Eureka freshman Long makes experience factor a practical running joke
Hannah Long was hardly a secret.
Each spring, she popped up like a new bloom at the Rockwood School District's elementary and middle school track meets, where she ran off with honors. And in the summer she hooked on with the St. Louis Blazers and posted too-good-to-not-notice times in AAU and USA Track & Field events.
If you were watching for young track and cross country talent, Long's name rang a bell.
"I knew of her," Eureka coach Kally Fischer said.
Long's story turned out to be more than anyone could have expected. The secret wasn't that Long was good. The secret was how good -- and the answer was very good.
The 14-year-old Eureka freshman was the best runner in the St. Louis area during the fall cross country season. Not just the best freshman. She was the best runner. Period. When Long was in the field, terrific runners like Hannah Richardson of Kirkwood and Melissa Brown of Oakville raced for second place.
Long's success -- she did not lose a race to an area runner -- made her an easy choice as the Post-Dispatch All-Metro runner of the year.
Long won six races during the fall season. The only time she didn't win was at the state meet, where she couldn't quite keep up with two-time champ Samantha Nightingale of Blue Springs South. Nightingale, a senior, won the Class 4 title in 18 minutes 5 seconds. Long was second, covering the difficult course in 18:29.
Long's success was more than expected. How do you dream of beating the area's best in a 5,000-meter race when you've never raced more than 4,000 meters?
Fischer, a former standout at Eureka and Mizzou, has an answer for that: Dream big.
"One of the things I tell my girls is anything's possible," she said.
Long came into the year's first practice sessions believing that. Well, she came in believing a version of "anything's possible."
"I was expecting to do well in all my races," she said. "I expected at least top five in all of them."
Long kept those expectations to herself. New to high school and new to the program -- the Rockwood district does not field middle school teams -- the slender 5-foot-4 freshman walked into the first practice looking to make friends, not waves.
"I didn't know anybody from the cross country team," she said.
Fischer said it was easy for the girls to warm to the newcomer. Her personality and approach were a perfect fit for the program.
"She's a coachable, sweet young girl," Fischer said.
Long, of course, is more than that. Freshmen do not dominate the area running scene. They don't challenge for the large-schools state title. They don't set the meet record in the season's first -- and biggest -- race. Long did all of those things, including obliterate the meet record at the season-opening Forest Park Cross Country Festival where, in her first varsity race, she ran the area's fastest 3,000-meter time of the season, 18:00.
"She might be the first one who's come along like that and been that good as a freshman," Fischer said.
There was a slight hubbub in running circles about this year's talented freshman class. Sophia Racette at Nerinx Hall, Kayla Funkenbusch of Rock Bridge and Long were considered special. The predictions turned out to be correct. At Forest Park, they grabbed three of the top eight places in a field of nearly 200. At the state meet, all three were in the top 25.
Long's run at the state meet was the fastest ever by a freshman and 11th fastest overall in the 33-year history of the girls state championships.
Though Fischer kept a close eye on the mileage of Long and the rest of a strong freshman group, the nearly three-month season took a toll on the young legs.
"The hardest part was the training at the end of the year," Long said. "I was kind of tired."
A two-week break after state had her legs and spirits back in gear. She was the top freshman -- and 11th overall -- in the 263-girl field at the Foot Locker Midwest Regional Nov. 26 in Kenosha, Wis.
The 2012 season is months away, but Long already is looking forward to it. The racing won't be easier, but almost everything else will be more comfortable. She'll know her teammates, her coaches, her workouts, her schedule. She'll even know the courses -- no small factor when you are racing at the front of the pack.
"I definitely would've been better if I had a little more experience with the courses," she said. "I really didn't know any of them."
Better? Really?
That is the way Fischer likes to hear Long talk. Why not expect better?
"I like the way she thinks," the Eureka coach said. "She knows anything's possible."
