What a difference a year can make.
St. Charles West junior Sheldon Keence saw immediate dividends from a summer of training when he won the Forest Park Cross Country Festival’s White division Saturday.
Keence improved from a seventh-place finish at last year’s Forest Park meet. And while last year’s times were slowed by the muddy conditions, Keence’s times improved dramatically from a 17:57 to a 16:15.
“I PR’d by a minute, so summer training paid off big time,” Keence said. “We had a new coach come in, Tom Rennier, and he had a program all summer and we followed it exactly.”
Rennier, a 2003 St. Charles West graduate, began working with the distance runners during the spring track season as an assistant to the program. This summer, he outlined a training program for the Warriors.
The summer training contained the typical mix of easy base mileage, tempo runs and some fartleks. Rennier said it wasn’t a magical system, it was just that St. Charles West had gotten away from any structured off-season training since he was with the program.
“Summer base mileage can do wonders for any kid,” said Rennier, who finished 28th and 34th at the Class 3 state cross country meet his final two seasons. “To see the transition in Sheldon is remarkable -- he couldn’t get out of districts in track last year, to now winning the small division at Forest Park.”
Rennier said he gained training tips while he was in Los Angeles and had the opportunity to train with the likes of Barbara Parker, who competed in the 3000-meter steeplechase in the 2008 Olympics.
The addition of a summer base and some more fine-tuned training now that the season is underway should net even more progress for St. Charles West. Rennier said the Warriors are just now starting to get settled into a real training regimen.
“We’re still not doing anything,” Rennier said. “But we’re doing stuff I wasn’t able to do in the track season.”
That could equate to even more sudden drops in time, especially considering that Keence is the only returning runner on the 11-man squad.
