WW-PS, MHS runners improve
By Justin Feil, Assistant Sports Editor
HOLMDEL — Katie Kellner and Jillian Prentice reacted differently to finishing the Meet of Champions on Saturday better than they had last year.
Kellner climbed three spots to finish 11th in 18:47 in the girls’ championship race. The finish helped her achieve nearly all her pre-race goals.
”I’m real happy because it’s my best time and I really wanted to break 18:50, and I haven’t been able to do that this season,” said the West Windsor-Plainsboro South junior. “I haven’t broken any of my personal bests until today. It’s so exciting. I was hoping to finish in the top 10, but 11th is really, really close. It’s better than last year. I’m still really happy about that. I’ll take 11th.”
Prentice moved up one spot to finish 18th in 19:08, but even her second straight top-20 finish in as many tries wasn’t quite what she was looking for Saturday.
”I felt something was off,” said the Montgomery High School sophomore. “I don’t really know what. I just tried to block it out while I was running. I didn’t run as well as I wanted to, but I think I still did pretty well.
”I think I was a little more at ease this year than last year. Last year was my first time. I knew what to expect this time so I don’t really understand what went wrong. I guess it just happened. I felt it from the beginning, but it did help having my team here cheering me on. It made me keep going and work hard. “
She finished second in the Group III race the week before to Jillian Smith, who was runner-up at the MOC on Saturday. The Somerset County champion had high standards for herself coming into the race.
”She improved from last year,” said MHS head coach Jim Goodfriend. “We were expecting better, but she didn’t feel good. She hadn’t run a bad race all year long. You figure that eventually one will happen or you’ll plateau out a bit. She just kept getting better and better and faster. Last week, she felt phenomenal. Today, she felt sick. She didn’t feel good from the beginning.
”It wasn’t her day, but 18th isn’t bad. She gets a medal and that’s nice. I’m ecstatic about the whole season. She had a great year. I’m happy about it.”
Prentice will return to the pool for swim season following one more race, the Footlocker Northeast Regional on Saturday. It is another chance to end on a high note for Prentice who will be joined by MHS teammates Amanda Herrmann and Lara Shegosky.
”I’m more doing it for the experience and to get to know the course,” Prentice said. “I don’t really know what to expect. I’m going to go in and do the course and get a feel for a different kind of race.”
It’s an experience that she hopes, along with Saturday’s, as she looks forward to returning next year for a third run at the MOC.
”I definitely feel like I have a stronger motivation to come back and do better,” Prentice said.
Added Goodfriend, who is hoping she will have that opportunity: “She has two more years to come back. You have to cherish the times you come here. She’s got two more years to get better. She improved a lot this year.”
Improvement was all that Kellner was looking for in her final race in New Jersey before she also competes in the Footlocker Northeast Regional. In the beginning of the year, Kellner wasn’t breaking her personal records during regular-season meets as she had in past years.
”It was a little hard at the beginning of this season because I was doing a lot more than previous years,” Kellner said. “So my legs were a lot more tired than in past years. I was pretty sure coming into this race that I was going to PR. I felt pretty confident throughout this week that this would be a sub-18:50 day.
”It was really exciting to have a better time to show that I’m continuing to get better, that my junior year was better than my sophomore year. I’m really happy to set a PR here because this is the course that matters to me.”
Kellner will try to get one more good race out of herself at the Footlocker regionals as well. She also ran it last year.
”This year, I know what it is,” Kellner said. “It’s not like a race like this. You actually race to the starting line. I didn’t even know what was going on when it happened last year. So I’m a little more confident this year. It really doesn’t matter how I place. I’m just doing it for fun. I’m going to try to place as well as possible and hopefully break my time from last year.”
She comes off an encouraging result at Holmdel.
”I think it’s all based on what we did this season,” said Pirates head coach Josh Siegel. “We told them right from the get-go, this is what we’re training for, the end of the season. We’re going for sectionals, groups, Meet of Champions, that’s our goal. The rest of the races? Great. Try your best and do well. But this is when it really matters. She came out and did well.
”I think she got a little worried,” he added of the early going this year. “We just kept telling her, this is all your training grounds. Just keep pushing through it and keep striving and she did. She did exactly what she was capable of. She pushed herself as hard as she could.”
Kellner brought confidence to the line Saturday. She knew she had trained harder than ever, and she was back on her favorite course.
”I was really excited coming into it,” Kellner said. “And a lot of my teammates were here to cheer me on at different spots so during the race, I actually felt pretty good. I was pretty excited and I was into it. I was having fun with it.”
Added Siegel: “This is her favorite course. The fact that this is the ninth time she’s run it competitively, she knows its ins and outs. I think it helps. There’s more in heart in her guts. She put herself on the line.”
Kellner is hoping she enjoys a final trip to the MOC next year, when she could be joined by her younger sister, Caroline, who will be a freshman. She has another solid season to build on after Saturday’s race.
”What I really liked about this season for me was I continually got better,” Kellner said. “Last year, my best race was at Shore Coaches. Each race at Holmdel got a little slower as the season went on. But this year, it got a little faster. It makes it more fun when you keep getting better. It’s really exciting. The time I broke today I ran at Shore Coaches last year.”
Both Kellner and Prentice will be looking to return next year, and to move up and run faster than they did Saturday in their final scholastic race in New Jersey.
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