By John Raffel
It was an intriguing 2014 cross country season for the Ithaca girls, and the Yellowjackets are hoping they’re on the right path to making 2015 a memorable year, also.
Ithaca won the Division 3 state title last season and graduated just one runner from that team, Hannah Thayer, who was 33rd in the team race and third for her team. She’s now running at Alma College.
Juniors Courtney Allen and Amelia Freestone were the top two team runners at the state meet. Seniors Blaire Showers, Alyssa Mankey, Kurstin Kalisek, and Erica Sheahan were the other runners on the team.
“We started off strong at the St Johns Invite and won that,” coach Gene Lebron said. “The girls all ran significantly faster than last year. So that was a really good sign. We got into a tough stretch where we were training really hard and the weather was crazy. We had a meet canceled.
“We really didn’t have our greatest showing at the Spartan Invite. We bumped up a division, so we’re running against [larger] schools. We were third out of 43 teams. I guess we’re disappointed because we thought we should win that race. I guess that shows how far we’ve come and how high the expectations are.”
According to Lebron, all of his runners have been performing well.
“Courtney Allen is our leader and has been our No 1 girl every meet since she started high school,” Lebron said. “Blaire Showers is having a fantastic season. She’s already running a 19:45. She is actually one of the girls who had a really good race at the Spartan. She raced really tough. We’re excited about where she’s at.”
He’s having other runners bid for the No. 7 spot, including Adriana Santana and Mikayla Fairchild.
“Our ultimate goal is to repeat as state champs,” Lebron said. “We’re off to a good start. There’s a team that overnight became the instant favorite, Traverse City St. Francis. They have the individual state champ on their team. They’re the clear favorite, and they’re head and shoulders above everyone else right now. But there’s a lot of time left before November.”
Key races coming up include TVC and other area races. “We have some great competition in this area. Shepherd, they could win it,” LeBron said. “They’re always good. LCC down the road is good. Sacred Heart is D-4 but could have the best team in Division 3 or 4. We certainly don’t lack for competition in this area.”
Starting the third week of October, runners will start zeroing in on reaching their peak, Lebron indicated. “It’s hard to get those fast times right now,” Lebron said. “But come October, we’ll be getting ready for regionals.”
All of the top six runners for Ithaca were all-state in track.
“Erica Sheehan is our No. 6 runner on our team and she’s a sprinter,” Lebron said. “She was state champ in the long jump. She’s been as high as No. 5 this year. That’s amazing for a sprinter. The kid is special.”