Taylor Werner wins Girls Race just missing Anna Rohrer’s course record

By Michael Newman

DyeStat IL editor

[email protected]

Kenosha, WI --- Jon Davis (Oakwood IL) wrote another chapter in his memorable senior season as he won the Boys Seeded Championship at Foot Locker Midwest Regional. Davis did not know what to expect coming into this race. After his win two weeks ago at the Nike Midwest Regional, Davis felt some tightness in his IT band during the cooldown after the race. It was a concerning time for the Illinois 1A state champion.

“After I experienced that tightness by my knee, I self-diagnosed it as an IT band injury,” Davis said. “I spent the week after that in the pool cross training hoping that it would fix itself. I was trying to be very OCD (obsessive compulsive disorder) about getting this IT band loose. It’s loose now. Last week was a bit of a scare.”

The course conditions on the Wayne E. Dammhel National XC course were less than optimal. The previous Saturday saw the course take almost a foot of snow. The staff of the University of Wisconsin-Parkside worked to have the course cleared by Wednesday. The Kenosha area was hit by almost two inches of rain from Thursday night ending 24 hours later. The trails during the second mile of the course were in bad shape forcing race officials to move to an alternate course for that section. Standing water close to 10 feet wide also covered the course 400 meters into the course and then halfway through the alternate portion of the course.

It would be hard to imagine that this race would be fast. It did not look like it would be as the pack passed the first mile in 4:50. Paul Roberts (Lyons CO) started to push the pace the second mile as the pack which included Davis, Ben Veatch (Carmel IN), and Andrew Jordan (Pataskala OH) stayed close behind. Roberts led the race through 2 miles in 9:40. In the next half mile the fun began. Jordan made a move to try to break away from the pack. Roberts and Veatch stayed close to the Ohio D1 State champion. Davis started falling back but stayed within reach of the front.

Davis came down the hill in fourth. Jordan passed the 3 mile in 14:23 with the pack close behind. All of a sudden as the pack approached the last 150 meters of the race, Davis found himself in the lead. For the second race in a row, his kick was his saving grace. He looked smooth as her crossed the line in 14:57. The next two runners behind Davis were within a second. Roberts was second in 14:57 edging Veatch by two tenths of a second. Jordan was fourth with a 14:59.1 time.

“Andrew made the first move about 1200 meters to go and that was when things started to get serious,” Davis added. “I was in third or fourth. Things were not looking too good. I was thinking that I would just come in that way and qualifying. As I was coming down the hill, I passed a few of the guys and found myself in first. All of a sudden, I felt really fresh and just kind of turned it on. I felt ten times better at this finish than I did at Nike two weeks ago.”

Brayden Law (Homestead IN) was the second Indiana runner to qualify for San Diego as he finished fifth. Nebraska Class A Champion Seth Hirsch (Omaha NE) finished eight seconds behind Law in sixth (15:11.3). Matt Pereira (Lake Zurich IL) shook off a sub-par NXN Midwest Regional performance as he ran 15:13.6 to place seventh.

Finn Gessner (Madison WI) was the lone Wisconsin runner to qualify as he placed eighth (15:17.1). Isaac Harding (Rockford MI)qualified for his second national final as he finished one second behind Gessner in ninth. He finished third two weeks ago at the NXN Midwest Regional. Harding announced after his race on Saturday that he will be only running at the Foot Locker Championships opting to focus on just one race. Christian Noble (Mt. Vernon IN) was Indiana’s third qualifier as he took the final qualifying spot in tenth.

There was not the same drama in the Girls race that took place before that of the Boys.  The pre-race expectations of the matchup between Judy Pendergast (Naperville IL) and Stephanie Jenks (Aurora IA) held true as the two led at the mile going past in 5:33. Taylor Werner (Ste. Genevieve MO) was two seconds back. That gap did not stay that way for long. Werner passed the two at the half way point and did not look back. She ran the second mile in 5:20 going past the two miles in 10:55. The lead continued to grow on Pendergast. Maryjeanne Gilbert (Peoria IL) took over third place as Jenks started to fade.

The only question at the end was if Werner would break Anna Rohrer’s course record of 16:54. Her charge at the end of the race was not enough. She still dipped under 17 minutes (16:57.3) running one of the fastest times in the meet’s history.

“It would have been cool (to get the record) but with these conditions I was really happy with my time,” Werner said. “I knew that Judy was going to be there that first mile. I knew I had to push after that to take the lead. It worked out really well.”

This will be Werner’s third trip to San Diego for the Foot Locker Nationals. She qualified her freshman and sophomore years. An injury at the end of the year prevented her from qualifying last season. In two weeks, she will be one of the favorites in the finals.

Pendergast came in control in second (17:18.6) 20 seconds behind Werner. What made the day better for the Illinois state champion was that her school (Naperville North) was awarded an at-large bid to the NXN Nationals Saturday evening. Pendergast is still focused at the task at hand with two national races in the next two weeks.

“I think definitely it was a great mental race to work on,” Pendergast said afterwards. “It was nice to have competition compared to the last couple of weeks. I don’t think I was holding back at all. She (Werner) just raced really well.”

Gilbert gave Illinois their second Illinois athlete to qualify for San Diego as she finished a strong third (17:23.8) and only five seconds behind Pendergast. The Illinois 2A State Champion makes her second trip to San Diego. She finished 12^th in the national finals a year ago. Indiana athletes took the next two spots as Lauren Johnson (West Lafayette IN) and Sarah Leinheiser (Carmel IN) crossed the line in 17:30 finishing fourth and fifth.

Madison Troy (Grandville MI) will be doing the NXN/Foot Locker double along with Pendergast and Leinheiser. The Michigan D1 champion was a second behind Leinheiser in sixth. Ten seconds later came in Aubrey Roberts (Eau Claire WI) in seventh and Lauren Gregory (Fort Collins CO) in eighth. Gregory will also be doing the double as she finished second in the NXN Southwest Regional a week ago. Emma Wilson (Washington MI) was three seconds behind Gregory as she took the ninth qualifying spot. Stephanie Jenks ran 17:49.2 for tenth holding off Kayla Young (Westminster CO) by two seconds for the final qualifying spot. Jenks will also be competing in both Portland and San Diego. This will be Jenks second appearance at the NXN nationals and third appearance in the Foot Locker Finals. She finished 18^th (NXN) and 15^th (FLN) a year ago.