Everything you need to know as area cross country teams head to sectionals at Bedford, Brown County and Terre Haute this weekend.
When the cross country season began, Lila Childers was worried she wouldn't be able to keep up with her teammates.
Trying to keep her body healthy from the pounding of running has been a challenge for the Bloomington North junior, and an injury late in track season delayed her ability to hit the road until mid-July.
She had a strong sophomore season, running a then-career best 19:47.8 to lead the Cougars at regional and a spot at the state finals. She made it through most of her sophomore year of track before a stress reaction in her tibia shut her down.
"I've had chronic shin splints all year and my hips have caused problems," Childers said. "It's frustrating, but it's taught me how to persevere."
For North head coach Justin Helmer, he's had to persevere in finding the best training regimen to keep her in the lineup. So far, so good, with the mix of cardio (biking, elliptical, aqua jogging) and road mileage to keep her in shape.
Her presence is a big deal for the Cougars, who lost most of their top seven to graduation and turned to a less experienced group this season. She and senior Hayden McGuire have been the leaders and front runners all year.
"She's done great job with her strength training, physical therapy, keeping herself healthy," Helmer said. "The gap between her and Hayden just keeps closing and closing and closing. So that's given us a solid 1-2 up there in front. It's been trial and error for two years to find the right balance what she can handle."
Childers has been able to lower her career best. The race she had at the Columbus North Invitational's speedy course (19:19.48) we a big one for her mentally.
"This year has been different for me," Childers said. "I only run four days a week, but I have done lot of cross-training, and it's seemed to help me. I keep my mileage down but I'm working really hard cross training. Having coach give me workout and understanding my body needs different things, it's worked really well for me."
But at first, she wasn't so sure it would.
"I was worried about not doing same things as my teammates and not always being there and not having as much endurance, "Childers said. "But since I did have a later start to the season, I'd bike for two hours.
"I got over it pretty quick. Once I realized not running every day, the workouts were not awful and I was still able to run. I could go on an eight-miler."
It finally clicked at Columbus.
"I'm improving each race, but at the beginning, I struggled mentally a little bit," Childers said. "I didn't start running until mid-July, so I had that in my head a lot the first few races — 'I'm behind. I'm not able to do this right now.'
"It just took a few races. At Columbus North, I had that PR. 'OK, I'm good.' It brought confidence and I've gotten better every race."
The nice thing this year is having her older brother, former Cougar middle-distance standout Mason, back in town after graduating and competing at Dartmouth. They have plenty in common when it comes to running, and she plans to run in college, too.
"I definitely don't think I would be a runner if it wasn't for him," Childers said. "Going with my parents and watching him run. My mom was a sprinter. Watching my brother's distance career and being able to go to Dartmouth, inspired me to run. ... Having him home and having him talk me through it has been nice because he's had his struggles with injuries."
Cougars ready to make a run
And that's what the Cougars needed this year from its top two runners in pulling the others along. None of them have run in the postseason, and rankings have North on the bubble with Edgewood, just like last year, for the final qualifying spot at regional at this weekend's sectional invite.
"Having Hayden and Lila, they have the experience," Helmer said. "They made it to state and in track, they were a good part of what we did. Having those two is extremely important, and Lila's made a nice jump. The biggest thing for her is staying healthy. She's been finally able to put together a season."
"There's definitely a little bit of pressure, but I don't take it as pressure," Childers added. "Just a role I need to do and be a leader to teammates who haven't been there before. Making it to regional and then making it to state is the fun part."
Junior Penny Eads, senior Tori Bilohlavek, sophomore Piper Reed and freshman Ana Lopez are doing their parts.
"We're much better than I thought we were going to be at the beginning of the year," Helmer said. "The top seven started here as 23-24 minute 5k runners, and now all of a sudden, they've developed into very good varsity runners for us.
"They've exceeded my expectations, so I'm excited to see where we finish up."
What to know for sectionals
TIME: 10:30 a.m. for boys, 11:15 a.m. for girls.
ADVANCEMENT: Top five teams and the top 15 individuals will go to regionals. Qualifiers from Bedford North Lawrence and Brown County head to Evansville; Terre Haute qualifiers go to Brownsburg.
Top eight girls teams in the Evansville Regional (per inccstats.com) are Bloomington South (No. 3 statewide), Columbus North (13), Floyd Central (15), Edgewood (33), Bloomington North (34), Jasper, Corydon Central, Seymour.
Top eight boys teams in the Evansville Regional (per inccstats.com) are Columbus North (No. 1 statewide), Bloomington North (3), Floyd Central (25), Castle (27), Evansville Reitz (34), Silver Creek, Barr-Reeve, Bloomington South.
AT BEDFORD NORTH LAWRENCE: Bloomington North, Bloomington South, Eastern Greene, Lighthouse Christian, Bedford North Lawrence, Bloomfield, Brownstown Central, Eastern (Pekin), Linton-Stockton, Loogootee, Mitchell, North Daviess, Orleans, Salem, Shoals, West Washington, White River Valley.
Eastern Greene boys and girls ranked third best teams behind Bloomington squads.
AT BROWN COUNTY: Edgewood, Brown County, Columbus East, Columbus North, Eminence, Greensburg, Hauser, Jennings County, Martinsville, Monrovia, North Decatur, Seymour, South Decatur, Trinity Lutheran.
Edgewood girls ranked second, boys eighth.
AT TERRE HAUTE: Owen Valley, Clay City, Cloverdale, Dugger Union, Greencastle, North Central, North Vermillion, Northview, Parke Heritage, Riverton Parke, Shakamak, South Putnam, South Vermillion, Sullivan, Terre Haute North, Terre Haute South, West Vigo.
Owen Valley girls are ranked third.
This article originally appeared on The Herald-Times: Lila Childers leads Bloomington North cross country to IHSAA sectional
Category: General Sports
