Werner hopes long wait to represent U.S. pays off 

By Erik Boal, DyeStat Editor

Taylor Werner (above right, John Nepolitan photo) has been a fixture at national championship meets, both at the high school and college levels.

The Arkansas freshman is hoping her first international competition Saturday at the Great Edinburgh XCountry International Challenge in Scotland will be the beginning of a similar trend of representing the United States in future events.

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Werner and Wisconsin freshman Alicia Monson are joined by high school stars Lauren Gregory of Fort Collins CO, India Johnson of Hilliard Davidson OH, Nevada Mareno of Leesville Road NC (above left, John Nepolitan photo) and Rebecca Story of Christian Academy of Knoxville TN on the American women’s junior team that will compete in the 4-kilometer race at Holyrood Park.

“I know a lot of college freshmen don’t meet the age limit to be invited, but I knew I would still have to have a very good season to be considered,” Werner said. “It’s so cool to get the opportunity to represent your country, and I can’t wait to see how I can do against everyone else.”

Werner shined in her NCAA Championship debut Nov. 19 in Terre Haute, Ind., finishing 16th in a 6-kilometer personal-best 20 minutes, 10.50 seconds to earn All-American honors.

She was the second-fastest freshman in the field, with only Oregon standout Katie Rainsberger – the top American junior with a fifth-place finish last year at Great Edinburgh – ahead of her in fourth place to lead the Ducks to their fourth national title.

“My race at NCAAs was huge when it came to confidence. I don’t think anybody, including myself, thought I could get top 20 against the kind of field I was in,” Werner said. “To be able to race with those girls that I’ve looked up to for so long made me realize my potential and just how good I could be. It’ll definitely help when I get to the starting line on Saturday.”

Werner is the second straight Razorbacks freshman to compete at Great Edinburgh, with teammate Devin Clark finishing eighth last year, the No. 2 American junior behind Rainsberger. But Werner enters Saturday’s meet with the momentum of being just the sixth Arkansas freshman All-American in program history at the NCAA final.

“To be a freshman All-American is a very, very rare feat,” Arkansas coach Lance Harter said. “It’s a tribute to her talent and her ability to race. She handles herself very maturely in the heat of battle.”

Werner demonstrated that maturity throughout her high school career at Ste. Genevieve MO, securing All-America honors three times at Foot Locker Nationals – only missing the 2014 finals because of hip and hamstring injuries – highlighted by a fifth-place finish as a senior.

But only three high school athletes – Maryjeanne Gilbert of Peoria Notre Dame IL, Judy Pendergast of Naperville North IL and Rainsberger of Air Academy CO – were selected to the women’s junior roster along with three college freshmen last year, so Werner was forced to wait another year.

“I first heard about the Great Edinburgh meet about two years ago. At the time I was injured, but the next year I thought maybe it was possible that I would get to go,” Werner said. “I was aware during the Foot Locker journey that I had a shot, but in the end, I wasn’t invited. During the summer, Coach Harter and I would talk about my possibilities and goals for the upcoming cross country season. He mentioned that I could very well be chosen to go the next year if I did well.”

Following a 15th-place finish at the SEC Championships and taking fifth at the South Central Regional, Werner continued to build momentum toward her first NCAA final, but was still unclear if her performance would be worthy of a selection to race in Scotland.

“At the start of the season I thought I wouldn't make it, but after the race I had at NCAAs, I thought ‘maybe.’ A few weeks later I got the e-mail and got super excited,” Werner said. “I’ve never raced a 4K though, so that’ll be a big difference from the 6K. I’ll probably just go out with the pack, trust my instincts and see what happens.”

Werner is also excited about competing with Gregory, an Arkansas signee, and working together in the race in an effort to lead the American junior women to their second victory in three years.

“I’m so excited that Lauren and I will get to be ‘early’ teammates,” Werner said. “I met her a little bit here and there in high school, but I got to be her host on her visit to Arkansas. We got to know each other fairly well and we’re pretty tight now.”

With Saturday’s race being her first in seven weeks, Werner is uncertain if she can recapture the magic of her NCAA performance. But she is motivated to be the top U.S. performer after high school seniors produced the best finishes by an American the past two years.

Aisling Cuffe was second overall during her freshman year at Stanford in 2012, the best showing by an American collegiate athlete in the women’s junior competition. Makena Morley of Bigfork MT, now a sophomore at Colorado, won the 4-kilometer race in 2015.

“I’ve mainly just trained for indoor track. We have some meets coming up soon, so I’ve just trained like I did in cross country, except I’m doing more track-related workouts. However, I’ve tried to keep my mileage up and my training pretty consistent to that of what I did in cross country,” Werner said. “This is definitely a test to see what kind of shape I’m in. I’d like to say I’m in the same shape, but we shall see. Coach Harter has been giving me several tips to do my best and giving me different things to do in order to maintain fitness.”