Girls’ Runner of the Year

Pirates’ Kellner has kept elite company

By: Justin Feil
   On the awards stand at the Meet of Champions, Katie Kellner wore a T-shirt made for her by the Hopewell Valley girls’ cross country team.
   The Bulldogs had their own MOC entrant, Clare Buck, to cheer for, but they also wanted to lend their support to Kellner though they are competitors during the Colonial Valley Conference. It was a gesture that touched the West Windsor-Plainsboro South sophomore and reaffirmed why she calls cross country her favorite sport.
   "It’s a real cool sport," Kellner said. "All your competitors are really nice. You become friends with them. In other sports, you have negative views of your competition. In cross country, they wish each other good luck and you can still go out and be competitive."
   Kellner is as competitive as they come, but she is proof that nice girls do finish first. She is a popular champion among teammates and competitors. Kellner was getting used to how cross country works last year when she made quite a debut with a season highlighted by a second-place finish at the Mercer County Championships and 26th-place showing at the Meet of Champions. This year, she came on even stronger to make a bigger name for herself.
   "I didn’t know that I would be a little more known in the state," Kellner said. "It was definitely a lot different. Last year was more about the county and how I did there. This year was more about what I did in the state."
   It took Kellner less than a month to earn the respect and admiration of many around the state. At the Shore Coaches Invitational in early October, Kellner finished second in the B Division race in 18 minutes, 52 seconds. It was good for a new Pirates school record and eclipsed her early goal of finishing under 19 minutes at Holmdel Park’s 5-kilometer course. It was 27 seconds faster than her own school record set the year before at the Group IV state meet.
   "Last year," Kellner said, "I ran right around 19:15 or 19:20. I thought if I worked hard enough I could drop those 20 seconds. It seemed cool to see if could run under 19 at Holmdel."
   A week later, she won the first Old Bridge Classic in her first attempt at the course that would serve as the host site for the Central Jersey Group IV championship. She continued to win throughout the CVC season, losing just once in dual meets. She capped her regular season when she captured the Mercer County Championship in an all-time record 17:53 at Veterans Park. No other county runner had ever run that fast on any county course. As she did more, it opened more eyes around the state, and attracted state-wide media attention.
   "It’s definitely fun to think of yourself as one of the fastest in the state," Kellner said. "It was a little hard because they put pressure on you to get the places they predict. I’m proud of getting there."
   Not wanting to be measured on her county success alone, she continued to build at the tougher state level. At the sectional meet the following week, Kellner was fourth to advance as an individual to the Group IV meet. She covered the Thompson Park course almost 40 seconds faster than she had at the Old Bridge Classic. At the Group IV meet at Holmdel, she was sixth overall in humid conditions in 18:57. She returned the next week to finish in 18:56 and garner 14th place in the entire state at the Meet of Champions. She capped the year by finishing 56th at the Footlocker Northeast Regional cross country meet.
   Katie Kellner is the Princeton Packet Girls’ Cross Country Runner of the Year.
   "I can’t imagine her having a better season," said Pirates head coach Melinda Neff. "She did everything one could expect from a dynamite sophomore runner. She showed confidence she gained from having the races she had last year. She met every goal and exceeded goals I would not have expected her to yet — sub-18 at county and three times sub-19 at Holmdel which is the benchmark for runners."
   Kellner, too, never expected to be able to run so well so early in the season. The Shore Coaches finish proved that her training was on target with her goals for a sub-19 finish at Holmdel.
   "That was my big goal which I got in the beginning of the season," Kellner said. "Once I broke it, it made my goal to improve that time."
   Kellner still has two years to improve on her school-record 18:52. In her second season, she showed the benefits of her first year’s experience.
   "I knew what to expect," she said. "Instead of just going into every race and saying, I’ll run my hardest as long as I can, I knew what place and what time I should get. I had more goals for myself this year.
   "It was a lot different. I definitely worked a lot harder. Last year, I was just meeting the people on the team and getting used to the whole high school team feel. I already knew the people there this year. I was working harder for the actual season."
   Kellner’s mileage increased in the preseason and in the regular season over what she did as a freshman. It paid off quickly as she narrowly missed the school record in her only race at Mercer County Park this year and was in the lead pack that went off course in her bid for the school Washington Crossing Park record. Her times were better overall in each of the three county courses, culminating with the Veterans Park mark in the county meet.
   "She’s getting older and her legs are getting stronger," Neff said. "Coming out of middle school, I’m not sure she was training super-competitively. She had two great seasons with (coach) Kurt Wayton. Coming into her freshman year, she hadn’t really trained as much.
   "Katie is always willing to work hard," she added. "She’s got an incredible work ethic. She takes it very seriously. She works very hard at it."
   Kellner worked harder at it this year. She increased her long runs from six to 10 miles. She added more mileage to her weekly plans. It was all to keep her running with the best in the state.
   "We did not focus a lot on time this year," Neff said. "We focused more on place, who she wanted to be near at the start, who to be near at the mile and two-mile marks. Striving for a time every meet is difficult. There are weather factors, course factors. It was more about who she can stay with. If you’re staying with the people in the top, your time will naturally be good.
   "The wonderful thing about her," she added, "is the more competition, the more she looks forward to it. She loves to race against good runners. She looks forward to those meets where the best runners will be. She looks forward to races."
   Kellner worked not just on staying with those at the top of races, but pulling away from them. It was an improvement in her racing that she showed this fall.
   "I definitely worked more on my finish," Kellner said. "I used to go out as hard as I could. Now, I’ll save a little bit so I can have that finishing kick. Last year, people would pass me. Every once in a while now I’ll pass someone. I never could do that before. That’s probably my most noticeable change."
   The Pirates are thinking already of what they can do to help Kellner continue her improvement. Neff is advising more weight training that will help her train over higher mileage while tying in with her natural development. It’s sure to make her a hit again next year, with the Pirates as a teammate, and with opponents as an admired competitor.
   "She’s great," Neff said. "She’s well balanced. She’s very intelligent. She’s very athletic. She’s an all-around great person."