Saint Louis --- This was just another day at the office for Michigan’s prep star Erin Finn.
“This race today for me was all about qualifying,” Finn said
after she finished second to William & Mary Freshman Emily Stites Saturday
in the Junior Women’s race at the US Cross Country Championships at Forest
Park.
Stites margin of victory over Finn was 21 seconds.
The pair had broken away from the pack going by the first
two kilometers in 6:52. The chase pack was already 5 seconds back and that was
growing.
“After the 2k, we established a good lead,” Finn said. “I
told her let’s work together and let’s qualify. We kind of worked together a
little.”
They in fact did and the margin on the pack grew close to 25 seconds.
Approaching the looping turn heading around the 4k split ,
the West Bloomfield senior looked over her right shoulder to gage her position
in regards to the rest of the pack. She
had a solid position in second next to Stites. The William & Mary freshman
put down and made her move. Finn was content with her position.
I was actually sick with a fever on Wednesday and I did
not want to risk anything,” Finn added. “She made her move after the 4k. I just
wanted to make sure I got my spot and did not want to do anything stupid.”
Perhaps a telling sign of the future was the race that high
school freshman Taylor Werner (Ste. Genevieve, MO) had on the Forest Park
course. In September on this same Forest Park course, Werner had her breakout
race at the Forest Park Festival where she ran 16:59 for 5k.
Through the first half of the race, you could not tell that
the pressures of a national championship race were effecting this diminutive
runner. As Stites and Finn had moved away, Werner led the pack through the half
way part of the race. She ended up in ninth.
“Coming out here today, I was a little bit nervous. It’s
been a really long time since I’ve raced,” the MO Class 3 Champion said. “I
just wanted to go out and run as hard as I can.”
There were a number of other high school runners that were
packed in the top 20. Last year’s second place finish Maggie Drazba (St. Mary’s,
WV) finished 15th, Jessica Prickett (Burleson, TX) finished 18th,
Emma Abrahamson (Carlsbad, CA) finished 19th, and Missouri Class 4A
champion Hannah Long (Eureka, MO) finished 20th.
