Emily Sisson made a tough decision last winter and it paid off recently with a national record in the 5,000-meter run.
The recent graduate of Parkway Central (Chesterfield, Mo.) had qualified for the IAAF World Cross Country Championships during late March in Poland. She knew she would need at least one tough indoor meet in preparation and chose the Nike Indoor Nationals in Boston, Mass.
However, that meet was not sanctioned by the Missouri State High School Activities Association and made her ineligible for her senior year of high school track. As a junior she had won state titles in the 1,600-meter run (4:52.15), 3,200-meter run (10:24.12) and ran a leg on the champion 4x800 relay team (9:06.89). Her 3,200 time was a state record.
The University of Wisconsin signee wound up as Team USA’s No. 1 finisher in Bydgoszcz, Poland, placing 18th out of 95 runners in the Junior Women’s 6K.
For the rest of her senior year she was able to concentrate on training only for national and international races and took full advantage.
The 5-foot-2 dynamo entered the recent IAAF World Junior Track Championships in Moncton, New Brunswick, Canada with her sights set on the 3,000-meter race. She finished 10th, but was not particularly happy with her time of 9:16.8.
It was suggested that she could run the 5,000, so at the last minute she entered just for fun. Little did she realize that she would finish sixth in a USA-record clocking of 15:48.91. The record of 15:52.88 by Caitlin Chock had stood since 2004.
"I wasn’t really too nervous, because I had put all the pressure on the 3,000," she told MaxPreps. "My training was going so well. I was pretty relaxed before the race. The Kenyans (leaders) were pretty far ahead. I had no clue how fast I was running. I knew I could PR, but not by that much."
She was the only American in the race, which was her final one as a junior.
Parkway Central track coach Ryan Banta hated to lose his star for her senior year, but he wanted what was best for her.
"I supported her and the team supported her," Banta said. "It would have been awesome to have had her again. Seeing what she accomplished makes me even more comfortable with the decision.
"Emily is a 'monster.' She has the biggest aerobic engine of any high school athlete I ever have seen. It’s one of those freaky things. She’s a once-in-a-lifetime talent."
Sisson’s cross country coach, Ken Greathouse, says, "She is relentless – a very high-tempo runner. She really puts out a high-energy rate all the time. She’s the most aerobic athlete I’ve ever seen. She’ll continue to develop as she gets older. The sky is the limit."
Cross country actually is the sport which brought Sisson her first national recognition. A soccer player during her youth, she switched to running in junior high and as a freshman in Omaha, Neb., she placed third in the Foot Locker National Cross Country Meet, beating such standouts as eventual national champion Jordan Hasay.
"That was a huge eye opener," she said. "It was such a cool experience, hanging out with those high-caliber athletes."
The summer before her junior year, she thought her father was going to be transferred to Kansas City, Mo., where she already had made friends with girls on the defending state champion cross country team at Lee's Summit West (Lee's Summit, Mo.). However, they wound up in the St. Louis area (Parkway Central) where she knew no one.
Sisson wound up qualifying for the Foot Locker Nationals four straight years and again placed third as a senior.
She left one other special mark in track when she ran a sizzling 9:25.7 – No. 3 high school 3,000-meter indoor time in history – to beat a strong collegiate field during an open meet at the University of Kansas.
"My dream is just to be able to run after college," Sisson said.
Coach Banta sees her doing plenty of spectacular running in the future.
"I really doubt that Emily will burn out," he said. "She will become an Olympic athlete and one of the best runners we (the USA) have ever had."
* The Chicago Sun-Times reports that Gatorade National Cross Country Runner of the Year Lukas Verzbicas has taken summer classes to skip his junior year at Sandburg (Orland Park, Ill.) and now is a full senior. He will be competing in September’s World Junior Triathlon Championships in Budapest, Hungary.
* Fayetteville-Manlius (Manlius, N.Y.) returns four All-State runners from last year’s national cross country championship team. Katie Brislin, an All-State runner from Christian Brothers Academy (Syracuse, N.Y.) will transfer there this fall, according to the Syracuse Post-Standard, making a fifth consecutive national title a strong possibility.
Tennessee Flight wins title
The Tennessee Flight defeated DFW Elite, 65-62, to win the Gold Division of the Nike Nationals girls basketball tournament in North Augusta, S.C. Rising senior guard Kaleena Lewis of Mater Dei (Santa Ana, Calif.) led the champs with 23 points.
* Michael Meek, who led Southridge (Beaverton, Ore.) to a 213-58 record with five large-school state titles, has been named head women’s basketball coach at George Fox University in Newberg, Ore.
Rivers, Lacey star
Austin Rivers scored 24 points and MVP Trevor Lacey scored 22 points as Each 1, Teach 1 defeated the St. Louis Eagles, 78-60, to win the Super Showcase basketball tournament at Disney World. Ben McLemore led the losers with 18 points and Bradley Beal added 12.
* Torrey Pines (San Diego, Calif.) rising senior guard Nick Kerr has committed to the University of San Diego, according to the Union-Tribune. The 6-3 southpaw, who is the son of former NBA guard Steve Kerr, averaged 19.5 points and shot .409 from 3-point range as a junior.
*Otis Hughley, who was hired this spring as head basketball coach at Blount (Eight Mile, Ala.), has been named an assistant coach for the NBA Sacramento Kings. Hughley will be reunited with his former LeFlore (Mobile, Ala.) star, DeMarcus Cousins, who was the Kings’ first-round draft selection after one year at the University of Kentucky.
West wins Canon Cup
The West defeated the East, 25.5-24.5, to win the prestigious AJGA Canon Cup in Plymouth, Mass., for the sixth consecutive year. Jay Hwang, a rising senior at Torrey Pines (San Diego, Calif.) paced the champs by winning all four of his matches. The East’s Stephen Behr Jr. of Florence, S.C., also went 4-0.
The most interesting match on the girls side saw two-time Rolex Junior Player of the Year Victoria Tanco (Bradenton, Fla.) post a 4 and 3 victory over U.S. Women’s Amateur Public Links champion Emily Tubert (Burbank, Calif.).
* One day after shooting a phenomenal world-record 57, University of Alabama-bound Bobby Wyatt settled for a 70. However, the recent UMS Wright (Mobile, Ala.) graduate still won his record-setting fourth straight Alabama Golf Association State Boys Junior Championship with a score of 18-under-195.
Potpourri
* EastSide United Liverpool Red (Gresham, Ore.) nipped Shattuck St. Mary’s (Faribault, Minn.), 1-0, to win the U18 national soccer championship at Overland Park, Kan. Rising junior Mikhail Doholis of Union (Vancouver, Wash.) scored the lone goal. University of Portland-bound Steven Evans was named MVP and UNLV-bound Ryan Harding was named top goalkeeper.
* Bolles (Jacksonville, Fla.) was named 2009-10 national champion by the National Interscholastic Swimming Coaches Association. Bolles received 12,530 points, nearly 500 points more than the runner-up.
* Sierra Vista (Las Vegas, Nev.) nipped Las Vegas High, 11-10, in 12 innings on Blair Goldsack’s two-out, RBI single to win its first Nevada American Legion state baseball title. Sierra Vista upset Bishop Gorman (Las Vegas, Nev.), which had won the previous four state titles, in the semifinals, 7-6, on Matt Holman’s three-run double.
* Three Edmond (Edmond, Okla.) schools – Memorial, North and Santa Fe – have raised $916,364 this year for various charities, according to The Oklahoman. Memorial was the leader with a record $527,704.
* Retired Bergen Catholic (Oradell, N.J.) football coach Fred Stengel will be a football analyst this fall for the new Madison Square Garden Varsity Channel in the New York Metropolitan area.
"I am spending this summer at my beach house for the first time and loving life," Stengel said.
