Grace Schager starts the 2022 season out on a mission
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Roselle IL-
We all knew that Grace Schager was good. But she has been very good since her introduction to stardom last fall when she won the Harvey Braus Invitational at Lake Park High School in 16:57. The soft-spoken senior from Glenbard North would go on to finish fourth in the 3A state championship with a time of 16:41.
Schager was not done producing massive destruction during her junior year. She set personal bests on the track in the 1600m (4:58.73) and in the 3200m (10:17.12). The latter would be a state title and the official torch passing as to who would be the one to watch entering the 2022 cross country season.
Schager did not participate in any post-season all-state meets, so that meant a rest period and back to summer training. The reports of some of her off-season work were eye-popping in terms of workload- tempo runs, long runs, etc. The thirsting cross-country conglomerate would be waiting for results to drop from the emerging superstar.
In her first race of the season, Schager ran 2.95 miles in 16:31. Sometimes inexact distances are hard to gauge. But when you race on a known accurate course, the comparisons will come out of the woodwork. It was a small tri-meet hosted by Lake Park HS with GBN and Wheaton North.
Glenbard North head coach Eric Day indicated for the second time this season that Schager did not wear racing spikes. "[Grace] ran in trainers again," he said. This indicated that she may have been out on some sort of hard threshold type of run. The mile splits were 5:34, 11:13 (5:39), and 5:21 for a whopping 16:35! This appears to be the fastest ever performance by a female for the month of August. This incredible feat bodes well as we enter the ultra-competitive month of September.
Looking ahead Schager will compete at the Harvey Braus Invite on 9/10 and the Richard Spring Invite in Peoria on 9/17. The first Invite's meet and the course record is held by the great Katelynne Hart of Glenbard West. Hart clocked an out of space 16:08 (RACE FOOTAGE). Hart's splits for the first two miles were 5:14 and 10:48!! Hart has the September all-time three-mile record in 16:00.7 in 2019. That one seems out of touch by anyone in this state. However, if Schager needs any motivation, her two upcoming competitions are there in the midst.