John Raffel
Sports Scene
Two for the price of one family.
Cedar Springs’ girls cross country team was well aware that Katie Weiler, a junior, could have a strong season for the squad this fall.
A welcome addition, however, has been her sister, Kenzie, who has already broken the school record in 18:04 as a freshman. The sisters’ presence on the team, plus the talents of other runners, have some cross country observers thinking that the Redhawks could contend for a state title.
“Katie is a junior this year, and last year as a sophomore, she was all-conference, placed ninth in the state, all-state academic, and was our school record holder with a time of 18:27,” said Cedar Springs coach Jennifer Kahler. “Katie has already shown improvement over last year’s times. Each of the races that she has competed in so far this season have resulted in faster times. He goal is to get her time into the 18s in the next few races.”
On her 2010 season, “I was very happy with it,” Katie Weiler said. “I wanted to PR for the season. But our team got ninth our frehsman year. We wanted to get ahead of that. We placed sixth.”
“Both girls are extremely hard working and dedicated a lot of time running this summer,” Kahler said. “They trained a lot together, training with Greg Meyers and with the team at summer practices. Katie also attended a cross country camp at Hope College. Kenzie set a new school record early in the season…Katie has shown improvement and is reaching her own personal goals early in the season.”
“My strength would be a strong start and maintaining that throughout the race,” Kenzie said.
Getting the school record “was more of a pleasant surprise,” Kenzie said. “Maybe it was my goal at the end of the season. But I didn’t think it would be in my reach [that early].”
Kenzie is pointing at the 17-minute range for this season. Katie Weiler wants to improve her time from last season to help her team contend for the state title. Kenzie shares those goals.
“I think we have a very good shot at it,” she said.
“Both girls have many individual and team goals set for the season, and I would predict that we will see them lead their team back to the state finals this year,” Kahler said. “They both have the potential to be all-conference, all-area, and all-state. Both girls are very strategic runners; they like to have a plan in place for each race. They both are very hard workers who lead by example every day at practice, often time putting in more than is expected.”
Katie Weiler indicated cross country might be her favorite sport, but she’s also done well in track.
“My freshman year I got second in the two-mile at state,” she said.
Kenzie will also run track.
“We do indoor track [during the winter],” said Kenzie, adding that for high school “we stick to track and cross country. As a seventh grader, Katie started getting involved heavily in running, although she had done some before that.
“My parents are both [middle school] track and cross country coaches, so I grew up with that,” she said.
Ditto for Kenzie.
The Weiler sisters train practically together every day during the summer and winter.
“We put in some good quality miles this summer,” Kenzie said.
“We’re together every day which really helps,” Katie said. “We suppport each other in every way we can. We’re there for each other.”
“I enjoy being a part of the team,” Kenize said. “I enjoy being on the team with my sister. She’s a good role model. I love running in general. It’s really fun.”