When Ellen Arvidson was a freshman, it was difficult for St. Bernard School girls’ cross country coach Sue Griffin to figure out whether she enjoyed running or not. It turns out she loves it; she’s just a little on the silent side.

“She’s a great kid. She’s so quiet. She never complains,” Griffin said of Arvidson, now a sophomore and one of the more veteran runners in the Eastern Connecticut Conference despite her age. “She’s just a very easygoing kid. She doesn’t call any attention to herself. She just goes out and does whatever you ask her to do.”

Arvidson was 13th in the ECC championship last year in 21 minutes, 59 seconds and 12th in Class S (20:38), as St. Bernard went 7-3 in the ECC Small Division to finish tied for second behind Griswold. During the indoor season, she was fourth in the 1,600 and fifth in the 3,200 in the ECC Small meet, a hard season in which to train, Griffin said, because of the weather and limited time in the gym.

Griffin urged her to stay patient and wait for spring.

“That’s when you see your times drop,” Griffin said. “And she did. ... It surprised her family more than anybody that she was such a phenomenal runner. She took it in stride. She gets it.”

The verdict from the opening week of Arvidson’s sophomore season?

She was the top local finisher at Saturday’s Bob Haddad Windham Invitational, running a time of 20:16 to finish fourth in the 3-mile Girls’ Varsity 3 Race. She won her opening race of the year, too, on Tuesday, as the Saints topped Lyman Memorial and Tourtellotte in an ECC Small Division tri-meet.

Said Griffin: “The kids have come back in great shape. Ellen, obviously, did a lot of training over the summer. She ran a couple races (she finished second in her division in the Kelley Race this summer), building endurance, but nice and easy and controlled.”