Frances Koons' Interview
Illness and inexperience hurt PA's harriers on Vanny's unforgiving course"
PA Athlete Quotes Page
PA's Class competitors fared well
Girls Seeded Race Pix
Boys Seeded Race Pix
Northeast Foot Lockers Non-seeded race photos
Frances Koons had the feeling she was good enough to become a Foot Locker finalist after running within nine seconds of a 2002 Finalist in September. She gained the confidence to become a Foot Locker Finalist after a tough Mid-East Regional race in mid-November in Ohio. But on Saturday at Van Cortlandt, she not only had the perfect plan to get a ticket to San Diego, she had the perfect attitude. She did everything right, before and during the race.
Donaldson, a very focused Koons, and Blood at the top of Freshman Hill at 1.25 miles: "I didn't even look around to see who was here."
Koons has been on a lot of radar screens in PA for several years, finishing 22nd in 2001 at States in 19:54, 3rd in 2002 in 19:12, and winning the title in 2003 in 18:37. But she didn't appear on the national screens in a big way until this fall. In September, she went to the Spiked Shoe Invitational in State College hoping to race against Nicole Blood of Saratoga. Saratoga wasn't there. But Bay Shore was, complete with 2002 Foot Locker Finalist Laura Cummings, who finished near the top of the Finals. Koons remembers passing the mile running stride-for-stride with Cummings, and hearing someone say directly to her, 'who are you?' That someone turned out to be Cummings' coach, who congratulated Koons on her race after she had finished second to his star by just nine seconds.
That experience was a big confidence booster. She followed that with easy wins throughout Pennsylvania, until the heat and expectations of the state meet on November 1 in Hershey. She followed her usual plan, out fast and maintain. Although junior star Marissa Umbel of Indiana was gaining on the final stretch, Koons was in control of the race from 400 meters on. Two weeks later, she experienced the flat, but twisty and saturated Mid-East Regional course, getting 7th in a field that would include several eventual Foot Locker Finalists. She planned to work on turnover, and to be ready for the Regional race on November 28th.
As is the case with any athlete achieving at this level, the mental aspect is as important as the physical. Koons stresses that the experience of running the Van Cortlandt course is vital to success at the elite level. She has raced the course once each of the past four years, starting as a freshman in the NYRRC Championships, and racing the Seeded race as a sophomore, getting 26th as a junior, and this year breaking through to the top eight.
Leading up to the race, the experience enabled her to visualize every aspect of her plan. "Coming out of the woods my first year, it was such a surprise that I was done. But now I know the first mile, exactly, and everything through the woods."
And race day preparation was key, too. Koons focused on her race, and her's alone. "I think knowing the course and knowing what you're going to do, like your splits - and not so much who was going to be there with me, I didn't really care about that. I didn't even look around me to see who was here. I was just going to go and run my own race. I just said whatever I am going to do, I'll do, and it will be my best. I was nervous, but confident."
Everything she visualized happened, including being at the front, but not in the lead (I didn't want to lead"), coming through the mile in 5:30 ("exactly what I wanted."), letting others push her through the hills, and then flying off the downhills. ("And I was flying.")
And she's still visualizing. "Qualifying was definitely the goal. But I'm not settling for this either. It's going on to Nationals and doing really well."