Ryan Murken

Your Prep Sports

When it comes to meet experience and overall familiarity with cross country Alison Seidl is more or less a typical freshman.

However, the Clear Creek Amana freshman doesn’t run like a rookie.

Seidl is off to a stellar start to her career posting back-to-back top-10 finishes in her first two high school races.

“We knew that she was talented coming in and she is working crazy hard,” Clear Creek Amana coach Ben Robison said. “She is running with our boys in practice, she is training appropriately and the sky is the limit for her.”

Seidl made her high school cross country debut placing seventh in a time of 20:19.5 in a loaded field at the Cedar Rapids Prairie Invite on August 30.

Just five days later Seidl placed third at the Bob Brown Cross Country Classic at Kickers Soccer Park in Iowa City on Thursday taking more than 10 seconds off her time finishing in 20:05.58.

“I was really kind of conservative on Saturday, especially at the start,” Seidl said. “I think that sitting and kicking is probably the best way to run a 5k but I think that I executed it a little bit with an aggressive start this time.”

It has been an impressive start to the career for Seidl in her first two high school races.

What makes the early success even more impressive for Seidl is her relative lack of long distance racing prior to this season.

Before the Cedar Rapids Prairie meet Seidl had run only two previous 5k races.

“This is only my fourth 5K ever so I am still getting the hang of it,” Seidl said. “I think I competed well, I am proud of how I did and I am proud of everyone else as well.”

Seidl is ranked 30^th in the Class 3A individual rankings released by the Iowa Association of Track Coaches on Monday.

The only two runners to finish in front of her on Thursday at the Bob Brown Classic were 3A No. 16 ranked Iris Dahl of Washington and 2A second-ranked Monticello freshman Mary Grace Lyons.

After her third-place finish on Thursday Seidl was focused on improving.

“I am a really ambitious person and I set very high standards for myself so every time I finish a race I think, ‘I have more’,” Seidl said. “Right now time isn’t really what we are focused on its more placement and I was happy with that.”

Despite the early success Robison knows Seidl is still a freshman.

The veteran Clear Creek Amana coach is taking things slow with Seidl who he believes can be a factor in the 3A postseason next month.

“We have tried really hard not to overcoach her and not to give her too much to think about,” Robison said. “The game plan is to go out conservatively and then work the second half and both days, Saturday and (Thursday) she executed it perfectly.”

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