By Alex Frazier
Meet…Kaylee Irwin
Running fever.
Once you’ve got it, it’s got you.
Kaylee Irwin played soccer from five years old until ninth grade.
As a freshman at Hatboro-Horsham, Irwin decided to run indoor track in the winter to get in shape for spring soccer.
A funny thing happened. She started doing well in the 800, and her coach convinced her to go out for track instead of soccer.
“I didn’t have many friends doing it (soccer), so it was like I’ll try out track and see how it goes this year,” she said. “If not, I can always do it next year.”
During her first year of track, she ran the 800 and experimented with the 400 and the mile. But she didn’t do as well as she hoped.
Her coach suggested she try cross country.
“I wasn’t doing a fall sport, and a couple of my friends were thinking of doing it, so I persuaded them to do it too,” she said. “That’s where I really started to love running.”
During the summer, she ran on her own and participated in captain’s practices. During the fall season, she discovered she wasn’t really a middle distance runner; she was cut out for distance.
“I loved running long distance,” she said. “That’s really where I started to do good because I wasn’t ever that great of a track runner, but I started to get really good when I started cross country. I still love it a lot more than track.”
Not surprisingly, in her second year of indoor track, she focused on the 3,000 and then in the spring became the Falcon’s two-mile threat
In her first year of running, she finished third in the Continental Conference, 17th at districts and 60th in the state, not to mention she was named her team’s MVP.
Much of her success comes from her desire. As coach Jenn Coleman said, “She has an enormous amount of drive/determination. When she goes out, she always goes out. She’s out to win, PR, etc.”
Last summer she followed a similar regimen of training. She and her teammates entered the Legs for Lindsay 5K, and she took top honors, winning a $25 gift certificate.
She’s off to another good start this season, consistently running No. 1 for the Hatters.
“I feel a lot stronger than last year,” she said. The team has been doing circuit weight training, which seems to be paying off.
Irwin’s race strategy is to start fast but not take the lead too early.
“I usually hang on a little bit before I’ll lead it,” she said.
In her first three invitationals, she finished fourth at Archbishop Wood, second at Abington and third at DeSales.
Irwin’s goals are threefold this year—medal at states, help her team qualify for states and once again be the team’s MVP.
“If all goes well and she can stay healthy, I definitely see her competing at the state level,” said Coleman.
Up and coming – With the exodus of North Penn, Pennridge and Central Bucks South, Pennsbury lost the three teams that defeated the Falcons last year in the National Conference.
That was the good news for the Falcons when the SOL realigned this year.
The bad news is that those teams were replaced by Council Rock North, which is favored to win the district this year and has a shot at the state title, and William Tennent, which didn’t lose a single runner in its top seven from last year.
Pennsbury also returns all of its top seven runners from last year with the addition of freshman Ann Herman, who is turning some heads already.
Even though they are young, the Falcons figure to be a much-improved team this year with one senior, two juniors, three sophomores and one freshman in the top seven.
In his five years as head coach, Don Little has grown the program from eight his first year to 30.
“Our top seven that first year - very few of them would be in our top 10 now,” he said.
Little observes the girls on the eighth grade track team and tries to recruit them for cross country the following fall if they aren’t out for a fall sport.
“Some years we have a lot,” he said.
Senior Allison Ludwick is the Falcons’ front runner, though Herman is capable of picking her off on a good day, as she did at the DeSales Invitational.
Ludwick, who won the District One mile last year, figures to be No 1. In her first trip to states last year, she finished 92nd.
Rounding out the top five are: sophomores Anastasia Diamond, Liz Wacker and Morgan Perry, who is a first-year runner.
Juniors Esther Rappaport and Morgan Ferrante conclude the top seven and hope to challenge for the top five.
The problem for Pennsbury in the early going is a gap between the top two runners and the next three.
“What we need to do to be competitive with William Tennent, Council Rock and the rest of the district is to close our gap,” said Little. “Some of the teams, their top five finish within a minute of each other. Our top five finish within two minutes of each other. If we can close that gap, we can compete with any of those teams.”
Around the league –The SOL cross country season opened up Wednesday, featuring a huge Continental Conference matchup between Hatboro-Horsham and North Penn.
The Maidens came away victors, 19-36. Christy Cohick took top honors, completing the Hatters’ course in 19.14. Heather Selheimer was second in 19.36, followed by Hatboro-Horsham’s Casey Uhrich (19.47) and an under-the-weather Kaylee Irwin (19.50).
In other action, Jenny Guidera led the C.B. East girls to a win over Souderton and Central Bucks South Wednesday, completing her home course in 19.53.
Council Rock North’s Lindsay Rheiner led the Indians to a victory over Neshaminy, posting a 19.53 on herown course.
• Last Saturday four SOL schools competed in the 30th annual Centaur Invitational at DeSales College.
Hatboro-Horsham, led by Kaylee Irwin’s third place finish (19.38), placed second, while Pennsbury came in third behind runners Ann Herman, who finished second in 19.31 and Allison Ludwick, who crossed in fifth place (20.02).
Becky Kratz paced Souderton with a 10th-place finish to give the Big Red an 11th place overall. Pennridge’s Tori Gerlach helped the Lady Rams to a 12th place finish by crossing the line in 20.13 (seventh place).
• North Penn captured the top two spots at the Central Bucks East Invitational on Sept. 6, and placed four in the top 10.Christy Cohick led the way as the top runner, clocking a 19.19. Teammate Heather Selheimer was on her heels, recording a 19.52. Rachel Brown finished fourth (20.09) and Lauren Bond was sixth (20.25).
C.B. East’s Jenny Guidera placed third in 20 minutes, Katie Kinkeadwas fifth in 20.23, Meg Elgin was seventh (20.28), and Michelle Blum was the fourth runner in the top 10, placing 10th in 21.03.
Marie McKenna led a pair of Pennridge runners, finishing eighth in 20.37, edging freshman teammate Tori Gerlach by a second.
Quakertown’s top runner was Bri Parsons, finishing 11th in 21.06. Lauren Gregory paced Council Rock South with a 12th place finish in 21.08.
• Plymouth Whitemarsh’s Katie Gorman won the Abington Invitational, clocking a time of 19.23. Her team finished ninth.
Hatboro-Horsham won the team title, placing two runners in the top 10. Kaylee Irwin finished second in 19:31, while Casey Uhrich crossed in ninth place with a time of 20:19.
Two other SOL teams competed with Wissahickon finishing eighth and Cheltenham 17th. Wissahickon’s first runner was Michelle Rudoph, who finished 19th in a time of 20:49. The Panthers’ Kristina Koutsaouros was 23rd, crossing in 20:54.s
SuburbanOneSports.com’s Top Five SOL teams
1. Council Rock North
2. North Penn
3. Hatboro-Horsham
4. Pennsbury
5. Pennridge
SuburbanOneSports.com’s Top Five SOL Runners
1. Lindsay Rheiner, Council Rock North
2. Christy Cohick, North Penn
3. Kaylee Irwin, Hatboro-Horsham
4. Kate Gorman, Plymouth Whitemarsh
5. Allison Ludwick, Pennsbury
- Log in to post comments
0
