Ellen Arvidson is in her happy zone whenever on a run.

It's a mood-altering exercise.

"She really loves to run," said Patricia Ferryman, Ellen's mother. "... She really needs to run every day. She's really unhappy if she doesn't run."

There are very few unhappy days for Arvidson, who rarely takes a break.

"It puts me in a better mood when I run so it's hard not to," Arvidson said.

Arvidson, a St. Bernard School sophomore, has been named The Day's 2014 All-Area Girls' Cross Country Runner of the Year after a breakout season. She finished the regular season undefeated and was third at the Eastern Connecticut Conference championship meet.

You'll never hear Arvidson, 14, brag about her accomplishments. She's all about hard work and staying humble.

"She lets her running do the talking," St. Bernard coach Sue Griffin said. "She's very quiet and very unassuming. She is what you see. She hates being in the limelight. She doesn't like any attention brought to herself. She's just extremely talented."

Arvidson, a rising star, just might have to learn to live with the attention. She's just starting to scratch the surface of her talent level.

She qualified for USATF National Junior Olympic Cross Country Championship after placing eighth in her division at the Region I race on Nov. 23 in Augusta, Maine. She traveled to Myrtle Beach, S.C., for the nationals on Dec. 13 and placed 74th out of 165 runners.

A disappointing result in the Class S state meet motivated her to extend her cross country season.

"Cross country is my favorite season so I want to keep it going as long as I can, but also I didn't want the states to be my last meet because it wasn't my best race," Arvidson said before leaving for the national meet.

Arvidson had a built-in excuse for her 18th-place finish in Class S. Due to a postponement, the ECC championship wasn't held until five days before the state meet. But she refused to blame her performance on the change.

"It was just a bad race for me," Arvidson said.

She had very few bad races during the season. A summer of hard training - she competed in the John & Jessie Kelley 11.6-mile road race and also in a half-marathon - set her up for success.

"Her endurance was that much greater because of what she did over the summer," Griffin said.

Arvidson not only went undefeated against ECC Small Division competition, she ran well against bigger schools, claiming the top individual spot in a race against East Lyme and Norwich Free Academy. Beating out runners from two strong Large Division programs meant a lot to her.

In the ECC championship, Arvidson stuck to her game plan, attacked the Norwich Golf Course hills and finished third overall in 20 minutes, 52 seconds. Her time was over a minute faster than when she placed 13th (21:59) as a freshman.

It was a confidence-boosting result.

"Third was great for me," Arvidson said. "I was hoping for top five. ... Last year at the ECCs was not my best day. This year, it went really well."

More good days are in her future.

Arvidson is really just getting started. Her goal is to break 20 minutes in a high school race next fall. She's a student of the sport, traveling to Wickham Park in Manchester to watch the New England championships last month.

"She just likes to be around it all, running and other people," Ferryman said.

As long as Arvidson, a former soccer player, keeps running, she'll be happy. She'll compete in indoor and outdoor track, preferring the longer distances.

Her love affair with running has even caught her by surprise and fueled her desire to improve.

"I really liked it from the first day," said Arvidson, who started running cross country last year. "It felt kind of natural to me. ... I never expected to get into a sport and love it as much as I love cross country."

g.keefe@theday.com

Twitter: @GavinKeefe

The Day's 2014 All-Area Girls' Cross Country Team

Runner of the Year - Ellen Arvidson (St. Bernard)

Megan Brawner (Ledyard)

Margaret Lewerk (NFA)

Kelsey Melinosky (Wheeler)

Jeannette Mooney (Waterford)

Alana Olendorf (Fitch)

Emma Pennie (Old Lyme)

Kirsten Thompson (East Lyme)