Senior cross country runner Lauren Kroft, healthier and faster than in recent seasons, impressed with sophomore class led by returner Paige Clancy and soccer convert Hannah Haring

Tom Keegan
Onwardtrojans.com

Even if they are every bit as talented, or even more so, it’s wise for young athletes to look at the career paths of older teammates, look and listen to what they have to say about how they became better.
The sophomore class could end up being the top one already for the team, but if they want to improve at a faster rate, it might behoove them to look at senior Lauren Kroft’s running career.
She had injuries along the way but stuck with it. Right from freshman season, it was clear she had the endurance to become a successful distance runner, but only to a point and that point was at kick time of a long race. Other runners shifted into a higher gear at the end and Kroft kept moving at the same pace, watching runners, one at a time, pass her at the end.
Some runners just never seem to be able to develop a kick and in her early years, that was Kroft. Then during the track season of her junior year, something happened. She not only wasn’t staring at the backs of girls breezing past her she kicked past some competitors.
What happened?
“I’ve been really determined to get that. I started really taking the strides seriously because before I kind of blew them off and was like, ‘Oh, whatever, I don’t have a kick, there’s no point.’ And last year was just you know, if I really do try, I can get one and that’s what happened.”
The lesson: There is a method behind what might seem like madness to everything that coaches have their runners do, even if the gains don’t happen right away.
“Lauren had a really good track season,” Moskalick said. “She saw big improvement in her times. She trained super hard over the summertime, which should transfer into a successful cross country season for her.”
Classmate Allison Van Kley, a fixture on the cross country and track teams since her freshman year, until an injury wiped out her track season.
“The whole summer was spent conditioning and getting her back,” Moskalic said. “Each week the girl, she’s looking stronger and stronger, so it will be exciting to see what she does Saturday.”
The Trojans open their season at familiar Sunset Hill Farm in a growing event named after the late cross country and track coach, the Larry James Invitational.
After playing soccer for three years and adding cross country to that workload last season as a four-sport athlete, senior Aubrey Bamber chose cross country as her lone senior fall sport.
Beyond those three, it’s a young team.
Sophomores Paige Clancy and Hannah Haring, who ran at the state track meet in the 4x800 relay, just might get to the finish line first for the Trojans, coming off identical personal records in both the 800 (2:24) and the 1600 (5:25). Kroft (5:28), whose best race is the 3200, wasn’t far behind them.
This will be Haring’s first year of cross country after playing soccer as a freshman, a move that promises to accelerate her already impressive development as a distance runner.
Moskalick also is excited about the potential of returning sophomore Natalie Williams and classmate Natalie White, a track runner shifting from volleyball to cross country in the fall, and freshman Evie Fortney.
“Each meet for all of them is a starting point, a baseline, and then each week we continue to build or grow and go from there,” Moskalick said.
With so many athletes new to cross country this season, reading too much into early results can be misleading.
A dozen runners will compete in the varsity race at the Larry James and others on the 29-deep roster being coached by Moskalick and new assistant Jackie Hood will run in the reserve race. But where they start won’t necessarily be where they finish.
The roster:
Seniors: Aubrey Bamber, Ashlyn Blouir, Sierra Grant, Alexa Jaworski, Lauren Kroft, Molley Roberts, Allison Van Kley, Taryn Wellensiek, Jany Zhang.
Juniors: Ali Eshaal, Grace Basich, Julia Fox, Natascha Lepinasse, Harper Russell.
Sophomores: Paige Clancy, Mailen Davison, Hannah nen, Haring, Elisabeth Koehnen, Katherine Meyer, Riley Pacilio, Vanessa Simms, Isabel Torres, Natalie White, Julia Whitenack, Natalie Williams.
Freshmen: Charlotte Ellis, Evelynn Fortney, Natalie Gallo, Kendal Hamstra, Reagan Rex.