Solon Senior Bock Looking to End Cross Country Career With a Race to Remember
Ryan Murken
Your Prep Sports
SOLON – Emy Williams has a way of dealing with her Solon cross country runners after a disappointing race.
Call it the five-minute rule.
“We just say that was it, that’s what happened and now move on,” the long-time Solon head coach explained. “You give yourself five minutes for a pity party and then you move on.”
Solon senior Emma Bock is a coaches’ dream.
The kid that does everything the way you ask. The first one to arrive the last one to leave. That type of kid.
“It’s that expectation of excellence and that competitiveness and that work ethic that she brings to the table that has rubbed off on a lot of kids,” Williams said of Bock. “They see her and what she does and they want to emulate that.”
When Williams talks Bock listens.
The senior is a leader for Class 3A top-ranked Solon which will make its fourth consecutive appearance at the state cross country meet on Friday at Lakeside Golf Course in Fort Dodge.
But the five-minute rule?
That one can be tough for Bock to follow.
“It may take her a little more than five minutes,” Williams said laughing. “We say five minutes, that’s what we focus on but I know it takes her longer sometimes. Sometimes a lot longer.”
For Bock whether it is five minutes or five months it doesn’t matter, a disappointing race isn’t leaving her mind.
Take last year’s state cross country meet when Bock finished 102nd.
How long did that memory stick around.
“Yeah, last year….,” Bock said before trailing off and eventually stopping “Every time I have a bad race I never forget it.”
For Bock it’s not a ‘pity party’ or anger that causes the races to stick in her memory rather it’s a choice, a motivator for an athlete that rarely needs a reminder to work hard.
Bock uses those past races as a constant reminder of where she was and where she wants to get to.
“Emma is such a competitor and she probably wants it more than any other kid that I have ever coached,” Williams said. “With her we tell her that you have to move on.”
Bock has been a foundational piece in a Solon program that has ascended into a state title contender.
As a freshman Bock helped the Spartans reach the state meet and finished 58th as an individual while the Spartans were 11th in Class 3A.
A year later Bock jumped to 37th as Solon climbed to seventh in the team standings.
Last season despite the Covid-19 pandemic throwing a wrench into the season everything was pointing toward another move up for Bock and the Spartans in Fort Dodge.
Solon continued to climb up the 3A standings moving up to fifth but Bock had a state meet to forget, placing 102nd.
Her time last season was nearly two minutes slower than she ran as a sophomore in 2019.
“I didn’t feel very good, I was dealing with an injury and at that race your confidence can really go down as people are passing you,” Bock said. “You really have to be confident in yourself and assured that you can do it when you get to that race.”
Battling an injury and an illness at state it was a race for Bock to forget.
The problem with that scenario is that she can’t.
Instead that performance fueled Bock all the way until this season.
Last week Bock was runner-up at the state qualifying meet and she enters the final state meet appearance of her career on Friday ranked No. 13 in Class 3A and seeking her first career state medal.
More than that Bock wants to help Solon to the first state title in program history.
A year after running a race she can’t forget Bock wants nothing more than to end her career with a performance to remember.
“After last year I want to prove myself that I can be in the top 15 and prove I can run my best at that race,” Bock said. “To have a chance to do that and help our team win a championship that’s what I’ve been waiting for.”
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