Dakota’s Harberts learns while winning
Dakota freshman Jayden Harberts learns about strategy while winning area races
Jayden Harberts is experiencing the best of both worlds in her first season running cross country for Dakota.
The freshman, who led all runners across the finish line Saturday in the Macomb County Invitational Girls Championship at Freedom Hill, is learning the ins and outs of the sport while winning at the same time.
“I don’t know if it’s just me, but I’ve found that every race is going to be different, nomatter what your skill level is, no matter how you feel,” she said after posting a winning time of 19:04.8, 19 seconds ahead of runner-up Madison Clor of Romeo.
“It depends on the course. It depends on the weather. There are a lot of factors that go into it. I’ve learned not to be disappointed if I don’t get the time I want or felt like I wanted to feel. It’s not an accurate representation of how I am as a runner.”
Harberts came into the county meet hoping to beat her time on the same course a week earlier in the Hansons Invitational. She had a time of 18:50.9 despite finishing second for the first time in her high school career. Jennie Line of Northville won the race in 18:46.6.
“Last weekendwas like perfect weather and we were here last weekend so this week I was expecting to improve on what I did last week,” Harberts said. “I didn’t, but I’m still happy with the outcome.”
Saturday’s weather was warmer and windier than distance runners prefer and the
times by most runners in the county meet suffered.
Tom Zarzycki, who coaches the Dakota girls, has seen improvement in Harberts since the beginning of the season.
“It’s just learning how to race, so she knows where she’s supposed to be throughout the race,” he said. “And she’s gained confidence. Her first race she was afraid and went out conservative but she ended strong. Now she just knows where she should be and her pace. If you look at her mile splits, they’re pretty even. It’s just confidence and know how to gauge the pace.”
Zarzycki feels that losing to Line will help Harberts in the long run.
“I wanted her to have that experience — to have to compete,” he said. “She lost but she got through the race and she wasn’t mad. She knew that she could have done better and she learned what it was like when she had to run with people. She didn’t let the loss bother her too much, which is nice to see.
“She knew that her second mile wasn’t very good and she let the girl come back in there. Once she caught up, her last mile was faster than her average pace. She was able to compete very well in the last mile to get back into it. She wanted to win but she felt it was a good learning experience.”
In most of Harberts’ races this year she has had such a big lead she’s running by herself. She’s looking forward to some closer competition as the season heads to the final stretch.
“I’m not really the best at pacing myself,” she said. “I either go out too fast or slow down too much so it’s nice when there’s someone with me.”
Although it will be her first state meet, Zarzycki doesn’t expect Harberts to be overwhelmed by the atmosphere.
“She hasn’t run a 5K in a meet like the state meet, but she’s run other distances in big meets,” he said.
Jayden is looking forward to the state meet and she’s hoping to have company.
“I hope my brother and I can go together because he’s been doing pretty well, too,” she said.
Jacob Harberts was the lead runner for Dakota’s boys team that took third in Friday’s boys county meet. His sister was already making her mark in clubmeets when he took up the sport.
“He didn’t really want to start running,” Jayden said. “He started because all his friends were running. I’m glad he decided to run. He got into the summer and winter track club after I did. He saw how much fun I was having and he’s stuck with it ever since.”
They still train together, but Jacob is giving Jayden some tougher competition these days.
“He’s a lot faster now than he ever was, but I still like running with him,” she said.