Athlete Spotlight: Hannah Pierson
At Sectionals, Hannah Pierson, junior, broke the Girl’s Cross Country 5K school record with a time of 18.06, breaking the previous record of 18.30 by 24 seconds.
Pierson has been seriously running since the sixth grade, when she started running track with a select club. In the seventh grade, Pierson started focusing on running cross country when she reached the high school level.
“Going into the race I had to be under 18:30 to break the record, but my goal was 18:20,” Pierson said. “I always have a realistic goal, and then a hard goal and 18:20 was my hard goal, but I did it.”
Pierson worked to break the record since the beginning of the cross country season.
“The coaches weren’t really pushing me to break the record,” Pierson said. “I was the one who brought it up with them at the Forest Park Festival. Before the race, I talked to the coaches and told them I was going for 18.30. When I didn’t break the it at Forest Park, which I was pretty upset about, I brought it up again at Conference because it’s such a flat course.”
Mike Ebert, head cross country coach, wasn’t sure if Pierson would be able to break the record at Conference due to weather concerns.
“There had been a lot of rain earlier that week so we were worried that the course would be muddy,” Ebert said. “Luckily it was not, and she went out and ran an incredible race. From the first mile she went after that record and broke it by quite a bit.”
During the offseason, Pierson will continue to compete in national races.
After State, Pierson will compete at Nike Nationals: Midwest in Indiana, with a chance to compete at Nike Nationals in California if she places in the top five. Pierson will also run in the Footlocker Nationals in Wisconsin the week of Thanksgiving.
To remain in peak physical shape, Pierson’s training plans are more rigorous than those of the average cross country runner.
“A typical day varies season to season, but for this cross country season, I try to do core exercises in the morning or evening,” Pierson said. Then I have practice after school where I run a bunch; sometimes it’s a workout, other days it’s just mileage. On average, I run about seven to eight miles at practice and then I do more core stuff at home after practice.”
Pierson also holds school records for the 1600m, with a time of 5.00.15, as well as the 3200m, with a time of 11.02.
After high school, Pierson hopes to run at the collegiate level at a Division I college or university.
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