By Wayne witkowski
Staff Writer
Amy Dannwolf learned the simple motto that hard work pays off when she ran this fall for the Brick Memorial girls’ cross country team.
"I trained the whole summer," said Dannwolf, a senior and the No. 1 runner for the Mustangs. "I came out (this fall) and put in a lot of work, more than in the past. In the summers before this, I never was motivated to run every day."
It bred success, and with it a greater confidence going into last Saturday’s NJSIAA Group IV South section championships, where she helped her team to a 10th-place finish, a better performance than what it endured at times during the season.
Despite running for a team that struggled in dual meets, Dannwolf stayed focused and clocked a personal best 20:05 in the Ocean County Championships at Ocean County Park last month. The time made her the first Brick Memorial qualifier for the Shore Conference Championships since Marylou Gibson reached it in 1989. Dannwolf responded with a fine 20:52 effort for 33rd place at the demanding course at Holmdel Park, where runners ruefully speak of "the bowl," a grueling section of the course featuring winding, steep climbs.
"I knew I could run that fast. It was just putting in the work and running well once the race started," said Dannwolf. "I was just happy to run again at Holmdel this year. It was only the second time I ran there."
The other time was a much higher 23 minutes in the Shore Conference meet in her sophomore year.
It’s a work ethic that is impressed on her by Brian Decker, the first-year cross country coach at Brick Memorial, who also was an outdoor coach in the spring when Dannwolf qualified for the Meet of Champions in the 800 with a time of 2:21.
Decker said he is not surprised with Dannwolf’s success this year after a spotty junior season where she wasn’t always the top finisher for her own team.
"No, because she had a great outdoor season and realized then the time she had to put in to excel," said Decker. "A year ago, she was running 23 minutes."
Her success in the spring stoked her confidence for the fall.
"I realized I could run with those people," said Dannwolf of the Meet of Champions. "I feel pretty confident now. I just try to get as close to 20 minutes as I can."
Her strategy is simple: see how the race goes and don’t necessarily look to get out as the early leader.
"I just try to key off someone," said Dannwolf. "It depends on how I feel. But if there’s a quarter-mile left and someone is with me, they’re in trouble."
Dannwolf’s efforts, along with those of No. 2 runner senior Lauren Loeb, helped Brick Memorial to a 10th-place finish in the Shore Conference out of 16 teams, which Decker said is "not bad" for a young lineup learning through the season. Loeb ran a personal best 20:43 in a dual meet against Brick Township and a 21:03 for 32nd in the Ocean County meet.
After that it was freshman Jessica Alpert, a consistent top 10 finisher in dual meets, and Jessica Imbriaco, who never before ran cross country. Jackie Stier, a sophomore, also ran cross country for the first time and lowered her times as the No. 5 runner from 26 minutes early in the season to 23 minutes. Juniors Erin Gorski and Kristen Evans shared in the No. 6 role. The rest of the team was learning on the job, in a manner of speaking.
"We just didn’t have enough experience, and for some, their only experience was running for the middle schools," said Decker. "The feeder program is going to become very important to me. Without that, there’s no help for [the] program."
Team members had to get used to practicing nearly every day that they did not run in a meet. The intensive competitiveness of Decker, who ran middle distance and long distance events for Southern Regional High School, and later for the University of Kentucky and Monmouth University, West Long Branch, is not lost on his runners.
His philosophy is direct: To lower your times, you have to put in the time [in practice].
"It’s a lot different from the past," said Dannwolf. "It’s harder and he expects more because he knows what you’re capable of doing."