Gaels don’t stop believing
St. Edmond girls finish strong at state CC
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For Mike Szalat, the end result was far less important than the journey to get there.
The St. Edmond girls cross country team finished 14th here Friday at the Class 1A state meet. But from the perspective of their head coach, the miles, the time and the memories put together were what made it a win.
Naomi Valles led the way for the Gaels, finishing 48th overall in a time of 20:45 at Lakeside Golf Course and Kennedy Park. Grace Schlegel was 56th in 20:54 and Mae Pokorny placed 122nd in 23:08.
Senior Lily Eslick was the fourth runner for St. Edmond, crossing home in 127th overall with a time of 23:26. Greenlee Crimmins finished 134th in 23:45, Betsy Gruver was 146th in 24:28 and senior Alex Leiting 151st in 25:26.
"It was a really good year," Szalat said. "It's also exciting to see what we have coming back and what we have coming up from the middle school ranks. We had tremendous support from the students out cheering the girls on. Girls sports are really just trending upwards at St. Edmond right now and that is very exciting."
All seven were making their state running debuts. And now, all but Eslick and Leiting will be back next year with valuable experience competing against the best of the best.
"We lose four great seniors in Lily, Alex, Lizzy Tiernan and Abby Tofilon," Szalat said. "Lily really fell in love with running and it was great to see her get the opportunity to compete at state. Alex finished her freshman season strong and never looked back. Lizzy and Abby provided excellent leadership that really helped keep the team grounded.
"We are definitely going to miss them next year."
Maquoketa Valley took home team honors with 54 points, as Madrid was a distant second with 149. Collins-Maxwell rounded out the Top-3. Madrid did have the individual champion, as Madelyn Grothus won in 18:17.
"We ran well; everybody just ran better," Szalat said. "We had two PRs, two season-bests and two runs that were the second best this season. You really can't ask for much more than that. Kudos to everybody who ran; it was a great day to compete with perfect conditions, a great course and an excellent field."
Valles, a junior, and Schlegel, a sophomore, were within seconds of one another throughout the first two miles. Pokorny, another sophomore, Eslick and Crimmins, a junior, shared almost identical splits through the first mile of the race.
After the first mile, Valles was 73rd, as she passed 12 runners to get into 61st heading into the stretch run. From there, she worked her way around 13 more competitors to earn her Top-50 finish.
Schlegel did the same, going from 77th to 60th by passing 17 runners before getting around four more at the end. Pokorny ran by 19 runners from the end of the first mile to the conclusion of the race, Eslick got by 16 and Crimmins seven.
That pack mentality has served the program well under Szalat, who strung together an impressive run of consecutive seasons with at least one state qualifier at St. Edmond.
He also understands that the key to success is through the runners themselves.
"Cross isn't like a lot of other sports," Szalat said. "You can try a different play in football or pitch around someone in baseball. In cross country, you are leaving much of it up to the runners.
"As coaches, we prepare them as best we can by giving them the necessary tools to train. But once the race starts, it's up to them."