Bishop Heelan cross country runner, Amber Aesoph
By Jerry Gisese, SSA Sports Editor
Article published in the October issue of the Siouxland Sports Authority.
© Copyright 2019, Siouxland Sports Authority. All Rights Reserved.
(SSA) – All great runners have a strategy heading into a cross country meet and Amber Aesoph is no exception.
Sometimes, the plan backfires. It happened to the Bishop Heelan senior at last month’s Le Mars Invitational held on the rolling hills of Prairie Rose Golf Club in the sleepy little town of Brunsville, IA., where 575 runners in six different divisions competed – more than triple the size of the city’s 153 residents (2017 census), some of whom were among the fans that showed up.
One hundred and five girls representing 17 schools lined up when the starter’s pistol fired during the sunny, humid afternoon on the second week of September. Aesoph and Sioux City East sophomore Kaia Downs were perhaps the best-known of the distance runners – Aesoph, a three-time Class 3A state cross country qualifier, is ranked ninth in 3A by the Iowa Track Coaches Association. Downs, a 12th-place finisher at last year’s Class 4A state meet, is 14th in 4A.
“Kaia is definitely someone who pushes me and makes me a better runner myself in races,” said Aesoph, discussing a friendly rival she’ll meet at least five times this fall.
“[At the Le Mars Invite], I didn’t really get out as strong. It seemed like everyone got out quick. I guess I didn’t have it in me. I kind of let her go. It wasn’t my best race.”
Downs ran away with the title, timed in 18:51.68 on the 3.1-mile course. Aesoph was second (19:50.05), roughly 12 days after their first meeting during the Heelan Invitational at Adams Nature Preserve in North Sioux City, S.D. There, Downs was first (18:34.70) and Aesoph was second (18:40.86).
Perhaps the tables will be turned this month. Prairie Rose will host the Missouri River Activities Conference meet on Oct. 17. The 17-year old daughter of Jess and Dawn Aesoph of Sioux City, who also competes for the Crusaders in basketball, track and soccer, has won three individual MRAC titles.
“Definitely,” answered Aesoph to how cross-country strategy often changes, simply because of the competition or the terrain type, whether the course is flat or hilly.
“Cross country is definitely a mental game,” she said. “You want to get a good place. You want to be pushing yourself. You don’t want to give up. You want to hang in there the whole time and push yourself all the way through.”
Heelan Coach Todd Roerig said Aesoph has the same kind of characteristics as any cross country runner. Desire. The willingness to work hard.
Those are attributes to a runner who has been Heelan’s lead runner in each of the three previous state meets at Kennedy Park in Fort Dodge. She’s part of the school’s rich tradition in the sport, as the Crusaders have qualified for the Class 3A state meet as a team every year since 2007, finishing fifth a year ago.
“She’s one that she really doesn’t have a plan going into a race,” said Roerig. “She knows what she wants to do. She is more the reaction type runner, what’s happening in front of her, what’s the pace. If she can get to where the place isn’t to her liking, she might decide to pick up the pace.
“I know that happened last year at state track in the 1,500. She didn’t like the pace it was going, so she went from 11th to first in 200 meters. That’s probably not going to happen in cross country. She’s more of a reactor. She probably has a plan that she wants to do, in her mind, but that could change in the course of the miles that she’s running a race.”
Aesoph’s strength is the middle of the race. As the run begins, she seeks to stick with the front of the pack, basically the top 10 runners.
During the middle, Aesoph picks up her second wind and pushes herself towards the top. Then, she finishes strong.
“I can pick it up and try to hold on towards the end of the race,” she said. “I do think the middle is where I start to speed up. The end of the race is difficult for me to hang on. I am trying to work on finishing and growing in that department. Towards the end with my kick, I am trying to work on finishing and growing in that department.”
“The middle of the race is where she kind of gathers herself,” said Roerig. “That’s where she makes up her mind as how the race is going to finish for her. The first mile is kind of getting comfortable and figuring out where she’s at and what she needs to go. We’re working on the end. A lot of that is still training, but it’s a mental part and we’re working on that.”
Aesoph uses cross country to train for the basketball season. Endurance, of course, is needed in that hardcourt sport as the Crusaders prefer an up-tempo game, both offensively and defensively. There’s lots of trapping, which also requires quickness and results in baskets, if Heelan capitalizes on an opponent’s mistake.
Cross country, Aesoph says, sets the tone for a good year in basketball and in all sports. She played in her first-ever state basketball tournament a year ago, shooting 53.9 percent while averaging 9.2 points per game for a program that had missed the previous two years of competing at Wells Fargo Arena.
Aesoph’s especially busy in the spring, where she practices daily in both track and soccer. She has won nine career medals while running on the light-blue oval at Des Moines’ Drake Stadium in her three previous years, capturing her first-ever state championship last May when she anchored the distance medley relay that also included Hope Sokolowski, Hannah Hutchinson and Madison Jochum, a foursome that was clocked in 4:06.80.
Two weeks later, she played center midfield for the soccer team that fell to North Polk in the first round of the 1A state tournament at Cownie Soccer Park in Des Moines. Incidentally, Heelan has qualified for the state soccer tournament 18 times, which is first all-time in state history.
In fact, Aesoph joined then-senior Hannah Hutchinson and then-freshman Mia Conley as Heelan athletes who competed in both state track and state soccer last spring.
“We definitely need those dual sport athletes that do both soccer and track at the same time,” said Aesoph. “Honestly, I think they complement each other really well, playing both at the same time. Our coaches have been understanding and helpful in putting us through workouts and practices and being sure not to overwork us or overdo it.”
Roerig calls Aesoph’s streak of six consecutive state tournaments (see graphic) impressive. Considering her all-sports participation, she has been injured only once, an ankle during last year’s basketball season that limited her to 19 of the team’s 25 games.
More impressive, according to Roerig, is Aesoph’s leadership. Ranked 10th in 3A by the IATC, the Crusaders have a young team. However, three more athletes competed at last year’s state meet – Conley, senior Brenna Joyce and junior Emma Hutchinson.
“All of these girls definitely work really hard and I’m not even sure they all know what they’re capable of,” said Aesoph, who has taken official visits to the University of Iowa and Kansas State, where she has been recruited for cross country and track.
“We all push each other in practice every day and in meets. I know there is a pack of them that sticks together and that’s great as long as they can push each other. We’re all working towards the same goal of finishing and keeping the streak of going to state as a team that we have kept for the last several years. I think we definitely have the potential of getting there as a team. Hopefully for myself, I can improve my time and get a higher place finish than I have the previous years.”
“She won conference her freshman year, so she came in and she was a great runner, yet she’s young,” said Roerig. “Over the years, since she has taken over the role of being the better runner on the team, that leadership role has kind of progressed to where now as a senior, she is a great leader for the rest of the girls, for that matter, the whole team, the boys and the girls. People look for her. She’s been a good mentor as far as trying to get the other girls to push themselves and to be a better runner because ultimately, that’s what we’re out for, to improve ourselves from each meet.”
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