<b>By Marlon Belden</b>

<b>LowcoSports.com<span class="Apple-converted-space">&nbsp;</span></b>

Maxwell Davis was an avid runner long before he became a standout on the Beaufort High cross country and track teams, and he plans to keep running for years after his career with the Eagles comes to an end.

Davis’ journey with running started at a young age, when in fifth grade he began training and racing with a local club team. His inspiration and initial drive to begin the sport came from his mother, Denice, who has run several marathons. Despite being cut from his middle school track team, Davis continued to run local 5K road races and held his passion going into high school.

Once at Beaufort High, Davis began to crack the varsity lineup during his freshman cross country season, and as a sophomore year he improved his 5K time by more than three minutes.

It was just the beginning of Davis’ high school progression.

By the fall of his junior year, Davis had developed into an instrumental part of Beaufort High’s cross country squad, running a 17:30 5K to help the Eagles place fifth at the Class 4A state championship. He continued his success during the spring of his junior year, anchoring Beaufort’s 4×800 relay team to a fourth-place finish at state by posting a 2:05 split to help the Eagles claim back to back team state titles.<span class="Apple-converted-space">&nbsp;</span>

During the summer before his senior year, Davis began training harder than ever, consistently pushing out 60+ miles per week.

“I was motivated to be near the top this year to pull my weight and show how much I had improved over the last few years,” Davis said.

That hard work and perseverance certainly paid off during his final high school cross country season, as Davis placed 12th at state with a time of 16:12 to earn All-State recognition. Since his freshman year of high school, Davis improved his 5K personal best by more than four minutes.

Going into his last high school track season, Davis was determined to win yet another state championship with Beaufort, as well as shine in his individual events at state.

With spring sports in jeopardy, Davis says he is staying positive and training from home while quarantined. Although his high school career may not have ended as planned, Davis is planning on running at the next level and will be announcing his college commitment shortly.