By Michael Newman

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I hate to sound like a broken record but there should really should not be a debate in this category as well.

Mailin Struck (Riverside-Brookfield HS) caught the eyes of all Illinois runners when she demolished a good field in her first meet of the year at the Sycamore Invitational. The native of Pinneberg, Germany started her one semester on American soil by winning that race by 44 seconds over Kelsey Schrader (DeKalb HS), who had run 16:54 at the 2012 3A State meet. Struck followed that up by shattering York’s Emma Fisher's course record at Lyons Township by 21 seconds four days later. The rest of the season was more of the same. Struck just dominated the competition including defeating 3A champ Mimi Smith (New Trier HS, Winnetka) at the Roy Gummerson Invitational at the end of September.

Her only setback was not really a setback. She had a clear lead heading to the finish of the 2A race of the First to the Finish Invitational when she got in a pack of lapped runners and missed the finish line. Maura Beattie (Woodstock HS) was declared the winner but cried out at the finish line area where Struck was? She was the deserving winner of the race proclaimed the Woodstock senior.

Her teammates joked with her about that little thing that happened at Detweiller. She did not forget it when she ran in the 2A State Meet in November. She had the race won at the mile. As she approached the finish line with a 29 second lead, she ran close to the left side as she crossed the line. She showed that she is a runner that learns from her previous experiences.

Struck fulfilled a dream of going to San Diego as she qualified for the Foot Locker Nationals by finishing seventh at the Midwest Regional. She followed that up with an 18^th place finish on the Balboa Park Course in the national race. It’s a shame that she will head back to her native Germany to complete her studies and run her final prep track season there. Even though she will leave in January, she has already left her mark in Illinois High School cross country history. I am sure we will see her running in the future in the Olympics.

Hats off also go to Maryjeanne Gilbert (Notre Dame HS, Peoria), who finished second behind Struck at the 2A state meet, and Maura Beattie who dominated the races that she was in this fall. She ended up finishing fifth at state.

We congratulate Mailin Struck of Riverside-Brookfield HS as the DyeStat Illinois 2013 2A Girls Cross Country Runner of the Year.