Cross country freshmen girls learning the tricks of the running trade

FREMONT – For many young runners, there comes a time in the race when the thought crosses the mind: Why am I doing this again?

Four races into their high school cross country careers, a trio of freshman have been battling that internal quandary. But, every time Mara Brown, Bryanna Schermerhorn and Lauren Zimmerman reach that point in their three-mile run, they always find a reason to battle the fatigue and continue on.

“That’s what I think about the two-mile mark,” Zimmerman said. “I tell myself to keep going because I want to keep dropping time, I don’t want add.

“It’s all mental,” she added. “If you tell yourself you can’t do it, you can’t do it. But if you tell yourself you can do it, you can do it. That’s what I’ve gotten from it. When you run, it’s a lot of time to think about everything so you have to keep telling yourself you can do it.”

It’s just one of the many steps along the way for young runners to grow and mature in the sport. Of the three, only Schermerhorn ran cross country in middle school, while Brown and Zimmerman are entirely new to the sport.

Even so, adapting to an extra mile from the two-mile races of middle school took a little getting used to.

“I learned to pace myself,” Schermerhorn said. “My first meet I got out way too fast and it’s a long race. It was hard to get that pace down but after a couple meets, you get it.”

All three are hoping the endurance they build this season will carry over to track and field in the spring and, in Zimmerman’s case, breaststroke events for the swim team.

“McKela Elder, she told me about it and I decided to try it,” Brown said. “I do track and she told me to try it. She told me all about it and she told me it was fun, but it was a lot (of work), and it is. But I like it.”

Unlike many freshmen, however, who can usually learn and develop at their own pace with no pressure to produce team points, young runners make up virtually all of Ross’ girls roster. While Elder is far and away the team’s top runner, Brown, Schermerhorn and Zimmerman are looked upon to contribute to the team’s results.

Despite the expectations thrust upon them, each girls feels free of pressure to perform, which is just how coach John Elder wants it. He said as his young runners continue to gain experience their confidence will grow and their times will drop.

“You’re two miles in middle school and you add a mile to it and some kids are intimidated,” he said. “We tell them, ‘Don’t worry about it, it’s not that big of a deal.’ And it’s not. We’ve had kids who are actually better with the third mile added to it from middle school.

“It’s (about) confidence,” he said. “I don’t know why our mentality is to be afraid instead of the opposite. Don’t be afraid to be good. Don’t be afraid to take a chance and not be good. Try. That’s what we work on the most.”

Meet results

Tuesday afternoon Ross hosted a four-way meet at Walsh Park with Bellevue, Clyde and St. Joseph Central Catholic where the boys team won the event while the girls finished third behind Clyde and Bellevue.

Matt Kuyken and Ethan McClory finished first and second overall in the boys race, finishing in times of 16:38 and 16:50, respectively. Keaton Jordan, Jayden Scott and Zach Edmunds finished 8, 9, 10 overall with Jordan running in 18:15 with Scott clocking am 18:25 and Farmer coming in one second later, 18:26.

“They did nice job,” Elder said of his boys team. “We have some kids starting to learn how to run on the boys side too. We’re now taking ownership.”

McKela Elder won the girls race, finishing first in a time of 20:28. She was trailed by the freshmen, who finished 12th, 13th and 14th with Shermerhorn finishing 23:38, Brown in 23:44 and Zimmerman in 24:00. Senior Santinia Minor and sophomore Kayla Glotzbecker tied with one another for 17th and in a time of 24:52.

“Today was a day to experiment,” John Elder said. “If you haven’t gone out fast, try to go out fast. So what if it doesn’t work? No one cares, it’s not going affect all-conference or all-state. And we had success with that.”