Girls cross country 2023: Avon's Kaitlyn Reese not satisfied with successful freshman season, wants to keep getting better and better

Kaitlyn Reese might have been a freshman last season but she definitely didn't run like one. Reese was the catalyst for Avon's girls cross country team to earn its first state berth since 1988. Once at state, she finished 20th out of 172 runners in the Division I meet in a time of 18:45.0 to become the first Avon girl to earn All-Ohio (top 30) honors since Jennifer (Schaefer) Parker finished 13th at the 1988 Division III (then Class A) state meet. And with her leading the way, the Eagles, who were ranked eighth in the state, finished 12th out of 20 teams with 296 points. Now a seasoned sophomore, Reese wants to improve on all those marks this season. But she knows she can't do it alone. "We did very well as a team last year so the goal is to keep that momentum going," she said. "Track season helped me out a lot. I learned better race strategies. I learned how to improve my race game plan versus just trying to race off of what other people are doing. With the team, this is the mindset we're striving for. We're all in it together and we can all do this." It was the Eagles' first state team appearance since moving up to Division I in 2011. Avon placed third in 1988 and fourth in 1987 at the Division III state championships. The Avon girls advanced to state last year by placing third out of eight team qualifiers at the Boardman regional with 157 points behind No. 3 state-ranked Westlake (63) and No. 6 Shaker Heights (125). "We have a growing team this year," Reese said of the Eagles whose numbers have grown from 33 girls to 46. "This is great because we can all come together. We're all going through the same thing together. We're all going to the same races. We know that we all have each other's backs. We can all do it. We've been working hard all summer so we can have a great season." Avon overcame a bumpy start to the last year's postseason. The Eagles finished fourth out of eight qualifiers at the Elyria Division I district at LCCC to earn its ninth straight regional berth but the flu bug nearly ruined everything. They bounced back strong at regionals however. "Definitely as a team we have some big goals to make it to state again," said Reese, the Division III state middle school cross country champ while at Open Door. "We would like to be a contending team for top seven (at state). Each meet we need to go in their knowing that we're prepared. We just need to take things day-by-day, meet-by-meet. One meet doesn't define everything." Avon won its third Southwestern Conference title in four years and fifth dating to 2015 last fall by outdistancing Amherst 40-51. It was the Eagles' fifth invite win of the season. "We started our summer training a week later than normal because of how late track season ended," Reese said. "Our training schedule and regimen are pretty much the same as last year. (The coaches) have a great training plan for us. We just follow with what they suggest and it always works out great." Reese was also All-Ohio (top eight) in track in June after finishing eighth in the 3,200 meters in 10:46.59, a personal-best time of 2.3 seconds. "I just appreciate Kaitlyn and the whole team trusting the plan and being patient knowing that through the ups and downs during the regular season it's about being your best in the postseason and focusing on the plan," said Avon coach Justin Carroll, in his third year with the Eagles. "Kaitlyn's track season was phenomenal. I just wanted her to break 11 flat. I knew the way she was being trained that she was trained to do that. Indoor last winter she ran 11:07. With all these girls, no matter what happens in the season the focus is the postseason. It was just about keeping her patient and knowing her best was coming and to focus on race tactics. That being said, the type of runner Kaitlyn is, I had a feeling she would perform like that at regionals and state." The Eagles have have seven seniors on this year's roster after graduating six seniors but only one from last year's top seven at state. And from last year's top 13, only two runners are gone. Savannah Reed graduated while the Eagles' No. 3 runner at state, sophomore Maddie Gettings, opted to play soccer this fall instead. "There's always going to be turnover with graduation, injuries and kids possibly moving over to other sports," Carroll said. "Luckily, we have mostly everybody coming back." Senior Maddie Harrington gives Avon a more-than-solid No. 2 runner. Harrington finished 44th at state in 19:18.4, up 12 places from her state performance in 2021 when she was the Lorain County Division I Runner of the Year. Reese finished second overall at the SWC meet in 19:51.23 but didn't lose to just anyone. Olmsted Falls' Katie Clute won her fourth title in a conference-record time of 18:16.80, breaking the SWC mark of 18:28.5 set in 1983 by Olmsted Falls' Michelle Kalikin. Clute is the first SWC athlete to win four cross country titles and she went on to win the Division I state title three weeks later. "Kaitlyn has such a strong mindset and attitude," Carroll said. "She never makes an excuse. She's such a great teammate that I think it adds to even her individual performances. She's never complaining. She's always positive. She's always finding ways to grow, outside of practice and at practice to get better. She likes the invites that have a lot of competitors because she loves to be pushed. She loves to race against the best in the state because that's her goal — to one day be among the best in the state. She's always asking how to be better focused on pacing and to be calm, collected and confident in the race. Runners like Kaitlyn are very aware of where they need to be and where they want to be in a race." Contact Paul Heyse at (440) 329-7135 or ctsports@chroniclet.com.