As a four-time state qualifier and a six-year varsity contributor, Austin senior Abby Lewis has certainly emerged as a leader and a role model for the Packers cross country team.

But Lewis wouldn’t have made it as far as she has without a couple of role models of her own. Abby grew up running with her dad Scott Lewis, who is in the AHS Athletic Hall of Fame, and when she rose to the varsity ranks with the Packers, she leaned on current University of North Dakota runner and six-time state qualifier Madison Overby.

Now Abby is hoping to finish her Packer cross country career at the Minnesota Class AA State Meet, just as Overby did.

“Making it to state my senior year would be the cherry on top of a successful high school career,” Abby said. “Madison’s definitely been my role model throughout it all. I always looked up to her as a runner, as a person and a friend.”

Abby began running with her father when she was young and she recalled running with him in the Darren Dash as her first official race when she was 10 years old. Since then, Scott and Abby have a put a lot miles together.

“Since I was little he’s ran with me almost every day. He’s always been there for me, he’s been my biggest supporter since I was young and he still is today. It’s awesome having him always be there for me and I have him to look up to as well,” Lewis said. “[My dad] always knows the right things to say. He’s the first one I want to see when I finish a race. He’ll give me a hug and tell me ‘no matter what, he’s proud of me.’”

Austin will have just one home meet this season, which means Abby will run for the final time at Meadow Greens in an invite on Oct 9 at 4:30 p.m.

She’s hoping to she’ll be close to full speed by the time that meet rolls around as Abby suffered an injury over the summer and has slowly been building herself back up.

“I’ve been training hard for the past few weeks and I think I’ll be OK,” Abby said. “Our home meet is definitely a big meet for us. It’ll be a chance for us to show the community what we’re all about and it will be a lot of fun to have our meet out there.”

In the future, Abby, who also plays basketball and runs for the track and field team, plans to run in college and she’d like to work in a marathon or two as early as this summer. For now, she’ll embrace her final season as a Packer.

“It’s been an awesome time over the years,” Abby said. “It’s been so much fun meeting people and making friends. The team keeps getting better and better.”

Austin will compete in the Rochester Invite at 4 p.m. on Thursday.