Herrmann keeps on improving

State cross country is Saturday

By: Justin Feil
   Last year, Amanda Herrmann had the sort of season most any senior would want.
   She improved steadily through the fall and reached the Meet of Champions as a wild card before finishing better than her seeding for 33rd overall at New Jersey’s most competitive race.
   Of course, Herrmann was only a Montgomery High freshman, leaving herself a tough act to follow this year. Yet she has.
   "She’s awesome," said MHS head coach Jim Goodfriend. "Every meet she PR’d until last one when she was sick. I told her not to come to practice (Monday) and she did anyway. That’s what she’s like. She always wants to give her best."
   Herrmann is working as hard this week to fine tune for Saturday’s Group III state meet at Holmdel Park as she is to be healthy at the start line. Herrmann finished 10th in North Jersey, Section 2 Group III meet last weekend after coming down with a cold in the days leading up to the race.
   "It was one of worst races of my life," said the sophomore, who was second to Cougar teammate and third-place finisher Eleonora Spinnazi. "I didn’t do as well as I was hoping to do. The week before the race was kind of a crazy week in terms of school and running. My resistance got down and I got sick. I wasn’t too happy. The race was too demanding for the amount of energy I had.
   "In the beginning of the race, I didn’t feel too bad. At end of first mile, wasn’t feeling same way usually do. I felt my energy draining. That doesn’t usually happen until the end. Opponents started to pass me and I can usually go with them. I usually have that determination."
   Herrmann’s determination Saturday will be focused on returning to the Meet of Champions as well as helping her Cougar teammates get as close to qualifying as possible. MHS just missed reaching the Group III meet last year, but finished fifth in NJ 2 III to secure the final spot for Saturday’s race. Princeton High will also compete in the Group III state meet, while the PHS boys along with West Windsor-Plainsboro North wild card Will Munoz will run in the Group III boys’ state meet. The West Windsor-Plainsboro South boys and girls both advanced to their respective Group IV state meets to be run Saturday as well as Holmdel Park.
   "First of all, I think it’s amazing our team made it, not just individually," Herrmann said. "It adds so much to it. It makes it so fun. It would be amazing if the team made it on to the Meet of Champions. Individually, I’m guessing it’ll be a fast race. Of course, my goal is to make it on. If not, it’ll end a great season no matter what. I want to make it as far as possible."
   Herrmann has progressed steadily on Spinazzi’s heels. The two give the Cougars as good a 1-2 punch as there is. Last year, Herrmann finished stronger at Holmdel. This year, it’s been Spinazzi that’s led the way consistently.
   "Amanda has improved also," Goodfriend said. "Eleonora had a little jump on her. The key is Eleonora hasn’t been hurt all year. She has had problems with her legs and stuff. She’s been careful with it and that’s the difference with her.
   "We shut Amanda down in the summer. She was hurt and had a problem with her hip. We shut her down for a month, so she didn’t have as much of a base. Since then, she just improved and improved and improved. It’s mostly from hard work. They work so hard in workouts together. They run shoulder to shoulder."
   Herrmann brought her mileage up steadily through the summer and attended the Green Mountain Running Camp in Vermont. It helped her prepare and keep up with Spinazzi’s progress.
   Goodfriend is hoping the two are running near to each other Saturday. It could make the Cougars’ long shot of advancing a little more reasonable. He’s hoping at least Spinazzi and Herrmann move on to the Meet of Champions in a year that’s one of the quickest in memory.
   "What are you going to have to run?" he wonders. "Nineteen-fifty should be in the Top 10. But you might not even make it with that this year. There’s that many quality individuals around. I don’t know what time she’s going to have to run. She may have to run 19:30 to be 10th."
   Herrmann doesn’t know for certain what she’s capable of Saturday. She ran 19:43 at the Meet of Champions last year at Holmdel. At the Shore Coaches Invitational in the beginning of the season, Herrmann covered the Holmdel course in 19:49. Last year, she dropped from 20:17 at the Shore Coaches to 20:00 at Group III to 19:43 at the MOC, so she’s shown a consistent drop of close to 15 seconds.
   "I’ve been really happy with all of my times," Herrmann said. "I improved almost every race I ran. As compared to last year, all my times have improved. Especially counties was exciting when Eleonoar and I swept and had the second and third fastest times on that course. Other than this Saturday, I’ve been really, really happy with this season."
   As for this Saturday, she continued, "I feel like I do better on a course after I experienced it a few times. I’m able to look at my times and build off them. Experience always helps — knowing the course, knowing where to surge."
   Montgomery ran sectionals at Warinanco Park last Saturday. Herrmann will be running on the Holmdel course for the fifth time in her career Saturday, looking for the chance to race it a sixth time the following week. In all likelihood, she’ll have to run another personal record to do so.
   "I’m definitely predicting this is going to be a really fast race," Herrmann said. "It’s an honor to be this far. It’s states. I’m going to see how much I can push myself. I’m going to go until I can’t go anymore. I’ll go out there and see what I can do."