Bailey – It’s an old joke by now.
Why doesn’t Kristen McGlynn have a driver’s license? She can run anywhere she wants to go.
“That’s what I always tell people,” she said Tuesday on her 18th birthday. “I don’t have a cellphone, either. People ask me if it’s because I’m home-schooled.”
It’s not. McGlynn doesn’t have a cellphone or a car because she runs on a different wavelength than your average teenager. She also runs distances on another level, and we’re not just talking about altitude.
“Kristen is in such incredible shape right now,” Platte Canyon track and field coach Chris Hendrick said. “She is almost impossible to beat right now in the state of Colorado.”
McGlynn is the fastest high school senior 3,200-meter runner in the nation. Racing in California, she posted a time of 10 minutes, 24.32 seconds at the 3,200 meters. (McGlynn finished the full 2 miles in 10:28.66 for third place at the Arcadia Invitational on April 7.)
McGlynn came onto the prep scene in 2003 running for Platte Canyon, in her hometown of Bailey, placing ninth at the state cross country meet. Now, she owns back-to-back Class 3A cross country titles and is the defending 3A track champion in the 1,600 and 3,200 meters.
State records in both events occupy her mind this spring. That’s how McGlynn operates. There is always another goal.
“Kristen is really driven by competition. That’s what really pushes her,” said Jeanie Boymel, Platte Canyon’s girls cross country coach and distance coach on the track team. “She is so much stronger now. With the natural talent she has, and at the end of four years of serious training, she has really developed into a strong runner.”
There was no better competition than at the Mullen Invitational last Saturday, in which McGlynn broke away from the best of 4A, Ralston Valley sophomore Kaitie Vanatta, and 5A, Fairview senior Sarah Cocco, in the second half of the 3,200.
Vanatta, the defending 4A state champion in the 1,600 and 3,200, was not fully healthy and has posted faster times than McGlynn. Another day, another track, any of the three could have won. But on that day, McGlynn was a force.
“She was just putting together one amazing quarter after another, with such incredible surges,” Hendrick said. “She wore those other two girls down.”
While many prep runners peak early and plateau through college, it seems McGlynn is just hitting her stride. She posted a personal-best 5:00.81 in winning the 1,600 at the Mullen event, dropping three seconds from the previous week.
“I’m kind of chopping seconds off here and there,” McGlynn said.
If McGlynn chops off three more seconds in the 1,600, she’ll be within striking distance of the 3A state meet record of 4:57.44. That time is the carrot at the end of the stick and will be the goal for McGlynn during the state meet.
“It’s a lot easier to run with someone breathing down your neck, and she won’t have that at state,” Hendrick said.
Competition for McGlynn is getting harder to find, and she recently started training with the boys team at Platte Canyon. But the best runs come on the weekend when McGlynn and Jen Webers, an elite distance runner at Conifer, head out into the hills together.
“It’s nice knowing I’m not the only insane person that runs 40 or 50 miles a week,” said Webers, who will run track and cross country at Nebraska. “Those runs together helped us sort out our college selection, which was stressful.”
The recruitment process is rarely easy, but McGlynn took control of hers. Many top athletes are bombarded by phone calls, text messages and letters from college coaches, and the final weeks of tug-and-pull can trigger a breakdown. Not for McGlynn, who hand-picked Baylor University.
“Kristen actually contacted us early … and are we sure glad that she did,” Baylor cross country coach John Harbour said in an e-mail. “She will no doubt be an outstanding collegiate runner as she has a tremendous dedication and passion to the sport.”
No, McGlynn won’t run out to Waco, Texas, when it’s time to report, though it wouldn’t surprise many people.
After winning the 1,600 and ultra-competitive 3,200 at Mullen, McGlynn could be seen jogging around the infield, lap after lap while smiling.
But she didn’t look as comfortable the evening of her 18th birthday, with nearly 2 feet of snow covering the roads leading out from her house. There was no way she could run this day.
“I’m feeling a little cooped up,” Mc- Glynn said. “My coach made me take a week off after cross country season, and I almost went insane. Running is the solution for everything.”
