Ailee Larson (above) had a great year running cross country for St. Catherine’s cross country team. A lower back injury slowed her at the national cross country meet, but that was the only bad race for this barefoot runner from Cook County. Larson holds the 800 meter mark in track for the Vikings, running 2:18 her senior year of high school.
Lutsen native Ailee Larson qualified for the NCAA Division III national meet with her eighth-place finish in the Central Region meet held in Northfield, Minnesota on Saturday, November 16.
Larson, a junior, runs for St. Catherine (St. Kate’s) University.
Larson is just the fourth St. Kate’s runner to ever qualify for the national cross country meet, which will be held this year at Hanover College in Hanover, Indiana on November 23.
One of the few collegiate harriers to run barefoot, Larson finished the Central Regional 6K race in 22:24 to lead her team to a 17th place finish.
Ailee is the daughter of Mike and Jana Larson of Lutsen.
Back injury hampers Larson at Nationals
All season Ailee Larson ran one great race after another for St. Kate’s, positioning herself to gain All America honors at nationals if she continued with her normal racing strategy of going out close to the leaders and then using her big kick to earn a win or a top place.
On Saturday, November 23 Larson lined up with the best Division III cross country runners in the country at Hanover College in Indiana and for the first part of the race looked very good.
“At the start she [Ailee] came out with the leaders and was in good position, I’d say about 20th place or so,” said her father, Mike, who with her mother, Jana, attended the race. “The top group broke early which consisted of four runners—one being Chelsea Johnson of St. Scholastica (eventual winner and champion) and another, Noelle Olson from St. Olaf who ended up second (a good showing for the MIAC conference). Both Chelsea and Noelle were running as individuals. The second pack was back of the top four and Ailee looked comfortable in that pack.
“Unfortunately, Ailee had a spasm in her lower back and she couldn’t get full extension on her right side. It was tough to watch as she had to slow and clearly run with a noticeable limp. She finished the race but of course was disappointed knowing that she had run her race, and based on other MIAC runners she beat or was near throughout the season, she would have placed in the top 20 to finish with All-American honors. That was the tough part.
“But you know the story: injuries occur, and that’s just part of the game. And more important, it’s really just a life lesson. She will take a lot away from this experience. At the end of the day, it was all good and an amazing experience,” said Mike.
Other former Viking runners at college
Sarissa Falk is a freshman at Hamline and she finished the season as the seventh runner on her cross country team. Sarissa was the only freshman to make varsity, running a 6K time of 25:52 at the Central Regional meet. Sarissa is the daughter of Mark and Sue Falk of Grand Marais.
Guthrie Cunningham ran for Cook County through his sophomore year and then transferred to Duluth East. Guthrie is a senior now running for Carlton College. He ran 26.56.07 at the Central Regional meet over 5 miles. Guthrie was the sixth man on a very talented Carlton cross country team.
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