Wednesday, October 27, 2004
RUSSIAVILLE -- Anna Hurlock knows Saturday's IHSAA Girls State Cross Country Championship will be different than any other race she's run this season.
All season long, six of her Western High School teammates have been out on the course with her. This time, it will be Hurlock taking on the field of 168 other competitors by herself.
"I'm kind of nervous because I'll be by myself, but I know my team will be there and encouraging me so it's not that bad," Hurlock said.
Beginning at 1 p.m., the 24th annual state meet will be hosted by Indiana State University on the LaVern Gibson Championship Cross Country Course, site of the 2002 NCAA Championship. The course is located at the Wabash Valley Family Sports Center, approximately 10 miles east of Terre Haute.
The Panther sophomore is the team's lone representative after it finished seventh in the New Haven Semistate. She's facing the same situation teammate Annina Gruber did last season
"Annina came over and talked with me. She said you'll be kind of nervous approaching the line and it's scary, but you get through it," Hurlock said.
She'll see the course for the first time today when she, Gruber and Panthers coach Dana Neer go to practice there.
"Our plan it start putting our game plan together [today] and finalize it Thursday and Friday," Neer said.
Neer believes the situation is a good one for Hurlock.
"Anna has been to those settings and seen what it is like. I think she probably has a broader view than most sophomores do and is coming in with a deeper experience level," he said. "I think she'll do very well.
"Anna runs lot of road races where she's been alone and that's how we'll approach it. This course is conducive to her strengths. She likes rolling hills and that won't bother her at all," he added, noting that Western's own training spots are more hilly and difficult than the Terre Haute course.
Hurlock believes the training regime and schedule Neer has arranged for the team will help her Saturday.
"Dana has been getting us in a lot of big races to prepare us for things like this," she said. "He's tried to tell me what to expect.
"I'd just like to place well -- not too far back. Right now, it doesn't seem to be as big a deal without the rest of the team," Hurlock said, although she believes that will change once she's in Terre Haute.
Neer wants "Anna to come away with not only a positive feeling about the race, but with her placing as well.
"I believe Anna is the kind of girl who thrives on this kind of thing."