10 FEATURE LEADING THE WAY TO SUCCESS Lauren Bonds has set a good example for the cross country team By Samantha Anderson sanderson@kansan.com Lauren Bonds is a runner. After a hard day of studying, she doesn't think about returning to the couch and flipping on the television. She thinks of the 10-mile run she has waiting for her at practice. Running, for Bonds, is a way to deal with some of the stresses of college life. And it is this passion that makes her the great KU athlete she is today. Bonds knew that she wanted to be a collegiate runner by high school. She had success at Hutchinson High School as a Senior League Bound is giving away for the 2019 Big Yaz Grand Country Championships in Columbia, Mo. Bound has been named academic All Big Yaz Team for 6 years in a row. runner, placing fourth in the Kansas 6A State Cross Country Championships. It wasn't until her sister, Morgan Bonds, ran for Kansas State that she realized that she could take her athletic success to a collegiate level. "I don't think it ever really hit me that this is what I want to do in college and that this is going to be an opportunity for me until my sister went to college" Bonds says. "That's when I started thinking this is what my college is going to be like too. Coming home over winter break and doing abs until you want to pass out." Ryan Waggoner/KANSAN 4 THE WAVE OCTOBER 30,2009 THE UNIVERSITY DAILY KANSAN