Late Start, Strong Finish for Demmerle in Distance Running
Ella Demmerle took the road less traveled to earn a spot on the South Carolina cross country team. Demmerle didn’t actually start her competitive running career until her senior year at Fort Mill High School and wasn’t recruited by the Gamecocks. She was already attending South Carolina last year as a regular student, but she wasn’t part of the team when her abilities and persistence made an impression on Gamecocks’ coach Brock Moreaux.
“Obviously that’s a bit of a late start, and I started to realize that I wanted to do this at the collegiate level,” said Demmerle, who helped her high school team win the state championship. “I didn’t have a lot of times under my belt to show to coaches. I spent last year running unattached at meets and training on my own so I could sort of show (coaches), hey guys, this is what I’m doing.”
Demmerle was outpacing a lot of the runners from various colleges in the meets she was competing as an individual in her first year on campus. She reached out to the coaching staff via email regularly after competing and training.
“I just had to trust the process,” Demmerle said. “After one of my last meets, it was sort of a last-ditch effort where I thought I would send this last email, and if I don’t get a response, then it is what it is. That’s when he (Coach Moreaux) really showed some interest.”
“I see a future where I’m running with the top girls. I’m excited about that being in my future and the process to get there.”
Despite her relatively unknown status as a runner, Demmerle was no stranger to competition.
“I swam competitively for nearly seven years before that,” Demmerle said. “I just wanted a change of scenery. During my junior year, I realized that no one at that age swims unless they have their eyes set on something bigger, such as nationals. I didn’t feel like that was the path I wanted to go down. My brother runs, and I was friends with his friends, so I said, I’ll give that a try. I ended up really liking it.
“The runner’s high is real! It just made me feel accomplished and gives me a clear head.”
Having a clear head will be good for her academic career as she is a nursing major on the pre-med track.
“I want to go to medical school and become a physician,” Demmerle said. “I’m really interested in becoming an OBGYN or something surgery related. I think this is the most direct way I can serve my community. It’s a great way to provide for others in need. I love the connection that you are able to have with people.”
In her collegiate debut on September 4, she finished 12th overall and ran the 5K course for the 2026 Eye Opener in Spartanburg with a time of 18:24 on a blistering day as the Gamecocks cruised to the win in the season-opening meet.
“It was really hot!” Demmerle said. “I felt pretty strong, and I see a future where I’m running with the top girls. I’m excited about that being in my future and the process to get there. I don’t have any specific times that I want to meet because I don’t want to create a toxic environment for myself. I just want to keep pushing myself.”
Now that she’s part of the team, she’s making the most of her opportunity and is happy to be surrounded by others who have similar goals.
“I love being around people. It’s so much easier to push yourself. It was emotionally hard running by myself and having to exercise a lot of patience and learning life lessons. I learned a lot about what it means to be a competitive athlete. It’s more than just doing the hard work.”
