Dream big: Courtney Frerichs Was 54th at the state meet in high school in XC and only ran 2:24 for 800m

God she must have trained like the worst idiot of all time. She is now the fastest collegian in history in the Steeple and should be able to run an excellent 800, 1500, 3000, and 5000.

How she could not have dominated a weak state like Missouri and run under 2:10, 4:50, and 10:20 is beyond comprehension.

I believe she didn't dominate Missouri HS running because that was not her focus. My understanding is that she was primarily a gymnast in HS. Relative to top NXN and FL ladies, Frerichs arrived at UMKC with 'fresh legs.' Also, she then gives much credit to Joe Franklin and crew of Lady Lobos like Wright, Auckland, etc... at UNM.

Congrats to her - she looked great yesterday and looked great during XC.

BleedingBlue wrote:

I believe she didn't dominate Missouri HS running because that was not her focus. My understanding is that she was primarily a gymnast in HS. Relative to top NXN and FL ladies, Frerichs arrived at UMKC with 'fresh legs.' Also, she then gives much credit to Joe Franklin and crew of Lady Lobos like Wright, Auckland, etc... at UNM.

Congrats to her - she looked great yesterday and looked great during XC.

There's always some catch like this. Nobody is running all 3 seasons and sucks in hs is going to make it big in college. The closest I've heard someone come was a high 15s guy who made D3 AA.

She didn't focus on running in High School.

From

http://www.kansascity.com/sports/college/article80436877.html

"From there, Frerichs will turn her attention towards a lifelong dream of competing in the Olympics … though for a long time, she envisioned doing that in gymnastics. Frerichs grew up admiring Shawn Johnson and also had the opportunity to meet Nadia Comaneci when she was 9.

“When I was 13 or 14, I realized that probably wasn’t the path I was going down,” Frerichs said, “but as soon as my coach told me when I was at UMKC that he thought I had a shot at even just making the (Olympic) trials, it really lit the fire and got me training really hard.”

Frerichs’ rise is even more remarkable considering track wasn’t even her second-favorite sport growing up. Along with gymnastics, she played soccer, and in high school she only attended track meets that didn’t conflict with her matches. It was one reason she never competed in Missouri’s state track and field meet.

“I’m really glad my parents pushed me into doing lots of different sports, so then I wasn’t burnt out,” Frerichs said. “I was excited as a college athlete, and it allowed me once I was able to focus to make big improvements.”

James Butler has been her coach throughout college. He is the one that coached her at UMKC and she followed him to New Mexico

Correct, she was not a high school track-focused runner at all. Her improvement has been great d/t a great drive, intelligent, and great coaching and training. Her gymnastics background has given her some very good steeple skills, too.

Plus, she's just a damned good person, on top of it all. So very glad for her, probably was a warm and windy day when she ran.

The ghost of Pat Davey wrote:

God she must have trained like the worst idiot of all time. She is now the fastest collegian in history in the Steeple and should be able to run an excellent 800, 1500, 3000, and 5000.

How she could not have dominated a weak state like Missouri and run under 2:10, 4:50, and 10:20 is beyond comprehension.

Missouri produced Emily Sisson, Colleen Quigley, and Jessica (Jackson) Kamilos during her HS years. The team depth isn't good, but it's produced plenty of top individuals on the girls side in the past 5-10 years.

people always freak out over stories like this. it doesnt mean anything more than this: In high school she either hardly trained or trained VERY incorrectly. it's not some miracle or sheer force of willpower.

Good example of a person not needing to early specialize in a sport to be successful at it.

With prolonged and correct effort people can improve tremendously. Galen Rupp. Cam Levins. I have a friend who had a HS XC 5k best in the 18s and has run the MEN'S OT Marathon. THAT is how much you can improve with consistent good training. Few people have consistent good training.

Show-me State resident, big Frerichs fan, so not picking on her.

I agree with the posters who say this shows you don't need early specialization to be good. If your body was made for something, you'll get good relatively quickly once you really devote to it.

kvothe wrote:

BleedingBlue wrote:

I believe she didn't dominate Missouri HS running because that was not her focus. My understanding is that she was primarily a gymnast in HS. Relative to top NXN and FL ladies, Frerichs arrived at UMKC with 'fresh legs.' Also, she then gives much credit to Joe Franklin and crew of Lady Lobos like Wright, Auckland, etc... at UNM.

Congrats to her - she looked great yesterday and looked great during XC.

There's always some catch like this. Nobody is running all 3 seasons and sucks in hs is going to make it big in college. The closest I've heard someone come was a high 15s guy who made D3 AA.

I know a d3 guy who made XC AA this year that was like 16:40's for 5k in high school although he was 9:30's for the 3200. Took him 4 years to get to that level though.

luv2run wrote:

Good example of a person not needing to early specialize in a sport to be successful at it.

Yes, good story, but don't try this in soccer, it won't work. Depends on the sport.

kvothe wrote:

BleedingBlue wrote:

I believe she didn't dominate Missouri HS running because that was not her focus. My understanding is that she was primarily a gymnast in HS. Relative to top NXN and FL ladies, Frerichs arrived at UMKC with 'fresh legs.' Also, she then gives much credit to Joe Franklin and crew of Lady Lobos like Wright, Auckland, etc... at UNM.

Congrats to her - she looked great yesterday and looked great during XC.

There's always some catch like this. Nobody is running all 3 seasons and sucks in hs is going to make it big in college. The closest I've heard someone come was a high 15s guy who made D3 AA.

True.