Josie French signs on to run at Iowa Western Community College
MULLEN - After a spectacular first year of cross country, it became obvious that Josie French had the talent to run XC at the next level. She made that plan official on Jan. 20 when she signed on to run XC at junior college powerhouse Iowa Western Community College next fall.
“At first, I wasn’t sure how she would do, but she exceeded my expectations from the first meet and continued to improve throughout the season,”
Kuncl said. “It was so very awesome to see her confidence grow from week to week bringing home several medals, placing second at the MNAC conference meet, and eventually qualifying for state.”
What makes the story a little more impressive was the fact that this was her first and only year out for the sport.
She did have prior experience with distance running from track, where she was a part of the Mullen 3,200 meter relay team that finished seventh at state in 2019. Despite that, she was still unsure if cross country was the best fit for her.
“Josey had approached me about running XC her junior year, but decided she wanted to give VB another try,” Kuncl said. “Last summer after we got cleared to have workouts, Josey approached me about joining the cross country team again. She participated in a couple of summer runs with the team. She ran well but she thought she was too slow. I just kept encouraging her and I told her I would love to have her run with us, but I wanted it to be her decision.”
After committing to give the sport a try her senior year, the rest was history.
She ended up medaling at nearly every meet she competed at throughout the 2020 campaign, finishing runner-up at the MNAC Conference Meet, and was fourth at the D6
throughout the season,” Mullen XC Coach Janie Kuncl said. “It was so very awesome to see her confidence grow from week to week bringing home several medals, placing second at the MNAC conference meet, and eventually qualifying for state.”
What makes the story a little more impressive was the fact that this was her first and only year out for the sport.
She did have prior experience with distance running from track, where she was apart of the Mullen 3,200 meter relay team that finished seventh at state in 2019. Despite that, she was still unsure if cross country was the best fit for her.
“Last summer after we got cleared to have workouts, Josey approached me about joining the cross country team again. She participated in a couple of summer runs with the team. She ran well but she thought she was too slow. I just kept encouraging her and I told her I would love to have her run with us, but I wanted it to be her decision.”
After committing to give the sport a try her senior year, the rest was history.
She ended up medaling at nearly every meet she competed at throughout the 2020 campaign, finishing runner-up at the MNAC Conference Meet, and was fourth at the D6 District Meet in a time of 21:35.41.
At state, where she finished 45th in a time of 21:58.2, is where she caught the attention of IWCC Assistant Coach
Marc Bierbaum. Then and there he asked if she had ever considered running at the next level and was interested in looking at IWCC.
“It was funny as Josey told the team she never thought she was a high school athlete let alone a college athlete,” Kuncl said. “When she told me that she decided to run at the next level, it was a special moment for me as she will be my first collegiate runner as a coach. It shows so many other kids that there are sports that you can excel at in high school that provide an opportunity to be a college athlete.”
Kuncl does not doubt that French can make the transition to the next level. She has seen how hard she worked this season to get to where she did.
“One thing I know for sure is that Josey is not afraid to work, and I have a ton of confidence that she will be a solid runner and a great teammate for Coach Bierbaum at Iowa Western,” Kuncl said. “I am super proud of her and look forward to following her at Iowa Western.”