The News Herald (Willoughby, OH)
Runners get ready for state cross country
Tigers aiming to improve their standing on podium at the state meet
The Chagrin Falls girls cross country team has high hopes heading into the state meet. Nate Barnes has their story, plus a capsule look at area participants in Hebron this weekend.
Chagrin Falls’ girls cross country program is accustomed to fielding teams each fall with collegiate-caliber talent.
That’s part of the reason why, in the seven years since Clay and Lisa Burnett took over the boys and girls programs, the Tigers’ girls team has advanced to the state meet six times.
Runners like Natane Deruytter, Claire Barcelo and Allie Dustin keyed those successful seasons. This fall, the Tigers’ roster features three runners who will compete for Division I programs next year. But only one will continue running.
Senior Annie Zimmer, runner-up at the 2016 Division II state meet, will join the cross country and track teams at Penn. Hannah Zaluski will play soccer at George Washington. Catie Beg, who plays midfield for Chagrin Falls’ lacrosse team, is headed to Ohio State.
Zimmer leads the pack, Zaluski is a crucial member of the Tigers’ top five runners and Burnett says Beg brings a magnetic personality that helps provide glue for Chagrin Falls’ top-ranked team. Above all, the group creates the attitude necessary to compete for state championships.
“The girls bring a lot of competitive maturity to the team,” Burnett said. “They’ve been in highstress, high-stakes games before. They’re used to depending on teammates but also having to perform individually.”
Zimmer was also a multi-sport athlete. After a successful freshman cross country season, she swam for the Tigers and planned to play lacrosse next to Beg — a teammate prior to high school.
As a result of her running success, Zimmer decided the night before the cross country season she would run track. Next winter, she ran indoor track instead of swimming again.
Zimmer, Hannah Clark, Catherine Coffey and others are what Burnett calls “pure runners.” They like having some different perspectives on the team.
“It’s cool having other people on the team who aren’t solely cross country,” Zimmer said. “Catie this year, she hasn’t been there the rest of the years, so it’s nice having a new person. I’ve been friends with Catie since I was younger so it’s fun having other people.”
Zaluski joined the cross country team as a sophomore. She helped the Tigers’ to a fourth-place state finish in 2016.
Zaluski usually finishes fourth or fifth among Chagrin Falls’ lead pack, but her role holds as much importance as Zimmer’s ability to give the Tigers one point in their team score. When Zaluski is able to pass other teams’ fourth or fifth runners, it adds points to other team’s scores which can make the difference in meets with narrow margins.
When Zaluski joined the team, she wasn’t quite good enough to crack the Tigers’ top seven runners. As she plays a vital role on the team, she’s also learned a valuable lesson from her running career.
“Because she’s so competitive she’s worked very hard to do that,” Burnett said. “She’s learned that things that maybe seem out of reach at times, if you dedicate yourself to them, that can become realities.”
Zaluski says she’s always liked to run, and the added endurance from cross country training benefits her play as a defender for Medina’s Internationals Soccer Club. Running alongside teammates like Zimmer also helps her conditioning and attitude.
“It’s been fun,” Zaluski said. “They push you harder and make you want it more. Especially because I’m so competitive, it just makes me better to be with them.”
Likewise, training with the Tigers cross country team has provided Beg immense perspective on the amount of work required to succeed in the sport. Like many who pick up the sport as a secondary activity, Beg joined the team to get in better shape for lacrosse.
As the season’s final race approaches, Beg thinks of the sport much differently after running with Zimmer, Clark and Coffey since the summer.
“They’re just so gifted,” Beg said. “Looking at them from an outside point of view, and being like ‘OK, they run’ but actually experiencing, watching them, actually being in it, seeing all the training they put forth and how mentally tough they all are, I tell them all the time how much more respect I’ve gained for the sport of cross country as a whole, just from being in it.”
Beg’s running this fall has also improved her conditioning, as she noticed during a recent lacrosse camp at Ohio State.
Although she doesn’t finish among the Tigers’ top five, Beg fulfills a valuable role. As the sixth or seventh runner in Chagrin Falls’ pack, any points she can cost another team’s fifth runner are crucial toward the Tigers’ team standing.
Alongside her leadership, the ability to know a role and thrive within it is important to the team dynamic.
“She’s definitely grown in that aspect,” Burnett said, “it’s something she’s not used to. I think getting out of her comfort zone, which has always been team sports, lacrosse or soccer, whatever it may have been, taking ownership of a role is something that transcends sport altogether.”
As it pertains to his “pure runner” in the group, Burnett looks forward to watching Zimmer conclude her cross country career. From the first race she ran, Burnett watched Zimmer deliver maximum effort as a freshman.
“All in all, she revolutionized our program from race one,” Burnett said. “Her personality, her leadership, she doesn’t even have to run this weekend to have accomplished everything and more we could’ve ever hoped for.”
On the team side, the Tigers are primed to improve on their fourth-place finish on the podium last year.
“We had our fastest district race ever as a team,” Burnett said. “We had our fastest regional race as a team. We know when we go to the state meet, statistically, we peak better than any other team we compete against. We know the best race is in front of us.”