Standout Junior From Michigan Has Won All Six Of Her Races So Far And Is Building Toward A Big Finish

By Mary Albl of DyeStat

Photos courtesy Miles Postema 

Slow is the pathway to fast. Try ingraining that philosophy into the mind of a speedy, determined teenager  who happens to be one of the best upcoming prep distance runners in the country.

That’s the challenge West Ottawa High coach Kyle Barnes was presented with as he began his first year at the school along the eastern shore of Lake Michigan and working with rising freshman Arianne Olson in 2019. 

“She was a highly touted freshman, had the background as a talented middle school runner (set multiple course records at Ottawa Middle School) and she had the credentials to be really good,” Barnes said. “(But) she’s certainly had a lot to learn over the last three years.”

Olson's development has been steady since that first year, and still is, but it’s been built on the idea of slowing things down and enjoying the process. 

“Sometimes you have to run slower to run faster,” Barnes said. 

This fall, the junior has reaped the benefits of that philosophy as she’s emerged in a big way and won all of her races, including a signature victory at the MSU Spartan Invitational on Sept. 17 where she clocked 17:28.5. Currently ranked No. 22 nationally by DyeStat and trending up the list, Olson will face some of the top runners in Michigan again this Saturday at the Portage Cross Country Invitational at Portage Middle School.

“Coach Barnes, he’s taught me a lot about running, racing and training smart,” Olson said.

An avid outdoor enthusiast and cross-country skier growing up, Olson was first introduced to the idea of “competitive” running in elementary school. Her gym teacher Tim deForest started a program where students would run laps around the playground with the idea of completing a “marathon” distance in 13 days with prizes. Olson said that passion for running and being outdoors followed her to the middle school level. 

“I like to explore new places and I like the team atmosphere (of cross country) and how we’re like family,” Olson said.

In middle school, she enjoyed the perks of being able to watch her talented older sister, Abby, at West Ottawa High and tag along on the runs with the older girls in the summer.

“It helped a lot that I had seen my sister running at the high school level, so I got to go to meets and the state championship and kind of saw the difference between middle school and high school,” she said. 

Coming in with Barnes as a first-year coach, previously at Grand Valley State University (where he’s still a professor) and Abby a senior, Olson quickly emerged as the top runner for the program but had the mentality of a young, wide-eyed and fast-paced athlete eager to impress. 

Since their first season together, Barnes has developed Olson’s training and improved her racing mechanics. He explained one of the biggest issues early on was that Olson was running too fast on recovery runs, and needed to learn how to rest and recover properly, and relax -- not everything was a race. 

“Actually, my freshman year he said you have to run a certain pace, otherwise you are going to have to cross-train,” Olson said. “That forced me, because I still wanted to be able to run.”

Once Olson did buy in, she began to notice the changes would reap long-term benefits. 

“Runners like her, you have to protect them from themselves,” Barnes said. 

After a freshman season that saw her win the regional title (17:26.01) and finish second at the Division 1 final (17:53) to eventual Foot Locker champion Zofia Dudek (17:00.4), she placed eighth at the 2020 Michigan Meet of Champions, clocking 17:48.2 during a pandemic-altered sophomore season. In the Spring of 2021, she continued to build, clocking personal bests in the 1,600 (4:50.06) and 3,200 meters (10:26.04).

“I think just building a strong base and being able to work hard and throughout the year and not being tired for workouts and being ready for workouts (made a difference),” Olson said.  

Olson has won all six of her races this fall, clocking under 18 minutes in all of them. Most recently, she ran a school-record 16:45.0 on Saturday at the Otsego Bulldog Invitational. 

“Arianne’s work ethic is just incredible,” Barnes said. “She does all the little things, and thinks about the little things, way ahead of time. She has the desire to want to be the best and that’s part of the innate motivation that she has.”

Barnes, who described Olson as an introverted extrovert, said while the times certainly have been impressive, there’s been no need to be flashy or set any records quite yet. He said the goal at Portage, where she’ll face Ann Arbor’s Rachel Forsyth and Abby VanderKooi of Muskegon Western Michigan Christian, is hitting that 17-minute mark again. 

“The crazy thing is, people haven’t seen anything yet,” Barnes said. “She’s gone nowhere close to her potential and she’s going to blow the doors off.”

Another positive factor for Olson has been the presence of freshman phenom Helen Sachs, who is the team’s No. 2 runner and also runs in the 17s. Sachs was third at the MSU Spartan Invitational, clocking 17:48.5. The two have combined to become one the nation’s best young 1-2 punches.

“It’s really good, and especially good for our team; we can always have each other at the front,” Olson said. 

Olson said one of her goals is to run at some postseason races, a plan that included Nike Cross Nationals before it was announced it would only go as far as regional races, as well as the Foot Locker Championships.

“I’m really excited because I've been feeling good in workouts and so I know I can do better,” she said.

While the opportunity to finally speed things up is on the horizon, Olson knows that to go fast she has to go slow -- sometimes.  

"I like running fast but I guess it's more fun to have good workouts,” Olson said.