Photos by Chris Auckley http://motrackfanatic.com/
JEFFERSON CITY, Mo. – Claire Workman remained perfect on the season with another cross country victory.
Workman, a sophomore at Springfield’s Summit Preparatory, won her fifth meet of the season with a 19:30.71 in the girls’ Class 1-2 race of Saturday’s Capital City Cross Country Challenge.
She missed cross country as a freshman because she was advanced a year in the middle of last year, missing high school cross country. Workman is no stranger to distance racing though, as she set a Class 1 track record in the 800-meter run (2:18.98) and won gold in the 1,600 (5:22.11) and 3,200 (11:47.74) all while running for New Covenant, which built a co-op with Summit to create a track team last spring.
Workman wasted little time moving to the front of the field Saturday, and she continued to build a sizable gap before winning by 21 seconds over runner-up Brianna Haller of Fatima.
“There’s a lot more people and competition at the meets, and it’s longer. I’m not used to the distance,” Workman said. “I tried not to think about it being the state course, but I did pay attention to where the hills and holes were. I like the course. I like (Firehouse Hill) actually; it’s a good spot to lose people.”
Haller, a freshman, gave Fatima a boost up front with her second-place finish in 19:51. The defending Class 2 state champions were stout from top to bottom, winning the Class 1-2 race with 38 points. Blair Oaks was second at 101, and Summit third with 104.
Haller said she thought Firehouse Hill was challenging, but the course was what she expected.
“I was nervous and excited, but once you get out there all that goes away,” Haller said. “On the corners was where I could go faster and push up, and the hills are where we always go fast and try to beat other people.”
Fatima coach Marcus Bridges said
“It’s important. It helps our kids relax when the big meet gets here. They know where the hills are and what corners they need to work on. It’s an important thing,” Bridges said. “Obviously you bring a freshman in, she only knows what you tell her, and so giving her an opportunity to come out and run a good race today will certainly help her.”
Bridges said running in last year’s inaugural Capital City Cross Country Challenge did aid the teams in preparing for their state title runs. Both the Fatima boys and girls won Class 2 titles last year.
“Cross country and track are the only sports in Missouri where there’s no game played on a state venue before last year,” Bridge said. “I don’t really see the controversy. Most states run several meets on their state course.
“The one difference between this and state is there is no tapering; we treat it like any other week. Just pound, pound, pound. We’ll come back next week and go back to same old, same old and back to the grind.”
The Fatima boys took third in the Class 2 race with 75 points behind Lamar’s first-place 61 and Whitfield’s 70.
Whitfield senior Nate Gelber pulled away from Lamar senior Kaden Overstreet over the last half of the race to win in 16:24.30 to 16:58.10. It was a reversal of the finish of the Class 2 state meet last fall when Overstreet won in 16:35, eight seconds ahead of Gelber.
“I told my coaches I wanted to go out and lead the race, and that’s what I did,” Gelber said. “To get a good time on this course before state, I was trying to go at a pace I felt comfortable at the whole time. It was a fun day. I was not really thinking about competition today; I just wanted to get under 16:30. I was more racing against time than other people.”
Whitfield did not participate in last year’s Capital City Challenge. Gelber said getting a preview of the course a month ahead of state was a great opportunity. He now wants to dip under 16 minutes at the state meet and has targeted specific places to shave off seconds.
“I feel like on the hill I lost a lot of speed, naturally,” Gelber said. “My goal is to try to recover after the hill a little better and use the momentum to just kick it right after (Firehouse Hill).”