Erin Renner has a chance to take what was once a mediocre cross-country career into an All-American one when the Fort Lewis College senior runs at the NCAA Division II Cross-Country Championships Saturday morning in Evansville, Indiana.
Renner qualified for the national championships after running a career-best time of 21 minutes, 46.9 seconds to place 11th overall in the 6K at the South Central Regional Championships earlier this month in Canyon, Texas.
“The South Central Region that we run in is really tough and considered one of the best in the country, so I think she has a good shot to be competing for an All-American spot,” FLC head coach Joshua Coon said.
Renner’s path to nationals is a bit different than most of the women she’ll be competing against when the race begins at 7:30 a.m.
Renner, originally from Lakewood, didn’t start running cross-county until her junior year of high school and never took the sport as seriously as others, despite having natural talent. But during her sophomore year at FLC something changed.
“I never took it too seriously and was kind of doing it for fun. After every season up until my sophomore year of college, I always looked back at the season and thought I could have done more and I had more left in me,” Renner said. “That kind of led to some regrets. My junior year of cross-country I decided I wanted to go all out and do my best. ... I wanted to see how far my body could go. Once I started doing that I got significantly faster.”
Since then, determined not to look back on her collegiate career and feel regret, Renner has logged countless miles to get ready for her senior season.
The course in Evansville sets up nicely for Renner and the rest of the field. It’s mostly flat and fast, which could lead to several runners setting new personal records.
Renner has one major goal at nationals, to finish inside the top 40 to earn All-American status, and Coon said he could see Renner finishing anywhere between 20th and 40th when she crosses the finish line.
Renner could have an advantage on the competition in Indiana. The start time for the race was moved up a couple hours because of a threat of inclement weather.
If the course is wet and muddy because of rain in the forecast for Friday night and Saturday morning, Coon believes Renner’s mental toughness could set her apart from others.
“If it is muddy and a mess, I think it will help her a little more because she is tough,” Coon said. “She’s gritty and I’m not worried about (the weather) at all with her.”
Renner also believes she could have a leg up on the rest of the competition if the conditions aren’t ideal thanks to training in Durango the past few years.
“We practice getting up at 6 every morning in 30-degree weather. The cold and rain, I’m used to it,” she said. “It definitely won’t throw off my game strategy.”
kschneider@durangoherald.com
