Courtney Rogers knew what it would feel like to win a state title, but there was still something missing from this victory.
Rogers, a senior at Lutheran-St. Charles, won her second Class 2 state title Saturday on the Oak Hills course in 19:24.98.
She last won as a freshman in 2010 (19:06) but then battled Herculaneum’s Kaitlyn Fischer and Arcadia Valley’s Saga Barzowski for the next two years as the triumvirate ruled the Class 2 distance scene in track and cross country. With the other two runners now in college, Rogers admitted to feeling a little alone on the course this year.
“I feel like that one was kind of handed to me and I didn’t have to work as hard to get it. It’s not quite the same feeling, but I’m so glad it’s mine,” Rogers said. “I knew a half mile in that I had a comfortable lead. I was just wondering if I could keep it the whole way.”
Rogers admitted to feeling some pressure to perform as talk about returning to the top spot continually came up in interviews and stories. There was even more pressure weighing on her since she was unsure about the severity of a foot injury she believes might be a broken bone.
“I’ve had maybe a broken bone in my foot for the past month or so,” said Rogers, who will run for Southwest Baptist University next year. “I haven’t been running in between meets at all for the past few weeks. I’ve just been swimming or on the elliptical. So I get a break period to kind of heal, and I start swimming season in like a week. Then I’ll be doing swimming after school and running in the mornings.
“I haven’t gone to the doctor because I was afraid he’s say I couldn’t run.”
That injury ensured that Rogers wasn’t running for time and would be focused solely on the win. Her coach helped make sure of that.
“My coach even took my watch away from me at the very beginning,” Rogers said. “He was like, ‘I don’t want you to worry about that. I want you to worry about winning. That’s all that matters now.’”
