By Justin Feil, The Packet Group
With their popularity exploding, there are now hundreds of mud runs held around the country each year.
Kelly Janokowicz can say that she ran her first one at the Nike National Cross championships Saturday, though it wasn’t supposed to be a mud run.
”It was fun,” said the Hillsborough High School senior. “It was very memorable. I’m happy I had the opportunity to go.”
Janokowicz had a chance to run the course the day before the final, and when rain poured down later that Friday, it left the Portland (Ore.) Meadows Race track course a mud pit.
”It was like nothing I’ve ever run in before,” Janokowicz said. “It honestly didn’t feel like a running race. It was mentally getting through the mud and trying to go as fast as I could. It was very strange.”
Janokowicz completed her record-breaking final year with the Raiders in 28th place overall in 20:21. She was the third finisher from New Jersey.
”Coming in, I didn’t really know what exactly to expect,” she said. “I was hoping to get Top 50. I think I ran a pretty smart race. I was happy to get 28th. I picked off a lot of people throughout the whole race. I was happy where I was placed. The time was pretty insignificant.”
Janokowicz tried to move out quickly to put herself in a good position to contend, and also strategically getting out ahead of hundreds of fellow competitors would ideally cut down on the mud sprayed her way. It didn’t work.
”I had mud in my mouth in the first minute,” Janokowicz said. “The first turn was like a swamp. You couldn’t avoid it.”
The course didn’t get much better as she went through it, circling twice the course that included man-made obstacles like hay bales and dirt moguls.
”There was one section were it was like calf-high muddy water for 20 seconds,” Janokowicz said. “Between the hay bales, there was a lot of mud, so you had to careful not to slip.”
The experience of reaching nationals for the first time was as valuable and important to Janokowicz as the race itself. She had placed in the top five at the Northeast Regionals to qualify as an individual, just the third in HHS history.
”She’s the third,” said Raiders head coach Rich Refi, who also coached Ashley Smolinka and Julianna Miller to nationals. “It’s just a great opportunity.”
Janokowicz finished better than either of the two did, and she was happy to follow in their footsteps. Janokowicz was a freshman when Smolinka went and a sophomore when Miller reached the pinnacle of the cross country season.
”I knew the race would go out fast,” Janokowicz said. “I wanted a good position right away. There was mud right away, so I fell back a little. I think people tired with the mud and hay bales.
”I tried to find good areas,” she said. “There weren’t good areas, but there were areas where it wasn’t as extreme. Everybody had to run in the same conditions. It was the same for everybody.”
In addition to the race, there was time for some socializing with the other Northeast representatives, an old friend from summer running camp, and to check out the area. The nationals provided plenty of memories for its participants.
”It was really fun getting the gear and we were able to meet a lot of professional runners,” Janokowicz said. “We went to the Nike headquarters. It was amazing being there.”
Smolinka and Miller had come back thrilled with the nationals gear that they got, and Janokowicz was no different. She was impressed as well to talk to some professional runners, a perk to reaching nationals.
”It was cool meeting them and knowing they were once high schoolers and they’ve made it big,” she said.
Janokowicz made it big in her senior year. Refi marvels at the 17:59 clocking that she recorded at Holmdel Park in the Meet of Champions barely two weeks ago. She came off that performance to advance to nationals with another strong showing at regionals.
”I thought she had a good chance,” Refi said. “All the regions are good. It’s a lot of good runners all wanting the same thing.
”She’s been very steady,” he added. “It’s hard work and discipline.”
Steady development through her high school career has pushed Janokowicz to the top of the school record books on every course that the Raiders ran this year, not just Holmdel. She had to sport a “Northeast” uniform for nationals, but she was happy to have the chance to represent HHS cross country once more.
”It was just really exciting,” she said. “I felt honored to have the opportunity to even go. I heard great things about it. I guess it was a goal of mine, but to have it actually happen was really exciting.”
Janokowicz will continue to run on her own through the winter as she prepares for her final season at HHS, the spring track and field season. It’s already been quite a start to her last year, culminating with a trip to the nationals and some everlasting memories.
”Probably the first thing would be the mud,” Janokowicz said. “I’ll always remember I’ve never seen anything like it before and I’ll probably never see anything like it again. Being able to represent the Northeast, that I was one of the five runners there that could say that, it was exciting.”
Said Refi: “It’s a great season.”
