Friday, October 31, 2003
RUSSIAVILLE -- Annina Gruber's maturation as a runner will take a huge step forward Saturday.
The Western High School sophomore will be running in the 23rd annual IHSAA Girls State Cross Country Championship on the Indiana University course in Bloomington.
It is, she says, the "biggest accomplishment" of her athletic career.
The WHS runner only wishes her teammates would be eligible for the meet as well.
After starting out her freshman season on a high note, Gruber’s season hit a plateau.
While her team qualified for the Manchester Semistate, it turned out to be her worst race of the season.
"I got 127th at semistate. I was used to being up at the front. At the beginning of the race, I was in the middle of the pack," she said.
"That discouraged me and I dropped back.
"I know I wasn't going to let myself do that this year, "
Instead, Gruber ran among the top 15 nearly the entire race before finishing 13th last week at the semistate meet. The top 15 qualified for the state meet.
"I’m very excited - I'm still shocked," she admitted.
The only disappointing aspect is that the rest of the Panthers won't be running with her in the meet.
"Saturday, I was happy that I was going. It felt awesome, but I thought the rest of the team might still be going and that would be great," she said. "After they made the announcement we were sixth, we were all crying because we'd hoped to make it. That's when I realized it was only me going.
"The rest of the team, though, told me they'll be there at practice with me."
While she may not have any teammates running with her, Gruber won't be completely alone. Senior Kyle Walsh and coach Dana Neer have been helping her prepare for this weekend's season finale. Walsh ran in the boys state meet last season.
"Kyle and Dana have been telling me a bunch about what to expect, about how big the race is. It's good that Kyle is there," she said. "Kyle and I are good friends inside and outside cross country. He'll help me through this?
As a sophomore, she has no real expectations for Saturday.
"I'm just hoping to make it through the race. rye never been to State and I don!t know the competition or what goals to set. I just want to do my best," Gruber said. "It's weird, I'm USed to Brittany [Stellhorn] and Anna [Hurlock] there pushing me. I know I'll keep going. Now, I have to set my own pace; I won't know any of the other girls; and it's a new course. It's going to be weird.
"I know all of them [teammates] are excited for me. Kyle has a lot of people expecting a lot out of him. Me, I'm going to see how it will be. I'm only a sophomore. Maybe my senior year, I can hope to be at the top like Kyle. This year, I'd like to PR, but .I'm not expecting a lot."
Gruber grasped how well her season was going after she won the Mid-Indiana Conference meet.
"I realized how much better my season was after the MIC. rd beat [Eastern's] Laura Boltz a couple of tim, es. Laura is a really good runner,' Gruber said, "and one of my goals was to be up there with her during races. When I was up there close to her, it showed me I'd become a better runner."
The Panthers have improved considerably over the last season - going from a team happy to make it to semistate for the first time to one that thought it should be running as a team once more this weekend.
"A lot of that has to do with Dana and our summer training. Dana has got us doing the right workouts and the girls all work hard," Gruber said. "He gives us scouting reports so we know what we have to do to win meets. I know what my part is and what I have to do and the other girls are the same. "