Freeburg sweeps team titles

By Michael Newman

DyeStat Illinois Editor

[email protected]

Edwardsville --- The opening meet of the season is supposed to be a mystery for runners. How will they feel? What kind of pace will I run? Will I be able to maintain that pace? Those questions did not enter the mind of 3 time IHSA 1A State Cross Champion Anna Sophia Keller (St. Anthony HS, Effingham) Saturday morning at the SIU-Edwardsville Cross Country Course.

Keller was in mid-season form as she stormed away from the rest of the runners in her race. It was 80 degrees with an 85% humidity when the gun went off around 9:30 AM. The weather conditions or course conditions did not seem to bother the defending state champion. The course was softer than normal due to recent rains. In portions of the course, the grass was longer than what is usually run on. By the time she reached the ¾ mile mark, Keller had opened up a 30 second lead. By the time she went by the 1 ¼ point, her lead was 55 seconds. She passed the 2 mile mark with a 2 minute lead. She went on for the win crossing the line in 18:00.2. Even though it was only 3 seconds faster than her race win of a year ago, the conditions in the 2015 race were more favorable. Her margin of victory was an incredible 2:50 ahead of 2^nd place finisher Alaina Baumgart of Notre Dame Academy (MO).

“I know that people go out fast and I want to be in front,” Keller said after the race. “I think I went out a little too hard in the beginning. I was a little stiff after that point and I just had to work that out. I think the race was pretty good overall.”

She crossed the line and was not really winded. 5 minutes after the race was over, she had changed into her trainers and was ready to go on a recovery run. While runners crossing the line collapsing due to the heat and humidity, Keller was ready for another run.

“I didn’t do too much (during the summer). I tried to swim. I didn’t swim as much as I did last year,” Keller said. “The past few weeks I have been training hard. With school starting and all of the coaches.”

She starts her season with one of the top runners not only in the state but also the nation. She does have a decision to make in where she will be attending school next fall. The senior did some traveling during the summer visiting various campuses. College coaches have come to Effingham to visit with her and her family. She’s keeping the schools that she has talked to at this point to herself. At this point with all the schools that have talked to her, she has not even narrowed it down. “She won’t tell me what schools she likes the most,” Chuck Keller said. “She keeps telling me this is her decision. She does not want anyone to influence that.”

Keller and her St. Anthony teammates had a good day at this meet finishing a surprising third with 126 points. The top 2 teams in the Girls meet were separated by only 1 point. 1A #8 Freeburg edged Notre Dame Academy from Ste. Genevieve, Missouri 89-90. What was a surprise for Freeburg is that 3 of their top 7 runners are freshmen. Freshman Breanna Chandler led the way for her team finishing 3^rd overall. 28 seconds later Kayla Whitworth came in placing 9^th. Kristen Collier (18^th), Maddie Mense (26^th), and Ashley Gilmore (33^rd) rounded out the top five for Freeburg. The Midgets put their entire top 7 in the first 50. Their split on 5 runners was 116 seconds which is a better start than they had a year ago. The split on their top 4 was only 78 seconds.

“I’m so proud of the way that they ran,” Freeburg Coach Carl Florczyk said about his team’s 1 point win. “I am ecstatic that we won the meet. Notre Dame is a great team. This was Brianna Chandler’s first cross country race ever. I told her to stay with one of our senior runners. If she felt good the last mile, just go after it. She was 10^th at the 2 mile and passed 7 people in that last mile to get 3^rd.”

Freeburg’s Charlie Parrish’s strategy was the exact opposite of what happened in the Girls race. Whereas Keller bolted from the pack the first 400 meters of the race, Parrish was willing to work through the early portions of the race. It worked as he took the lead at the half way point and pulled away for an easy 36 second win (16:31). Only 7 seconds separated the next 4 runners as Josh Cable (Rochester HS) ran 17:07 to finish 2^nd. Austin Knight (Carterville HS) followed 2 seconds later in 3^rd. Jackson Stewart (St. Teresa HS) finished 4^th just ahead of Salem’s Hayden Wimberly.

“I didn’t want to kill myself the first mile,” Parrish said. “I just made some little surges in the hills of the 2^nd mile and made one final move coming out over the woods. No one responded to that one. I just wanted to win comfortably today. I did not want to kick super hard in the end.”

The cautious tactics paid off. By the time he got to the half way point, he pulled even with Salem’s Hayden Wimberly. He saved his energy in the hills of the second mile. Once he passed 2 miles, he knew that was his signal to go.

1A #4 Freeburg showed in the Boys race that they will be a team to be reckoned with this 2016 season. Led by Parrish’s individual win, Freeburg put 5 runners in the top 20 to easily win the team title with 61 points. Mascoutah was 2^nd with 158 points followed by Mt. Zion (162 points), 1A #19 Breese Mater Dei (216 points), and Herrin (233 points). Freeburg’s 5 runner split was over 2 minutes (2:14) but their split from their #2 to their #5 runners was 78 seconds. Alex Mack was the team’s 2^nd runner finishing 7^th followed by Carson Smith (16^th), Drew Wilkerson (17^th), and Corbin Schwable (20^th).

“I’m so proud of these guys,” Parrish added. “Ever since my freshman year, we have been talking that this is going to be our year. We sat down and talked about our goals this year. We want to be state champions this year. That’s the ultimate goal. I think we can do it.”

“Charlie led the way for us and the pack followed. It was a team effort,” Florczyk added. “It was just awesome to see them run as a pack. Charlie looked great. He was smooth and was in control. Coming into this meet, we had a great summer of training. We just wanted to come out and run strong. You don’t know what you are going to see competition wise. Our goal was to finish in the top 5 and we did just that. I’m glad we finished so high but of course we know we have a long way to go. The work is just starting. This is just a sign of greater things to come.”

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