By Alex Frazier
Meet…Anne Herman
Unlike many young freshmen, Ann Herman wasn’t totally new to cross country when she started with Pennsbury in August.
A soccer player most of her life, Herman was burned out and was looking for something different to do.
“I’d always like running,” she said. “I was pretty good at being able to keep up on the soccer fields.”
A friend was running cross country for a CYO team, so Herman decided to try it.
“It was my first time running as a sport,” she said.
The distances were a bit shorter (2.5 miles), but long enough that she wasn’t shocked by the extra half mile or so of high school courses.
Pennsbury coach Don Little, who had seen her run over the summer, thought she might fit into the No. 2 position.
But she proved him wrong. She became the Falcons top runner in short order.
“Ann’s times were just dropping dramatically week after week,” said Little. “We weren’t anticipating her running that well.”
She surprised even herself.
“Last year I had no idea,” she said. “I just wanted to make it through. It was surprising. I didn’t know I had it in me to do that.”
“She’s a phenomenal talent,” said Little. “There’s no doubt about that. She works really hard at practice.”
When she started running, Herman didn’t have a race strategy.
“At first I just kind of ran, as fast as I could go ‘til I hit the finish line,” she said. “Even now I don’t have a total strategy, but I know how to pace myself more.”
Herman admits she was a bit taken aback competing so favorably against older runners.
“I just tried to forget about that they were older and just run,” she said. “If I didn’t do so good. I’d just tell myself I was a freshman and I had time to get up there.”
Herman plans to run winter track this year to keep in shape. She will have a big decision to make come spring. Last year she played lacrosse. Will she give that up for track?
“I think I’m going to do track, but we’ll see if I change my mind,” she said.
Before she spends too much time debating that, she is focusing on this Friday when she returns to the Lehigh course, which she ran for the first time last week.
“I did and I didn’t like the course,” she said. “It was actually harder than I thought. The rolling hills you end up feeling in the long run, but overall it wasn’t as hard as the steepest hills on other courses.”
Herman’s nemesis this year has been Council Rock sophomore Lindsay Rheiner, who has beaten her both times they race against each other, including at the league meet last Friday.
In that race, she and Rheiner pulled away from the rest of the girls around the two-mile mark, but Rheiner, an excellent 800 runner, had too much kick at the end.
“We knew that Lindsay was a formidable contender,” said Little. “We knew she had more leg speed, so Ann’s goal was to try to get somewhat of a lead out of the cornfield, but it didn’t happen.”
“I was actually happy,” she said. “It was by far my best time.”
Since Rheiner is only a sophomore, the two will have many more duels in their careers.
“We’ll be together for awhile,” said Herman. “Hopefully I’ll be able to close the gap.”
This week Little is expecting Herman to place in the top 5-10 in the district.
“The focus is to try to really get her to run as even splits as she can. The more even sub-six minute splits we can get her, the further up she’ll be in the race,” said Little. “We’re going to try to run a smart race, not so conservative that she just makes it, but we’re not going to try anything new.”
“I want to stay with that front pack and see from there what I can do,” she said.
It will help that Herman will be running the course for the second time.
“I’ll know how long it feels and where I know I can pick it up and where the hill is,” she said.
Time to step up – Last week’s Suburban One League Championships were certainly important in terms of league placement and all-league selections.
But this week at the District One Championships, a state berth is on the line, both for teams and individuals.
District One’s qualifiers have been reduced this year to five teams and 25 individuals not on qualifying teams.
Suburban One runners will undoubtedly have an advantage because it will be the second week in a row they will be running on the Lehigh University course.
However, the girls will find a much bigger field to deal with. Instead of 55 or so runners, there will be closer to 240. Getting out faster will be more important; otherwise, jockeying for position could fatigue the runners.
Team-wise, North Penn and Council Rock North will probably be the only two teams vying for the district title.
Comparing team performance at the SOLs, North Penn would be the favorite. The Maidens had an average time of 19 minutes, compared to Rock North’s 19:21. The spread among the Indians was 1:40 compared to North Penn’s :59.
“We have a ways to go to beat North Penn,” admitted Rock coach Cliff Robbins.
But the next three spots will be up for grabs. Boyertown, Unionville and Strath Haven all have traditionally strong teams. William Tennent, Central Bucks West, Central Bucks South, Pennridge, Plymouth Whitemarsh and Upper Dublin all have the potential to earn a state berth.
There are a number of freshmen SOL runners who will be shooting for their first state meet, including Pennsbury’s Ann Herman (No. 2 SOL), North Penn’s Rachel Brown (No. 8), Pennridge’s Tori Gerlach (No. 9) and Upper Dublin’s Sarah Holl (No.11).
North Penn sophomore Christy Cohick (No. 3) is also looking to make her first trip to Hershey.
Council Rock sophomore Lindsay Rheiner (No. 1) and North Penn soph Heather Selheimer (No. 5) hope to return for their second race at states.
Quite a few upperclassmen are also hoping to return to Hershey this year.
Souderton’s Becky Kratz is the highest-finishing SOL runner to return this year. She was 39th. Other runners hoping to get back and improve their place are Lauren Bond (North Penn, 43rd), Juliann Fricke (Council Rock North, 41st), Lindsay Rheiner (Council Rock North, 53rd), Kaylee Irwin (Hatboro-Horsham, 60th), Katie Gorman (Plymouth Whitemarsh, 40th) and Anne Areias (William Tennent, 79th).
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