Going the Distance

Clare Flanagan takes control of the
3200, followed by Hannah Truninger
of Mayer Lutheran. Photo by Gene
Niemi

While the boys Class AA 3200 and 1600 got the most attention at the MSHSL Championships, The other distance races had equally compelling stories.  The dominant female distance runners in Class A and AA once again demonstrated their talents while some new faces emerged as forces to be reckoned with.

The Blake School's Clare Flanagan, a junior, ran her last races in Class A winning both the 3200 and 1600.  Flanagan had hoped to conserve her energy in the 3200, but freshman Hannah Truninger of Mayer Lutheran had other ideas.  Truninger ripped through the first mile in 5:12 before Flanagan, realizing a sit and kick strategy might not be the best, took off on the fifth lap and widened her lead by five seconds a lap to  finish in 10:27.85.

As is her custom, Flanagan stood by the finish after the race, giving high fives or hugs to the other runners as they ended their runs. Then she became a mentor of sorts for Truninger, encouraging her younger rival that her talent would take her far.  Flanagan espouses the practice of one of the all-time great distance runners, Ron Clarke of Australia, whose philosophy was not to play mind games or attempt to withhold "secrets' from his competition, but rather to help them be at their best.

You want to run against someone when they are at their best, said Clarke, because that will bring out the best in you.  Clarke learned that sort of sportsmanship from another Aussie great, John Landy, who in the 1956 Australian 1500 championships stopped during the race to help Clarke, who had fallen.  Incredibly, Landy still won the race, but not before demonstrating that winning isn't everything in sport.

Another athlete who was almost a fall victim was Bemidji's Jenna Truedson, who demonstrated great balance when hurdling over Eagan's Danielle Anderson in the tightly bunched pack of the girls Class AA 1600.  (A great picture of the fall from the St. Paul Pioneer Press is HERE.)  Anderson got up to finish eighth in the race, and Truedson used her kick to sprint by defending champion Maria Hauger(fourth), St. Michael-Albertville's Rachel King, and Hauger's Shakopee teammate, eighth grader Tess Misgen, who finished second, down the homestretch.  Truedson, a sophomore, ran 4:59.75 to win her first state title.

Class AA 1600 start. From L to R: Rhinna Rinke(North Branch), Same Sundstrom
(Sauk Rapids-Rice Lake), Elowyn Pfeiffer((Highland Park), Jenna Truedson
(Bemidji), Maddi Sjelin(St. Michael-Albertville), Danieel Anderson(Eagan),
Anna French(Wayzata), Tess Misgen(Shakopee). Photo by
Gene Niemi

Unlike the 3200 where Hauger took the pace early and burnt off the rest of the field, including Truedson, who had to use another huge kick to finish third, the pace was pedestrian in the 1600 with lots of contact and, surprisingly, only one fall.  The field was still relatively bunched together until the final lap when Hauger and Misgen battled down the backstretch and into the homestretch until Truedson came flying by and King made her move.

The boys 3200 followed a similar pattern with nobody wanting to lead so Perham's Keeghan Hurley, a junior, and senior Brady Speicher up front by default and sophomore Ashenafi Hatte of Washington Technology Magnet school on their shoulder running in lane two for nearly the entire race.  "We knew when we were in the lead nobody was going to pass us," said Perham XC coach Jeff Morris.  One of those content to follow was Foley senior Charlie Lawrence, who was happy with the slow pace because of his superior closing speed.

Ashenafi Hatte(3,  Brady Speicher(5), Charlie Lawrence(in
blue) and Keehan Hurley(2) in the final laps of the Class A
3200. Photo by Gene Niemi

The boys Class A 1600 followed a similar pattern with Hurley the early leader before Waseca sophomore Shane Streich and St. Cloud Cathedral junior Nick Gloebiowski turned the race into a two man battle over the final stages.  The two battled back and forth until Streich was able to get in front and hold his lead to the finish, winning by two tenths of a second in 4:17.32.

Coming down the stretch, Streich said: "My legs felt like rubber.  I knew that if I gave up, I was giving up a State title, so I just kept going."

Hurley finished third(4:25.62) and right behind him was Proctor's State XC champ Matt Welch(4:27.49).  For Welch fourth place was something of a triumph as between the "Spring" weather and a series of injuries his outdoor track season was pretty much wiped out.  "I just wanted to come here and be able to run," said Welch, who is headed for the University of Minnesota in the Fall.  Considering the limited training he was able to do for the outdoor season, his result was encouraging, said Welch, and he hopes to build on it to get back to where he should be in time for college cross country at the U.

Nick Gloebiowski(2) and Shane Streich(3) battle down the
stretch in the Class A 1600. Photo by Gene Niemi

The girls Class A 1600 was a two-person contest from the beginning with Flanagan and Cannon Falls junior Emi Trost battling for the title.  Flanagan wanted her last race in Class A to be a triumph, and Trost was seeking her first title.  When asked if her tactics of leading early in the race was an attempt to capitalize on the fact that Flanagan had already run the 3200 the day before, while Trost only had a heat of the 800, Trost said, no.  "I was just running my own race, and whatever Clare was going to do was up to her."

Emi Trost. Photo by Gene
Niemi

Flanagan followed Trost for the first half of the race before taking off during the third lap and opening up a gap on Trost that she held to the finish.  By capitalizing on Trost's early pace and her own finishing speed, Flanagan broke the 27-year-old record in the 1600, held by Jeanne Kruckeberg of Blooming Prairie by .38 seconds in 4:48.41.  "I was hoping to get in the 4:40s," said Flanagan.  "It was a good way to finish."  Although entered in the New Balance Outdoor Nationals, Flanagan had said after her 3200 victory that she wasn't going to run any of the post season meets.  "I'm satisfied with what I've done this year," she said.  It had been "fun," she added, noting that was why she did it.  It's just a sport, she said, and she wanted not to take it too seriously."If it's not fun, why do it?" Flanagan said.

Trost was not finished for the day, however, as she still had one more shot at the elusive State title, and she took it.  Trost powered down the home stretch to win the 800 in 2:15.05 despite getting less rest than planned because the meet administrators decided to go to a "rolling" schedule for the final events because of the potential for severe weather(Rochester Post-Bulletin feature on Trost is HERE.).  Trost teared up when asked what it meant to win the title.  "I've dreamed about it for so long," Trost said.  Now her dream is reality.