Herrin girls continue cross-country success

By Thomas Donley

The Herrin High School girls’ cross-country team is ready to run all the way to Detweiller Park in Peoria this fall.

Juniors Kara Martin and Maura Farrell led Herrin to the Illinois High School Association State Finals in Peoria as sophomores last year. They are poised to make a return trip this year.

Martin and Farrell took 15th and 16th out of the runners competing on teams and 29th and 30th overall. They finished the three-mile race in 18:31.

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Last year’s success gives them motivation to improve.

“There’s definitely pressure, but the good kind,” Farrell said. “It really helps push me to go harder.”

Head coach Dusty Mallow said he knew Farrell and Martin would be good runners before they joined the team, but he was still surprised with their finishes last season.

“I knew they were going to do well,” Mallow said. “But that was a pretty impressive performance by both those young ladies.”

Martin and Farrell have met expectations so far this fall. The two have finished in the top 10 in every meet.

Martin took first place at the Herrin Invite, the West Frankfort Invite and the Massac County Invite. Farrell finished second at each of those events.

Martin said her goal is to beat Heather Elders’s school record of 18:03, set in 2002.

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Farrell started running cross-country in fifth grade when a friend’s mother started a cross-country team, and she discovered how good she was at the sport.

Martin has been running cross-country since a friend’s father challenged her to run a few miles when she was in eighth grade. After she finished, he convinced her to join the cross-country team.

Martin spent her offseason running with the Marion Swamp Fox Track Club and training with the Marion boys’ cross-country team. Farrell trains on her own during the offseason. The two also run distance events for the Herrin girls’ track team.

For races, Mallow trains his runners to run with gates, which are groups of other runners. However, he needs a different approach for Martin and Farrell.

“With the rest of the team, we look for places that runners bunch up and try to get in the front of the pack,” Mallow said. “But with Maura and Kara, they usually are right out at the front. So for them, it’s basically, ‘go as far as you can go.’”

Not only do Martin and Farrell consistently lead the team on the racecourse, but Mallow also sees them as leaders off it.

“It’s not always that your best runners are the leaders of your team,” Mallow said. “But Maura and Kara are both natural leaders. To do as well as they do, it makes their leadership job a little easier.”

Murray State University and SIUE have both expressed interest in Martin and Farrell. Martin has also received interest from Greenville College and North Central College. Farrell has also spoken with McKendree University and SIU.

Martin and Farrell said they push each other in practice and during races, even shouting words of encouragement to each other in the heat of competition.

Mallow said Martin and Farrell excel because of their desire to win and ability to tolerate pain in a grueling sport.

“That’s what this sport is all about,” Mallow said. “This isn’t a game. This is a real, in-your-face kind of sport.”

Thomas can be reached at [email protected] and on Twitter @tdonleyDE.

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