Cross-country runner Ali Gutierrez was completing the second mile of a race when she noticed a runner from another school on the ground.
As other runners continued, Gutierrez, a senior at Seguin High School in Arlington, stopped to check on the injured runner.
Although she was fighting unfamiliar terrain, humidity and exhaustion, Gutierrez placed the runner’s arm around her shoulder and ran with her for a half-mile until she was able to get help from an athletic trainer, the Arlington school district wrote on its website.
“Everybody just kept passing her up while she was on the ground crying out in pain,” Gutierrez told the district. “I knew I couldn’t just leave her there alone. I was so exhausted during the meet, and I was just trying to focus on my timing. When I saw her there, it was just a natural instinct to help someone who was clearly in need.”
After hearing what she had done at the recent meet in Denton, Seguin cross country coach Renwick Ridgeway said he was initially conflicted.
“As a coach, I was upset because I wanted her to focus on her timing and finish the race out,” he told the district. “But as a person, I couldn’t have been prouder of Ali for displaying what true service looks like.”
A few years ago, Gutierrez’s good deed would have gotten her disqualified from the race due to rules in place at the time, according to the district.
The day after the meet, Seguin principal Ray Borden received an email from the mother of the injured runner, who is from Van Alstyne. In the email, the mother praised and thanked Gutierrez for her graciousness, the district said.
Gutierrez, who hopes to attend either Texas Christian University or The University of Texas at Austin, wants to be a pediatrician or a surgeon, according to the district. She said she has no regrets about stopping to help the other runner.
“I’d do it all over again in a heartbeat,” she told the district.
