Northern Heights sophomore Ellei McCrory had a standout freshman season.
Accolades included winning the Class 1A cross country championship and winning the 3,200m and 1,600m at the state track and field championships. Entering her sophomore year, she was destined to do it again. McCrory won the Lyon County League Championship last October; however, she finished third at state in cross country despite leading a majority of the race. After her last race and training in the offseason, McCrory says she decided to take action and see what was wrong.
After taking two months off of training, McCrory returned to action earlier this month in the Wildcat Classic in Burlington with only two weeks of practice. McCrory finished second in the 3,200m in the Lyon County League Championships. McCrory finished fourth at regionals in the 3,200m last week at the Class 1A regional in Hoyt. With new state qualification guidelines, the top three finishers from all four regionals in each event automatically qualify for state. Additionally, the next four best times from the four regionals would also qualify for state. McCrory says she felt her time was good enough to get into the field of 16.
Northern Heights track and field coach Jeritt Curtis says he’s never seen an athlete recover so quickly and return for the season while also making an impact on the team, even when McCrory wasn’t competing.
Northern Heights cross country coach Lane Callahan says he hasn’t seen an athlete that’s driven for success during his young coaching career.
McCrory says this minor setback will help her heading into her final two seasons of cross country and track.
McCrory ran in the 3,200m and finished 16th with a time of 13:22.22.
McCrory’s on-air story for this week’s Feel Good Friday in the audio vault at KVOE.com/audiovault.
