From a distance, running may seem like an isolated activity.

That couldn’t be further from the truth in the case of Mexico’s Thomas Peuster. The senior made it official Tuesday at Mexico Sports Complex that he will run cross country for NAIA school Benedictine College in Atchison, Kansas, next season.

Peuster is coming off a season that ended below his expectations with an injury-plagued state meet but qualified for his third state meet and won a North Central Missouri Conference title for the first time. Farther back, though, is when Peuster said his passion for running grew as he was encouraged to run cross country in middle school along with track and developed connections with runners. Besides the Catholic presence and his mechanical engineering major, Peuster said the “family-like atmosphere” at an NAIA school also sold him on Benedictine.

“My freshman year of high school, I basically had a change of how I put my effort in,” Peuster said. “It was just a side thing but then I started putting in work in the offseason. What really got me started was basically putting in the work in the offseason with other people who were also running to try to improve themselves. That really got me kickstarted about being adamant about my training in running and a future college career.”

Head coach Lucas Breneman said Peuster’s “best races are ahead of him” as he likes how Peuster will adjust to the added distance in college. Instead of the standard 5,000 meters in high school, college runners are expected to go 8,000 meters or sometimes even 10,000 meters, but he said Peuster is comfortable with that because of how he’s built and his desire to run.

“He’s a student-athlete that has the discipline where he’s put in the work through high school,” Breneman said. “That’s where the rarity comes in. Not a lot of kids are willing to go out summer after summer, winter after winter, when the weather is extremely hot or extremely cold, and put in the time to develop that base. He’s developed such a monster base that it’s going to carry him into the next level no problem.”

Breneman said Peuster’s “God-given ability and mindset” is such a rare combination he doesn’t see in runners, and that’s not where his value to the team stopped. Peuster’s leadership had made him “almost like another assistant coach” and he has a willingness to work with the younger runners to figure out what routine would work best for them.

Peuster said this past season is one of his best Mexico memories because he served as the team captain.

“I liked being the person there for other people to talk to and then giving them my knowledge from the past couple years and how to deal with some struggles of cross country,” Peuster said.

Having someone there for support is crucial, whether it is a coach or teammates, Peuster said, as there are a number of factors that could slow a runner down. For example, Peuster’s injuries affected his state meet performance.

Peuster said he tore abdominal muscles that forced him “to rebuild from scratch” starting in November. To prepare for his final track and field season, where Peuster is coming off state qualification in the 3,200 meters, he said he has to be cautious and remember not running as much is fine in this scenario.

“I’m really hopeful for the season and being adamant with recovery,” Peuster said. “I’m making sure not to overextend my body and that will ultimately get me improvement. You get faster by recovery, not how much work you put in.”

He said his recent medical issues proves how much he is willing to push through anything, even until he breaks. The main principle that has guided Peuster is to be prepared, meaning that struggle is inevitable for runners and they need to be prepared on days that aren’t sunny and warm or when they’re at 100 percent health.

“Push it on the days that are not the greatest and that’s when you have the biggest growth,” Peuster said. “There is a guarantee you will struggle, and at the times you struggle, you’ll know how to deal with that struggle and go further than before. Being prepared is one of the main things I go by because I am also an Eagle Scout. Being an Eagle Scout is made to translate being prepared for anything in my life.”

One of these less than ideal situations happened during Peuster’s junior year, he said, at Gans Creek Cross Country Course in Columbia. It was really foggy and looked “like a battlefield” with many runners emerging from the fog, but he ran a personal-best time that day.

Breneman said Peuster winning conference was “one of the coolest” things for him to see as a coach because he was aware how much Peuster worked toward that goal he had for himself through high school. Peuster said that only became a goal because of the people that were there for him at the start that turned running into a “daily ritual” for him over the previous six years.

“I really thank my coaches for being there because I had zero experience with running at the beginning and they basically guided me through the whole process throughout these years,” Peuster said. “They got me hooked into it and got me to be a leader on the team. I’ve really been passionate about being that example for others, and that’s something I always want to impact forever.”