking a favorite is tough for the talented athlete.

“Choosing a favorite sport is very tough for me,” Cleland said. “In all the sports I play, the teammates are great and I have made a lot of friendships from each sport. My favorite would have to be basketball because there is a certain competitive nature that I love. There is nothing better than those close games where you either do or die.”

While his family has led him to running, he also picked up basketball in his elementary days and has worked hard in both sports.

“My entire family has run competitively at some point in their life,” Cleland said, who added his father ran at Heritage Hills High School, and his mother ran at Cedarville University. “All of my siblings have run so I decided to give it a try and found out I was pretty good at it.”

“I also started playing basketball in third grade at Upward, and from that point on I have played basketball.”

During the summer, Cleland plans to continue to work on his running and get into the gym to become a better basketball player for next season.

“Cross country and track never stop running because it doesn’t take much time plus if you take too many days off then you aren’t in shape come time to race,” he said. “For basketball I have been fortunate enough that my dad is a teacher so I have access to the gym. Every chance I get I try to get to the gym and put up shots even for just a half hour.”

He knows that all of this hard work will pay off not only for his team, but his personal goals.

“I want us to win the CBC title, this would be the year to do it, since it’s my last year, plus Urbana moved to the Kenton Trail side,” he said. “For my individual goals, I want to be the assist leader in the CBC next year.”

Cleland was honored as all-conference in cross country, and this past year was named first-team all-league during basketball.

While also being active in his churches youth group, Cleland also wants to play at the next level.

“I am undecided what I want to do after high school,” he said. “I wither want to enlist into the Marine Cop rot major in computer programming.”

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