Connolly lays out course for repeat
Natick harrier set to dominate again
NATICK — Grace Connolly never had that nagging urge to sneak just a quick peek over her shoulder, like runners do, that chilly day last November. But if she had, there wouldn’t have been much to see except the long expanses of fairways of the Gardner Golf Course.
The competition was nowhere in sight as the Natick harrier turned the biggest meet on the high school calendar into a runaway.
The overwhelming favorite to capture the Division 1 All-State race, Connolly didn’t disappoint as she traversed the hilly 3.1-mile course in 18 minutes, 27 seconds. Most impressive though was the 58-second gap the sophomore put between herself and second place as she demolished a strong, talented field.
Now with her junior season set to begin, Connolly wants to maintain the tunnel-vision focus that helped earn her the Massachusetts Gatorade Runner of the Year Award.
“I was going for place (at All-States) obviously,” said Connolly, the Bay State Conference champion. “I didn’t know how my competition would do, I only knew I wanted to run the race to the best of my ability.
“It was awesome. I knew I would have to give it my all on a tough course against a tough field.”
The All-State win proved to be a precursor for two more shining performances for the engaging harrier. Two days after Thanksgiving, Connolly pushed to a scintillating fourth-place finish (in 18:01.9) at the Foot Locker Northeast Regional Championships over the rugged 3.1-mile Van Cortlandt Park layout in New York to qualify for the national championship race to weeks later in San Diego.
Connolly found the mild conditions in southern California to her liking, as she cracked the top 10 with a stellar ninth-place finish.
Connolly hopes to come back even better and faster this fall, and there are already signs she is in great early-season shape. Concentrating on packing in the miles, with a long run of varied paces up to 12 miles, Connolly had plenty of speed down the final straightaway for a 4:56 victory in the scholastic invitational mile
at the Falmouth Road Race last week.
Natick coach Ashley Davidson, herself a Bay State Conference cross country champion and Herald All-Scholastic back in 2003, recently sat down with Connolly and mapped out a game plan that, barring injury or sickness, should garner her a second All-State title and return to Balboa Park for the Foot Locker race.
“When you win once, you’re expected to keep winning,” said Davidson. “She really is amazing. She’s so strong and has gotten a lot of upper body strength. (Gardner) was a tough course, but we had done a lot of hills to prepare for it.
“The thing is she didn’t taper for that race, she trained through it. It definitely shows her work ethic. She’s very easy going and we give each other feedback. She certainly knows what her goals are and she’s always learning and asking questions.”
Unfortunately for her competition, Connolly has no intention of resting on her laurels of a year ago. She’s even hungrier to defend her turf.
“I want to keep my endurance up during the season and focus on states and allstates first,” she said. “I don’t think there’s a ton of pressure on me. I don’t think about it and stress myself out.”
Davidson believes Connolly has put 2016 behind her, and her best running is still to come.
“She definitely recognized and knows she had a great year,” Davidson said. “Now she’s saying ‘ What’s next?’ ”