Former Palatine runner Mark Magnussen overcame obstacles to start a cross country program at Pana for his daughter Claudia

By Michael Newman

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Mark Magnussen was a member of Palatine’s Cross Country team that finished second in the 1980 IHSA 2A State Cross Country Meet behind York. He was the team’s third runner finishing 30^th entering the finish chute running 14:55. 36 years later, he was on the same course getting a chance to watch his daughter compete as a senior in the state meet.

That opportunity almost did not happen for his daughter Claudia. When she was ready to enter her ninth grade year at Pana High School, the school did not have a cross country program.

Mark made the state meet dream possible. It’s what a dad would do for his daughter.

Pana is a town of a little town of a little more than 5000 people 44 miles southeast of Springfield in South central Illinois. Work brought Mark down to this small town where he raised his family. His daughter Claudia had heard the stories from her Dad on how he ran for legendary Palatine Coach Joe Johnson and her dad’s experiences at Detweiller Park.

“By the time my daughter Claudia started high school, I had her hooked on running but could not convince the school board to approve XC as a sport,” Mark said. “During the cross country season Claudia and I would train on our own and enter local 5k races. It was not the same as running cross country.”

The time spent in local road races improved Claudia as a runner. By the end of her sophomore season of track in the spring in 2015, she had run under 11 minutes for the 3200 Meter Run. She qualified for the IHSA Girls State Track Meet in Charleston in that event. She finished ninth in the event earning all-state honors. With the summer coming up and her junior year starting in August, her dad made one more attempt to the Pana school board.

“The school board members had changed so I presented my plan for a cross country team again,” Mark added. “The board approved having a team with the stipulation that it would not be funded by the school. I became the volunteer coach for both boys and girls although we did not have enough runners to form a team.”

Even though that the team was created in such a short period of time, coaches from around the area heard about this team and what Magnussen was doing for the kids of that school. They invited Pana to meets even though it was on short notice. It is usually that a meet will send out contracts to compete the spring before. The unique situation to give an opportunity overlooked that procedure. The opportunity given to Claudia had the effect that her dad would have hoped for especially with her successes the previous spring on the track. She made it to Peoria on her first try a year ago.

“The first year Claudia made it to Peoria, she was so excited because I constantly told her stories about my cross country experiences at Palatine,” Mark said. “I told her how I made lifelong friends through cross country and in particular about my senior year and how we almost beat York”

Claudia was caught in the “Detweiller Park fever” last November. She ran for the first time in the state meet placing 12^th overall and running just under 18 minutes (17:57). That improvement continued last spring when she finished third in both the 3200 and 1600 Meter Run earning all-state honors for the third and fourth time in her high school career. 

This year had been almost perfect for her. She won five of the six races that she competed in before her sectional race. In that race, she ran against some of the top runners in the state regardless of classification finishing ninth at the Richard Spring Invitational and achieving a personal best (17:55) on a soggy Detweiller Park course. It gave her confidence heading into a showdown with three time 1A State champion Anna Sophia Keller at the Effingham St. Anthony Sectional.

Keller was defeating her competition by more than 90 seconds in her races this fall. In that sectional race, Keller was only 41 seconds ahead of Magnussen.

The confidence showed in last Saturday's 1A State Finals as Magnussen let Keller go early in the race battling Daly Galloway (Gardner-South Wilmington HS) and Shelby Siltman (Olympia HS, Stanford) for the second spot. Magnussen pulled away in the final 500 meters to capture second three seconds ahead of Galloway and Siltman. Her time of 17:20 was a 35 second personal best. What a way to finish a season.

“My dad kept pushing and pushing to get a cross country team at our school,” Claudia said after her state finish. “He is the main reason why I am at this meet today. I am just so amazed by all of this. I felt so tired crossing the finish line but I was happy. This is what I have been working for.”

A few feet away from the reporters and his daughter, Mark stood by his family just watching what was happening with a smile on his face. Seeing his daughter happy is what Mark Magnussen had worked for.