Elk County Catholic senior Kennedy Weisner enters her final year of XC with a champion's resume. Her best year to date was last year as a junior when she won her first state cross country title - this one in the inaugural Class A Championship. Weisner also qualified for her first Foot Locker Nationals. During indoor, she was invited to her first Millrose Mile, and also to the Brooks PR meet, an elite gathering in the Northwest. She came back in outdoor to capture two state AA titles, winning the 800 and the 1600 - a very tough double. She began her final XC season at PTXC-5, setting a course record of 17:49.
Indoor/Outdoor:
Entry #6 4/21 | Entry #7 6/11 | Journal #8 7/8
Cross Country:
Entry #1 9/15 | Entry #2 10/4 | Entry #3 10/18 | Entry #4 10/30 | Entry #5 11/16 |
Kennedy Weisner
SR. Elk County Catholic HS, PA
Hello again everyone!
When I last wrote, I had just taken my first college visit. At the time, I was feeling a little under the weather, and it turned out that I had a sinus infection. Lucky me! For about a week I could barely breathe while I was running, which is never fun. For all of you have never experienced the wonderful benefits of breathing, I find it to be an integral part of running. In all actuality though, if I was going to get sick at all this season, that was the ideal time for it to happen. We had two weekends without meets, and it was still early in the season. I ended up postponing my second college visit, but on the bright side, I was able to get some extra sleep and get healthy again quickly.
This past weekend, my team and I made our yearly trek to the McQuaid Invitational in Rochester, New York. This is always one of my most favorite meets of the season! There are 25 different races between 9 am and about 4:30 pm, and there were over 7,000 runners this year! It is about a three hour trip for us, and we always drive up the day before so we have a chance to run the course. Usually, we all pack a lunch and then stop at a rest stop along the way to eat.
This year,
however, we stopped at a place called Letchworth State Park
in New York. I had no idea what we were in for until we
pulled in. It was absolutely beautiful there! There were a
couple of waterfalls, lots of rocky cliffs, and even a rainbow!
I would have loved to had more time to explore, and maybe even go on a run through some of the trails. I hope I can go back there some time in the future!
One of the two waterfalls we saw, and the rainbow!
When we arrived at the course and bought t-shirts, it hit me that this would be my last race at McQuaid. I have raced there every year since seventh grade, and I was so excited to do it one last time! It was at this time that I also learned that the meet director was wondering if I wanted to move up and run the AAA seeded race at 4 pm the next day instead of the seeded A race at 11:33 am. As much as I would have loved to run the bigger race, I really wanted to run with my team. This is the best group of girls I have ever been teammates with, and it didn't seem right to run in a different race. Plus, there is a huge difference between running at 11 and running at 4. The next day, I knew I had made the right decision. I was so anxious to run, I honestly don't think I could have waited until 4 pm. Going into the race, I had some very lofty goals for myself. Overall, though, I really just wanted to run faster than I did last year. Unfortunately, I ended up running about 8 seconds slower this year, but I was still able to break 17 minutes for 3 miles, running a 16:54. When I put it into perspective, though, I could not be disappointed with my performance at all. This was only my second race of the season (last year it was my fourth), and I am in a completely different point in my training than I was at this point last year. Overall, I ran the second fastest time of the day behind fellow Pennsylvanian Courtney Smith, who ran an amazing race along with her Unionville teammates. I was happy though that the course
record I set last year was just barely able to
survive for another year!
The girls on my team had some great races, and a few even ran spectacularly! Lauryn, in particular, really stepped it up this weekend. They have all been working hard in practice, and they are really starting to see it pay off now. One of the junior girls, Maddie, has a stress fracture and couldn't run, but I could hear her cheering throughout the race! She finds out next week if she can run again, and we're all crossing our fingers that she'll be able to.
Me, Lauryn, Ellie, Maddie,
Nicole, Maria, Tori, and Alison
This weekend, my team is racing at the Ridgway Invitational, which is on our district course. The following week a few of us are going to Manhattan, and I am so excited race there again this year. I'm planning on going to Paul Short on Saturday to watch my sister run in one of the college races. I've never been to Paul Short before because it is usually the same weekend as McQuaid, and I can't wait to watch all of the races!
Good luck to everyone running this weekend!
Kennedy
