JEFFERSON CITY, Mo. – Taylor Werner was completely unaware that her target had moved.
In the end it didn’t matter as the Ste. Genevieve sophomore smashed the state cross country record with a 17:31.30 to repeat as Class 3 champion.
Discussions about course changes and the difficulty of previous incarnations notwithstanding, Werner’s record came about 30 minutes after Eureka’s Hannah Long had just set a new course record of 17:46.82. Werner was busy prepping for her race and didn’t have any idea that Long broke the 2005 mark of 17:51.4 set by Eureka’s Merideth Snow.
“No one saw her time from my team or anything, but I kind of figured she’d either be close or beat it,” Werner said. “So I was like, ‘OK, you’re going to have to really go hard.’
“It’s unbelievable right now; I can’t even process it. And I’m so proud of Hannah too, because she has the Class 4 record now.”
Werner ran a 17.25.01 on a very similar course layout at the Capital City XC Challenge in early October, and she said that gave her a target time to shoot for. She knew what her splits needed to be and was a second off at the 1-mile mark (5:20). She made up the difference and hit the 2-mile mark (10:57) at exactly the pace she wanted as she tried to replicate her Capital City time.
From there, it was Firehouse Hill and the downhill charge toward the finish.
“In Ste. Gen we run a lot of hill workouts, so I knew it was nothing different and that I had to attack the hill,” said Werner, who had written ‘Dream’ on her hand for a motivational reminder.
Ste. Genevieve coach Brian Jett said he sometimes forgets how outstanding Werner is when he sees her run every day, and he can’t even fathom what she will do with two more years of high school running.
“Her abilities, in practice, it’s easy to take for granted because I get to see it every day, but if I step back from it a little bit, it amazes me. I’ve never seen anybody of this caliber,” Jett said. “She’s going to grow, and she’s going to get stronger. And if we can keep her healthy, I have no idea what her limits are, and I don’t think she does either.
Werner, who won last year’s title as a freshman in 18:19.88, did not have any extravagant celebration plans.
“I’ll probably eat some ice cream,” Werner said. “I guess the feeling inside is reward enough.”
